Vyacheslav Bykov



Vyacheslav Arkadevich "Slava" Bykov (born July 24, 1960 in Chelyabinsk, Russian SFSR) is a former Soviet Ice hockey player and the current head coach of the Russian national hockey team. A small, technically gifted centre, he was a regular fixture on the Soviet national ice hockey team in the 80's and after the fall of the Soviet Union he played for Team Russia in the 90's. He was drafted by the Quebec Nordiques in the 1989 NHL Entry Draft in the 9th round at number 169 overall although he would never play in the NHL. He has been considered one of the best hockey players to never have played in the NHL.

Playing career
Bykov started out playing for the team in his home city, Traktor Chelyabinsk in 1979. After 3 years, he went to play for CSKA Moscow. While at CSKA Moscow, he became a regular on the Soviet national team and later Team Russia, taking part in the following international tournaments:


 * With the Soviet Union:
 * 1983 World Championships (Gold)
 * 1985 World Championships (Bronze)
 * 1986 World Championships (Gold)
 * 1987 Canada Cup (Silver)
 * 1987 World Championships (Silver)
 * 1988 Olympics (Gold)
 * 1989 World Championships (Gold)


 * With Russia/CIS:
 * 1992 Olympics (Gold)
 * 1993 World Championships (Gold)
 * 1995 World Championships (5th place)

In 1990 he went to play with 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.

Coaching career
On August 10 2006, Bykov was named as the new head coach of the Russian national ice hockey team taking over from Vladimir Krikunov. On May 18 2008 he won World Championships Gold with Russian national ice hockey team, and on May 10 2009 again in Bern. Salavat Yulaev Ufa named him as new Head Coach for the season 2009/2010 on 14 May 2009.


 * With Russia:
 * 2007 World Championships (Bronze)
 * 2008 World Championships (Gold)
 * 2009 World Championships (Gold)