Vyacheslav Bykov

Vyacheslav Arkadevich "Slava" Bykov (, born 24 July 1960) is a Russian former professional ice hockey player and a former head coach of the Russian national hockey team. A small, technically gifted center, he was a regular fixture on the Soviet national ice hockey team in the 1980s; after the fall of the Soviet Union, he played for the Russian team in the 1990s. He was drafted by the Quebec Nordiques in the 1989 NHL entry draft in the 9th round at number 169 overall. He opted, however, not to play in the National Hockey League, playing in Russia and Europe. He was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2014.

Playing career Bykov started out playing for the team of his home city, Traktor Chelyabinsk in 1979. After three years, he went to play for powerhouse CSKA Moscow. While at CSKA Moscow, he became a regular on the Soviet national team and later the Russian team, taking part in the following international tournaments:

With the Soviet Union: 1983 World Championships (Gold) 1985 World Championships (Bronze) 1986 World Championships (Gold) 1987 World Championships (Silver) 1987 Canada Cup (Silver) 1988 Winter Olympics (Gold) 1989 World Championships (Gold) With the Unified Team: 1992 Winter Olympics (Gold) With Russia: 1993 World Championships (Gold) 1995 World Championships (5th place)

In 1990, Bykov went to play with HC Fribourg-Gottéron in the Swiss Nationalliga A. He ended an illustrious playing career in 2000, having played the last two seasons with HC Lausanne in the Nationalliga B.

He was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2014.

Coaching career Russian national team On 10 August 2006, Bykov was named as the new head coach of the Russian national hockey team, taking over from Vladimir Krikunov. At the 2007 World Championship in Moscow, his team won the bronze medal. Then, on 18 May 2008, he won 2008 World Championships Gold in Quebec with the team, and on 10 May 2009 again in Bern. After losing 3–7 to Canada and finishing 6th at the 2010 Winter Olympics and failing to win gold in two subsequent WCs, he was fired by the RHF.

2007 World Championships (Bronze) 2008 World Championships (Gold) 2009 World Championships (Gold) 2010 Winter Olympics (6th) 2010 World Championships (Silver) 2011 World Championships (4th)

CSKA From 28 April 2004 to 4 April 2009, Bykov worked as the head coach of CSKA Moscow. The best results during this period were the semi-finals of the Russian Superleague and the quarter-finals of the KHL.

Salavat Yulaev Salavat Yulaev Ufa named Bykov as new head coach on 14 May 2009 starting from the 2009–2010 season. After winning the Continental Cup and taking bronze in 2009–2010, he won the Gagarin Cup with Salavat Yulaev in 2010–2011.

SKA Saint Petersburg SKA Saint Petersburg appointed Bykov as new head coach on 4 April 2014. He signed a two-year contract with an option for a one-year extension. In his first season with the team, Bykov coached SKA to their first ever Gagarin Cup win, becoming the first coach to win the Gagarin Cup with two different teams.

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1979–80 Traktor Chelyabinsk USSR 3 2 0 2 0 — — — — — 1980–81 Traktor Chelyabinsk USSR 48 26 16 42 4 — — — — — 1981–82 Traktor Chelyabinsk USSR 44 20 16 36 14 — — — — — 1982–83 CSKA Moscow USSR 44 22 22 44 10 — — — — — 1983–84 CSKA Moscow USSR 44 22 11 33 12 — — — — — 1984–85 CSKA Moscow USSR 36 21 14 35 4 — — — — — 1985–86 CSKA Moscow USSR 36 10 10 20 6 — — — — — 1986–87 CSKA Moscow USSR 40 18 15 33 10 — — — — — 1987–88 CSKA Moscow USSR 47 17 30 47 26 — — — — — 1988–89 CSKA Moscow USSR 40 16 20 36 10 — — — — — 1989–90 CSKA Moscow USSR 48 21 16 37 16 — — — — — 1990–91 HC Fribourg–Gottéron NLA 36 35 49 84 16 8 7 16 23 10 1991–92 HC Fribourg–Gottéron NLA 34 39 48 87 24 14 4 16 20 10 1992–93 HC Fribourg–Gottéron NLA 35 25 51 76 14 9 10 12 22 4 1993–94 HC Fribourg–Gottéron NLA 36 30 43 73 2 11 11 21 32 2 1994–95 HC Fribourg–Gottéron NLA 30 24 51 75 35 8 6 4 10 4 1995–96 HC Fribourg–Gottéron NLA 28 10 25 35 8 4 2 1 3 0 1996–97 HC Fribourg–Gottéron NLA 46 23 45 68 16 3 0 3 3 2 1997–98 HC Fribourg–Gottéron NLA 18 14 18 32 4 12 2 6 8 6 1998–99 Lausanne HC NLB 24 19 21 40 40 3 2 4 6 2 1999–2000 Lausanne HC NLB 6 2 9 11 2 — — — — — USSR totals 430 195 170 365 112 — — — — — NDA totals 263 200 330 530 119 69 42 79 121 38

International Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM 1983 Soviet Union WC 10 3 2 5 0 1985 Soviet Union WC 10 6 3 9 2 1986 Soviet Union WC 10 6 6 12 2 1987 Soviet Union WC 10 5 6 11 0 1987 Soviet Union CC 9 2 7 9 4 1988 Soviet Union OG 7 2 3 5 2 1989 Soviet Union WC 10 6 6 12 2 1990 Soviet Union WC 10 3 1 4 4 1991 Soviet Union WC 10 4 4 8 0 1992 Unified Team OG 8 4 7 11 0 1993 Russia WC 8 4 3 7 6 1995 Russia WC 5th 6 2 2 4 4 Senior totals 108 47 50 97 26

Personal life He is married and has two children. In 2003, he became a naturalised Swiss citizen, and his family now lives in Marly, Switzerland.

He is of Mari descent.

In 2023, Bykov slammed the NHL for barring Russian players from bringing the Stanley Cup to Russia, stating he would never watch NHL games again.