Sergey Saveljev

Sergey Saveljev (Russian: Сергей Савельев; Sergejs Saveljevs; born 13 April 1996) is General manager of Krefeld Pinguine, a club in first German ice hockey league Deutsche Eishockey Liga. Saveljev is youngest General manager in German DEL and also in top world leagues without 24 years. He studied at the Latvian Academy of Sport Education.
== Biography ==
Sergey Saveljev was born in Riga, Latvia on 13 April 1996. He studied in Olaines 2. Vidusskola and 40. School in Riga. He came to Germany with his family and then went back to Latvia to study at Latvian Academy of Sport Education (LSPA). 
== Career ==
He started his career as a hockey coach in Bremen as a volunteer. After one year he works as a Goalie coach for youth teams and assistant coach for U10 till U12-teams. After completing his studies in Latvia he returned to Germany and worked in Bietigheim (Baden) as main junior goalie coach and worked with talented goalies. At that time he got to know hockey coach Roger Nicholas. 
After he opened his own agency for hockey players he got an offer from Deutsche Eishockey Bund (DEB) to work as goalie coach and he accepted. In this time he found former prospect Nikita Quapp who afterwards was taken by Saveljev to Krefeld Pinguine, because he did not get a real chance to play for Red Bull Salzburg EC. Later on Quapp became first German goalie in last eleven years drafted by the Carolina Hurricanes in 2021-NHL-Draft.
In cowork with Roger Nicholas he was involved as an agent to find a hockey team for suisse businessman Stefano Ansaldi. In this situation he made two possible offers. In the end there were negotiations with the Krefeld Pinguine. After Stefano Ansaldi became chairman of the German DEL-Club and Roger Nicholas started working as General manager in Krefeld Saveljev were offered a job as Sports Manager and Scouting Director. When Roger Nicholas gave up his job as General manager, Saveljev was selected by Ansaldi as his successor.
Since that time Saveljev is youngest General manager in German DEL and also in top world leagues without 24 years. Because oft the Corona-Break the German league did start without fans in December. Saveljev had the job to rebuild the team and bringing back the Krefeld Pinguine the tradition of developing young German players. With the lowest budget of all teams (2,7 million Euro) he started the season 2020/21. In the same time he gave chances to some young players like Justin Volek, Maximilian Gläßl, Nikita Quapp, Alexander Blank and Maciej Rutkowski to become professionell hockey players. On today's day Volek, Blank, Rutkowski and Quapp are players of the German U20 National Team. Blank was nominated at Rookie of the DEL-season 2020/21. Another talent Luca Hauf gave his debut in the DEL in this time and assistant coach Boris Blank became coach oft the German under 18 National team. 
Saveljev has his vision on finding young talents and is known as manager who respects hard work and positive people. But it can also be very strict. If players do not perform well, contracts are quickly terminated by him. Shortly after he started as general manager, a scandal broke out when the Krefeld Pinguine players refused to go on the ice in a test match. After this incident, some players were fired or given to other clubs. This cabin dispute caused a lot of media attention in Germany.
In the 2021/22 season, Saveljev took on the position of goalkeeper coach in addition to the post of managing director and sporting director. After Headcoach Clark Donatelli was fired on 23th September 2021, Sergey Saveljev, along with Russian success coach Igor Zakharkin and co-coach Boris Blank, took over responsibility for the team. 
Category:1996 births
Category:People from Riga