Going to Zhulin may have improved them somewhat but when he had both P/B and I/K he gave pretty good stuff to P/B but horrible things to I/K which included giving Illynik a tutu that made it difficult for I/K to skate close together which is demanded. So his judgment with that was really awful and bad and it affected the Russian team and not the French team which may have to do with Russian federation factors. And his work the past season with the Azerbajaini was old style.
I absolutely agree on this.The Azerbaijani couple had a good FD,but it was old school and that's why it was very popular among the eurocentric fans.But it didn't do well at Worlds,with a less eurocentric panel.He did a good job with P/B,though in the beginning with their Circus FD it took him half the season to put it on track.I give him the benefit of the doubt though because P/B brought the choreography to him and he had to adjust.
With B/S and Zhulin it would certainly be extremely interesting.I don't believe they're his style,but then again he did a good job with N/K who also weren't his style.I see Zhulin more suitable to "shorter" teams,with sharp footwork,and that's where he puts all his artistry.More or less what he was doing with Maia Usova.
The only thing he could offer to B/S would be better costumes,a makeover and some clever ideas,but most importantly some of his fans inside the country.I'm sure that if I/K weren't coached by Zhulin they wouldn't be so instantly loved by the coach's fans.Same happened with the Azerbaijanis and Monko/Khaliavin.He has his own fans and they follow him and his teams.
Someone who is supposed to be an insider, posted about B/S in one of the russian forums today,basically saying that the rumours are that they are indeed leaving Kustarova but not for Zhulin,nor Linichuk,but someone outside Russia. It's almost a soap..
I also believe that the Russian Federation had its saying to all 3 top couples' programs this season.Maybe the season before as well.It seemed that they collectively opted for the super-drama,an attempt to go back to what the Russians do best and it backfired to all of them.They seem to search too much for the perfect formula while there is no perfect formula and as a result their teams suffer from following a completely wrong approach.
If they had someone that knew a couple of things about marketing,they'd have their top 3 teams packaged and promoted in a completely different way than they one they follow now.R/T would be the artistic team,I/K would be the young team with the fresh dancey programs,and B/S would be the classics with good lines.R/T wouldn't be the "heavy" team with undanceable music that emphasizes how slow they are,I/K wouldn't do Ave Maria playing the grown ups and B/S would never do Faust,hiding what they do best.But alas....