No, Pitkeev got injured while still with Eteri, his last competition was the Nationals where he barely made it through the FS due to pain (the injury had actually been there for a while but it came to a head at the Nats). One of his main motives in moving to Buianova was better medical treatment available at CSKA. So far it hasn't helped. With Kolyada they have to settle on a jump layout already, they have been changing it drastically from one competition to the next - nobody can be stable under such circumstances. And yes, he takes a long time to gain form, but this inability to decide on which jumps to go with isn't helping. As for Kovtun - would Morozov even take him back? And it doesn't look like his problem is with coaches. He has developed a much better work ethic under Goncharenko and shown noticeable improvement in skating quality, but that obviously can only take him so far unless he fixes his head. With Petrov and quads - I am sure if he could do them Mishin would make him do them, but it seems that the height and rotation on his jumps just isn't enough so far.I know.
Pitkeev was the most promising russian men until national, apparently he quarrelled with Eteri, he moved to Buyanova and then the injury.
Kovtun should return to Morozov in my opinion: he said Maxim already had those quads few years ago, and he was trying to teach him the importance of a good daily training and that's where he's struggling. Inna is trying her best but she wanted Sergei (not Maxim) and she did her best with him.
Voronov is like Ashley Wagner: he's doing his best to stay relevant and approach the programs with more maturity and I think it's paying off.
Kolyada, actually i was surprised to see the russian fed giving him the chance to shine, but he struggled a lot with consistency, maybe he is like Denis Ten: slow start and then a complete different skater in the second half of the season.
Petrov was good at juniors but then Mishin tried this slow growth without teaching him so many quads and working more on the quality but judges never gave him a chance.
Artur Dmitriev Jr, Gordei Gorshkov,...
That's probably another prove on how important is Eteri's team for Russian figure skating, even though i've still the image of Denis Ten coached by Buyanova-Tarasova, he was already that good but his scores were really poor. (a little of politics going on for the men, huh?)
I am not sure which interview you mean
Adian was definitely still with Eteri at his last competition and didn't leave her until the spring. Eteri is usually accused of making Adian jump more quads than his body was ready for and showing indifference to his injury even during the Nationals. She seems to apply a tough love approach to all her students which works out just fine for those who can withstand it, but not those with physical weak spots who require careful handling like Adian.
It's hard to say to what degree exactly it's her fault - a weak back might have cut his career short with any coach. But "survival of the fittest" was definitely the wrong coaching strategy for him.
I am not sure which interview you mean
I don't think they planned to add multiple quads, it was just 4S, but they have run into some sort of mental wall with it which they haven't yet been able to overcome. I think that's the reason they decided to at least try something else because banging your head against the wall is not exactly productive or rewarding. According to the interview, Mikhail's only real fear was not underrotating the quad lutz, not falling, but popping it, which says a lot about his state of mind after the unsuccessful 4S attempts. I am not sure which they plan to keep trying, which is what they need to make their minds about.
