If you think NHL teams are keeping coaches on a short lease, then consider what just happened to former Detroit Red Wings forward Vyacheslav Kozlov.

Part of the club’s iconic Russian Five during Detroit’s Stanley Cup win in 1996-97, Kozlov was hired in June as the coach of Sochi of the KHL.

“I’ve always dreamed of being a head coach,” Kozlov said at the time of his appointment.

On Saturday, Kozlov was fired, without even having the opportunity to coach the club for a single game.

The team also dismissed assistant coach Alexander Savchenkov.

“We have made a balanced decision and we are heading into the new season with new tasks and ambitious goals,” Sochi General Director Igor Grigorenko said in a statement on the team’s website. “The priority of the club and the new head coach, whose name we will announce soon, is the development of hockey and the younger generation.

“I am confident that with the support of numerous fans, we are able to return Sochi to the Gagarin Cup.”

Sochi finished last overall in the KHL’s 11-team Western Conference last season.

Like Kozlov, Grigorenko was a Red Wings draft pick. He was selected 62nd overall in the 2001 NHL entry draft. Grigorenko played five games for the AHL Grand Rapids Griffins in 2007-08.

The onetime Red Wings prospect was named earlier this month to replace Sergei Voropaev as Sochi General Director. Voropaev had worked at the club for nine years.

Red Wings Alumni Well Represented In KHL Coaching Ranks

There’s no shortage of Red Wings ties to the KHL coaching fraternity. Igor Larionov, another member of the famed Russian Five, was named coach of SKA St. Petersburg during the offseason. Another Russian Five player, Sergei Fedorov, coached CSKA Moscow to a pair of Gagarin Cup titles.

There is currently speculation that another former Red Wings player and longtime NHL head coach is ready to take over bench duties with a KHL club. According to published reports in Russia, Gerard Gallant is to be named the coach of Kunlun Red Star.

Kozlov was an assistant coach in the KHL last season. He was working under another former NHL player, Alexei Kudashev, with Dynamo Moscow.