Okay, this thing is still bugging me. He will never read this but this is what I have to say to Mishin: You cannot keep holding this young man back like that. I know that Sasha's quad is not yet 50% success rate in practice but it is still worth trying in such a scenario when the tournament results are insignificant. It is worth trying to allow him to get used to the feel of trying to rotate a quad in the setting of a competition. If you have any high hopes for his future at all, you should allow him to try it this season in competition. Unless of course you don't have any high expectations of him, then I have nothing further to say.
In terms of questionable coaching decisions that I've been unhappy with in the last 2-3 years, this ranks high up. Not nearly as upsetting as the main coach/co-coach situation, but upsetting enough.
Edit:
The only reasonable explanations I can possibly think of is that either his physical condition is not good or for whatever reasons he had to finish no lower than second.