The KHL season has been underway for a few weeks now with most teams having played around 8 games each, so I thought it was a good time to check in with what was happening.
There is a familiar look to the standings in the Western conference with the ‘Big Six’ Russian teams [CSKA, Dynamo, SKA, Spartak, Lokomotiv & Torpedo] all featuring prominently and I would fully expect all of them to be their come the end of the season. Last season’s beaten Gagarin Cup finalists CSKA have got off to a great start. The Red Army men claimed 8 wins from their first 9 games and sit proudly on top of the conference standings. There were many people worried that with Alexander Radulov gone to the NHL, CSKA might struggle this year, but so far that hasn’t been the case. The lines of Vladimir Zkharkov/Sergei Andronov/Jonas Enlund and Kirill Petrov/Alexander Popov/Bud Holloway have looked good and helped CSKA to jointly lead the West in goalscoring (along with big-spending SKA). That offense will only get better with the addition of Valeri Nichushkin who has arrived from Dallas Stars of the NHL. Their top defensive pairing of Denis Denisov and Igor Ozhiganov have been responsible in limiting the opposition to just 12 GA and have supported Viktor Fasth and Ilya Sorokin, who have been sharing netminding duties.
Across the city along the East banks of the River Moskva, Dynamo have started the season well too. I have been able to watch Dynamo a few times already this season and have to say I have been impressed with them. They might be 5 points back on their cross-city rivals CSKA but I fully expect them to keep pace in the Tarasov Division. Alexei Tereshcenko’s line with Maxim Karpov and Daniil Tarasov has been productive as has the combination of Semyon Kokuyov/Alexander Rybakov/Alexei Sopin. Dynamo can also rely on top D-men Ilya Nikulin and Yakov Rylov on the blue line and will be there or there abouts come the end of the season.
I have probably watched the Railwaymen more than any other team so far this season and as wth Dynamo I have been mightily impressed. Finnish Center Petri Kontiola looks a top player and whenever he is paired with Brandon Kozun, Loko usually perform well. It is interesting to see Maxime Talbot join them on the top line on occasion this season. The former Pittsburgh Penguins Stanley Cup winner will add some grit and toughness out there for sure, but he has quality too and complimenets Kontiola well. The team from Yaroslavl have been using the Stanislav Christov/Andrei Loktionov/Yegor Averin line well too and they are a trio to look out for. Loktionov has been particularly useful on faceoffs. Further down the depth chart Pavel Kraskovsky and Yegor Korshkov have a good understanding with each other while their defensive pairings look very settled too. Steffan Kronwall usually lines up alongside Patrik Hersley while Vladislav Gavnkov is paired with Pavel Koledov and Mikhail Pashnin with Rushan Rafikov. Lokomotiv have only given up 11 goals so far which is better even than CSKA and only Spartak can claim to have let in less goals (10), but they have played a game less.
Rounding out the top four in the Tarasov Division are Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod. Torpedo have a game in hand on Dynamo so if they win that they can climb to second in the Division. The Fredrik Pettersson/Evgeny Mozer/Kirill Rasskazov has looked settled while Kaspars Daugavins/Dmitry Semin/Alexander Frolov have been useful too. Despite CSKA currently setting off at a high pace it is exciting to see these ‘Big Four’ teams in the Division up there challenging each other.
It’s not just the Tarasov Division where the big teams have been filling the top places. In the Bobrov Division we have seen a Moscow giant seemingly re-awake and a team on the Baltic Sea trying their best to assemble some sort of dream team.
Spartak’s return to the KHL last year was welcomed but they struggled to match their rivals for much of it. This season is much better [they are currently 7th but with two games in hand on most teams they could move up to second in the strandings] for them as they brought in some additions which has strengthened the roster. Vyacheslav Leschenko/Ryan Stoa/Lukas Radil has looked good as a top line while Alexander Vasilyev/Vadim Berdnikov/Sergei Shmelyov have been useful too. Vasilyev in particular has impressed me whenever I have watched Spartak. As mentioned before Spartak have conceded the least amount of goals and much of that can be credited to top defensive pairing Alexei Bondarev and Matt Gilroy while Markus Svensson and Nikita Bespalov have been good between the pipes.
What can we say about SKA that hasn’t already been said? They are a team with a ridiculous amount of talent right now and against some of the so-called smaller teams in the League they will simple steam-roll past them. Having finally been crowned champions in 2015, last season represented a character building year. From trying to get over losing the likes of Artemi Panarin to the NHL, to the short but ill-fated coaching reign of Andrei Nazarov and then finally the mysterious benching of their captain Ilya Kovalchuk during the majority of last season’s playoffs. It looked likely Kovalchuk would move on, with a number of potential suitors in the NHL waiting to acquire his services. Instead all seems to have been forgiven, while the team from Saint-Petersburg have also added Pavel Datsyuk to form one of the most imposing double-acts in the world of hockey. Datsyuk had spent several years in the NHL with the Detroit Red Wings, winning two Stanley Cups along the way but decided now was the time to head home as his teenage daughter is at a crucial stage of her education. Sergei Plotnikov split last season between Pittsburgh and Phoenix but his NHL adventure didn’t quite work out for him. Lining up with two legends in the form of Datsyuk and Kovalchuk will not harm his game though. Behind that top trio SKA also have
Evgeny Dadonov/Vadim Shipachyov/Nikita Gusev as a line while Sergei Shirokov/Nikolai Prokhorkin/Alexander Barabanov also tend to link up well.
Slava Voynov, who was released from his contract with the Los Angeles Kings after he was convicted of beating his wife, has been paired with Andrei Zubarev on the blue line. Voynov won two Stanley Cups while with the Kings and adds yet more talent to this SKA line-up. Anton Belov is another quality defenseman and lines up with either Maxim Chudinov or Yegor Yakovlev. Mikko Koskinen and Igor Shestyorkin have been sharing the goaltending duties.
Aside from those big six sides there are some of the non-Russian teams that have looked good. Helsinki-based, Jokerit were always going to be strong with their Danish connection. Peter Regin’s line with Sakari Salminen and Jesse Joensuu has some NHL experience too, while the Tommi Huhtala/Joey Hishon/Brian O’Neill line is also useful. Top defensive pairings include Charles Genoway with Topi Jaakola and Jesper Jensen with Oliver Lauridsen and Riku Helenius in goal so plenty of experienced professionals to call upon. Jokerit have started the new campaign off slowly, possibly not helped by a gap in their schedule to allow their Danish contingent time off for Olympic qualifiers. But last season represented a successful one for the Finnish side, as they finished high up the standings and they will be looking to build on that again this season.
Slovan Bratislava have looked feisty and I expect them to be in the shake up for play off places come the end of the season. The line of Jonathan Cheechoo/Jeff Taffe/Kyle Chipchura has a lot of NHL experience. Indeed Chipchura was still with the Coyotes until recently. The partnership of Ziga Jeglic and Vaclav Nedorost is also strong while Andrej Meszaros provides some steel at the back.
I’m not saying these will be the 8 playoff teams representing the Western Conference, as I fully expect the likes of Sochi, Dinamo Minsk and Medvescak to challenge for post season berths too, but it has been exciting watching these sides in action so far.
Tomorrow we will run through the teams in the Eastern Conference.
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