Russians
constitute a large majority of the players in the KHL because of its
origins as the Soviet and Russian national league. Players not from
Russia represent a minority of 33% of the KHL players, and are mostly
Eastern European (17.0%), Scandinavian (7.7%), and North American
(4.6%). In 2011–12, there were 701 players in the league. Despite
the word "Continental" traditionally being spelled with a C
and not a K in the English language, the KHL transliterates the word
with a K to distinguish it from numerous leagues that are abbreviated
as CHL, such as the Canadian Hockey League and the Central Hockey
League, and so that its abbreviation can look similar in both the
Cyrillic and Roman alphabets.
Players
Though
now not as restrictive in maintaining an exclusively Russian
composition of players and teams, Russian teams are still not allowed
to sign more than five foreign players, while non-Russian teams must
have at least 5 players from their respective country. Foreign
goaltenders in Russian teams have a limit regarding total seasonal
ice time. Prior to the inaugural season, several KHL teams signed
several players from the NHL. A dispute between the two leagues over
some of these signings was supposed to have been resolved by an
agreement signed on July 10, 2008, whereby each league would honor
the contracts of the other, but the signing of Alexander Radulov was
made public one day after the agreement (though it was actually
signed two days prior to the agreement taking effect), leading to an
investigation by the International Ice Hockey Federation. On October
4, 2010, the conflict between the leagues was settled when both
signed a new agreement to honor one another's contracts. KHL players
are represented by the Kontinental Hockey League Players' Trade
Union. The top five point scoring players in the 2011-12 season were
Alexander Radulov (63
pts), Tony Mårtensson
and Vadim Schipachev (59
pts each), Brandon Bochenski
(58 pts) and Kevin Dallman
(54 pts). The top goal scorers were Brandon Bochenski with 27,
followed by Alexander Radulov and Danis
Zaripov (25 each), Maxim
Pestushko (24) and Tony Mårtensson with 23. The top plus-minus
rating went to Tony Mårtensson who was a +35. The top goaltenders
(by wins) were Michael Garnett
(29), Jakub
Štěpánek (21), Rastislav
Staňa and Chris
Holt (20 each) and (Karri
Rämö (19).
Season Structure
The
league is divided into two conferences, East (with 12 teams) and West
(with 14 teams), and further into two divisions per conference.
During the regular season, each team plays 52 games: two games
against each of the other teams and two extra games against a
selected rival, normally the geographically closest team. The 8
top-ranked teams in each conference receive play-off berths. Within
each conference quarterfinals, semifinals and finals are played
before the conference winners play against each other for the Gagarin
Cup. The division winners are seeded first and second in their
conference, based on their regular season record. All playoff rounds
are played as best-of-seven series. In each round, the top seeded
remaining team is paired with the lowest seeded team etc. In the
playoffs, overtime periods last 20 minutes (or until a goal is
scored). The number of overtime periods is not limited.This playoff
structure is very similar to the current format of the NHL playoffs.
Founding (2008)
The
KHL was founded in 2008 with 24 teams, the 20 teams from the last
season of the Russian Superleague as well as the champion of the
2007-08 season of the second division. In addition, one team each
from Latvia, Belarus and Kazakhstan were included. The teams were
divided into 4 divisions, based on the performance in previous
seasons. The first season got under way on 2 September 2008 and ended
in April 2009 with AK Bars Kazan becoming the first ever winner of
the Gagarin Cup.
Introduction of conferences (2009)
In an effort to reduce the large travel distances for the teams, the second season saw the introduction of two conferences (East and West) and the re-alignment of the divisions according to geographical criteria. Despite efforts to expand the league to Central and Western Europe, only minor changes in the compositions of the Russian teams happened in the first three seasons. In the Gagarin Cup finals, teams from the East dominated with AK Bars Kazan winning twice and Salavat Yulaev Ufa once.
Yaroslavl air disaster (2011)
The
start of the 4th
season was overshadowed by the Yaroslavl air disaster on 7 September
2011 in which almost the entire team of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl was
killed shortly after take-off for their flight to their season
opening game in Minsk. The Opening Cup game in Ufa, which was already
under way when news of the disaster arrived, was abandoned and the
start of the season postponed by 5 days. Lokomotiv Yaroslavl was
forced to withdraw from the KHL season, but later played part of the
VHL season and returned to the KHL in 2012.
Expansion to Central Europe (2011 and 2012)
After
several failed attempts of teams from Central Europe and Scandinavia
to join the KHL, expansion beyond the borders of the former Soviet
Union was finally realized in 2011. Lev Poprad, a newly founded team
based in Poprad, Slovakia was admitted to the league. Lev failed to
reach the play-offs, but managed to draw considerable interest and
sold out many of their home matches. For the 2012-13 season, Lev is
replaced by a team of the same name, Lev Praha, from Prague, Czech
Republic, while Slovan Bratislava from Slovakia and Ukraine's HC
Donbass join the KHL.
Proposed pan-European league
United
Hockey Europe is a proposed pan-European
ice hockey league.
It was announced at the International
Ice Hockey Federation's September 2009 congress by Alexander
Medvedev, the head of the Kontinental
Hockey League (KHL). The
proposed league would consist of two conferences split into four
divisions. The current KHL would make up one of the conferences. The
other conference would be composed of a Scandinavian
division and a Central
European division. The winners of the two conferences would play
each other for the overall championship. The new league would essentially
replace the current
model of European hockey based on relegation
and promotion within national systems, supplemented by an
international tournament, most recently Champions
Hockey League, and replace it with a system of franchises much like that of North American National
Hockey League (NHL).
