July 17, 2014. A press conference dedicated to Sputnik Hockey Club's development prospects and training for the new season was held at Uralvagonzavod Ice Sports Palace in Nizhniy Tagil. Uralvagonzavod Corporation is the club's general sponsor. During this conference, special attention was paid to changes in the club's organizational structure: in March, Sputnik left the sports club of the same name and was founded as an independent legal entity and a non-commercial partnership, the corporation's press service reports.
In his welcoming address, Chairman of Sputnik board of trustees Alexei Zharich stressed that a lot had been achieved over a short period of time. Sputnik had a new director appointed: Takhir Daukayev is a sports player with a big name in the world of hockey who was Chairman of the Board at Salavat Yulayev Club in the recent past and was also employed with Molot-Prikamye and Khimik. A team of distinguished players has been formed, including three high-profile mercenaries: Tomas Kurka from the Czech Republic and two Finnish citizens R.Ranta and T. Dalman. Evgeniy Galkin was appointed the team's main coach: Galkin used to be a successful player himself and coached a team in Chelyabinsk. Most importantly, thanks to this restructuring, the club attracted a new sponsor: now Gazprombank, one of Russia's top three banks, is going to become the club's sponsor alongside Uralvagonzavod.
'We hope that we'll find more sponsors during the season. Our task is to raise the Supreme Hockey League's upper limit, which comes to 100m RUR at the moment, by 1.5 times, and by 2 times next year. Then we will be able to compete for all of the top places not only with the help of our spirit and willpower as we used to, but also with the help of better infrastructure and world class players,' Zharich said.