It seems like everyone has an opinion on Valeri Nichushkin and the situation he’s in, and in an interview overseas, the head coach of the KHL Champion Metallurg Magnitogorsk was asked for his.

Andrei Razin, who also happens to be the coach of Colorado’s top goaltending prospect Ilya Nabokov, was asked what type of advice he would give Nichushkin if he was his coach. As far as I can tell, the Avalanche forward has never played for Razin, but the 50 year old KHL coach has gone up against him in both the VHL and KHL. Nichushkin is a high profile player over in Russia, so I think he’s just someone who everyone gets asked about.

Razin, who was named KHL Coach of the Year, was pretty short and blunt when it came to what advice he’d give the 29 year old forward, who is currently in Stage 3 of the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program.

“I’ll probably say it hard: turn on your head and first of all think about this part of the body,” Razin said in an interview.

On a much lighter subject, Razin was asked about Nabokov, who helped lead his team to the KHL Championship last season. Nabokov is set to be Razin’s #1 goaltender again this coming season, looking to build off his dominant rookie year that finished with him being named MVP of the KHL Playoffs. Could Nabokov be another Bobrovsky in the future?

“A lot of factors must come together here,” he said. “Ilya is a very good goalkeeper, psychologically stable, but to become a goalkeeper of Bobrovsky’s level, there must be a lot of nuances. For example, you need to get into the team where he will be given a chance to open up and where there will be both a good head coach and a goalkeeper coach.”

Bobrovsky left for the NHL as a 22 year old. If Nabokov leaves for North America after this coming season, he’ll be the same age. The Avalanche have one of the better goaltending coaches in the league in Jussi Parkkila, but they did just lose their AHL goaltending coach Peter Budaj to the Anaheim Ducks. The organization will have to find a way to replace him.

As for what advice he’d give to Nabokov or any other young Russian players that may head to North America, he kept it pretty simple.

“Learn English as quickly as possible, because it’s 50% of the success,” he said. “If you don’t understand the coach, it will be hard for you to join the team.”