Central Europe
The Czech
Republic's HC Energie
Karlovy Vary signed letters of intent with the KHL in 2008 and
hoped to begin playing in the 2009-10 season. However, they had to
annul plans to join the league due to the financial crisis of
2007-2010. German
teams Eisbären
Berlin and Kölner
Haie have been approached by the KHL but are currently not
considering joining the league. The KHL also wants to expand to
Austria by affiliating EC
Red Bull Salzburg. SKA
Saint Petersburg General manager Barry Smith said that an
affiliation may be possible in three or four years. Red Bull and team
owner Dietrich Mateschitz, however, favours playing in the German
Deutsche Eishockey
Liga. In an interview for Croatian sports portal Sportal.hr,
Croatian hockey club KHL
Medveščak's president Damir Gojanović revealed that he and
club's management have been in contacts with KHL expansion
representatives about possibility of Croatian club joining the KHL.
KHL Medveščak has very high attendance, a loyal fan base and comes
from a large and regionally important city witha brand new
multi-purpose arena. Italian hockey club Hockey
Milano Rossoblu was slated to join the KHL in the 2012–13
season but they ultimately rebuffed, as in they refused, due to a
small arena, tight finances and the club being too underdeveloped.
They might join the league the following season. A group from
Switzerland is interested in
starting an expansion team in Hutwill
for the 2014-15 season.
Northern Europe
On 28 April 2009, it was reported
that the Swedish
teams HV71, Linköpings
HC, Färjestad BK,
Frölunda HC and
Djurgårdens IF
(of which Färjestad and Frölunda have had offers previously from
the KHL) broke their contracts with Elitserien's
club association. This caused speculation as to whether they want to
join the KHL or create a new league as an expansion of the Nordic
Trophy. None of the clubs have officially said that they want to
stop playing in Elitserien, although the seven remaining clubs have
drawn such conclusions. The quarrel was at least temporarily resolved
on 9 June 2009, when all clubs agreed to continue their operation in
Elitserien through the 2010–11 season. According to Russia
Today News, the Finnish
team Kärpät
is also interested. Another real candidate from Finland may be the
Espoo Blues for future
seasons. In November 2009, the KHL and AIK
IF from Stockholm, Sweden
(at that time playing in the HockeyAllsvenskan)
signed a document announcing an invitation from the KHL to AIK IF
club to become a member of the KHL, and join the league, beginning
from the 2010–11 season provided that AIK observes all the terms
and conditions, and meets all KHL admission criteria. The reason for
the invitation was because of AIK's serious economical problems at
that time. However, in the end, AIK were unable to join after the
plan was rejected by the Swedish Ice Hockey Association (SIHA). Later
during the 2009–10 season, AIK were promoted back to the Swedish
top league Elitserien and saved
their economy. It is possible that the KHL will have a new team from
Vilnius, Lithuania.
In Autumn 2009, KHL's SKA Petersburg and Bars Kazan played an
exhibition game there, with more such games likely in the future. The
main hurdles to be overcome for bringing a team there is funding, as
well the fact that basketball is very popular in the region. The team
would be called Vėtra Vilnius, and would be an expansion of the
Sports Association Vėtra.
Eastern Europe
The Belarus Ice Hockey Federation
has announced that it plans to include up to four Belarussian teams
in the KHL, with league VP Vladimir Shalaev confirming the prospect
of adding a second Belarussian KHL team for the 2009-10 season. Of
these, Yunost Minsk, along
with HK Homiel (which may
relocate to Babruysk due to arena
complications) of the Belarusian
Extraleague, are actively taking steps to join the KHL. Ukraine's
Sokil Kyiv has attempted to
join, but financial issues have delayed a bid. They have a new 12,000
seat arena due in 2012 and are currently in negotiation with the KHL
to join in the near future. President of the Hockey Federation of
Ukraine, Anatoliy Brezvin, stated "I can not say under what
brand it will be [...] Sokil,
HC Kiev or some
other. But there is some agreement that the next season will be [a]
team from Ukraine, with Ukrainian players in the KHL." Also from
Kiev, the expansion HC
Budivelnyk had signed letters of intent and planned on joining
the KHL for the 2010-11 season, but support fell through due to
bureaucratic complications with the arena. Budivelnyk had even signed
several players and personnel in order to ice a team for the coming
season. HC Berkut has stated its
goals are to build a new arena and join the KHL.
Russia
Krylya
Sovetov had declared interest to join the league for the 2010-11
season. Another potential candidate city for expansion is Sochi.
The 2014 Winter Olympics will result in huge amounts of investment in
the city, with one result being the construction of the Bolshoi
Palace arena. It is possible that the city may see a new team or
relocated team there by the start of the Olympics. The mayor of Sochi
has reciprocated this goal.
North Asia
Rubin
Tyumen may join the league in coming years, whereas Vityaz
Chekhov may leave the league. The Island of Sakhalin in the
Russian Far East might receive a team in the future. HC Rys', of the
Russian Major League, is in negotiations to relocate the team there.
Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, the
largest city on the island, has a population of almost 200,000. Plans
are in the works to build a new arena in the city by 2011.
Kazzinc-Torpedo, currently
playing in the Russian Major League, has been in negotiations to join
the KHL. The club, formerly known as Torpedo Ust-Kamenogorsk, used to
play in the highest division during the Soviet era. Torpedo has
typically been the most dominant developmental club in Kazakhstan.
Most Kazakh players who have reached the NHL trace their roots to
Torpedo.
No comments:
Post a Comment