KHL Bobrov Division

The KHL's Bobrov Division was formed in 2008 as part of the league's inauguration and is part of the Western conference since the second season of KHL when the conferences were established. It is named in honor of Vsevolod Bobrov; storied ice hockey gold medalist for the Soviet Union and former CSKA and VVS player.
The Bobrov division is currently made up of the following teams:

• Spartak Moscow
• SKA Saint Petersburg
• Dinamo Riga
• Jokerit Helsinki
• Slovan Bratislava
• Dinamo Minsk
• KHL Medveščak Zagreb

In the first KHL season, the division alignment was determined by team strength and the Bobrov division consisted of: Salavat Yulaev Ufa, Atlant Moscow Oblast, HC Dinamo Minsk, Metallurg Novokuznetsk, Severstal Cherepovets and Spartak Moscow. With the geographical alignment of the divisions for the 2009–10 season, the composition of the Bobrov division was completely changed. Only Spartak Moscow and Dinamo Minsk remained in the division. They were joined by the two other teams from Moscow, CSKA Moscow and Dynamo Moscow, as well as SKA Saint Petersburg and Dinamo Riga. Thus, the division was made up of the most westerly teams of the KHL.
In 2010, Dynamo Moscow merged with HC MVD (from the Tarasov Division). The new team, UHC Dynamo, took the place of the old Dynamo in this division. Dinamo Minsk left for the Tarasov Division and was replaced by HC Lev Poprad in this division. However later Lev was excluded from the league and the Bobrov Division became the first division in the history of the KHL to have the number of teams at 5 instead of 6.
In 2011, the KHL expanded for the first time beyond the borders of the post-Soviet states by admitting HC Lev Poprad, a newly formed team that is based in Poprad, Slovakia.
The expansion to 26 teams for the 2012–13 season caused some re-alignments among the Western conference divisions. The two newcomers Slovan Bratislava from Slovakia and HC Donbass from Ukraine were added to the Boborv division. In the meantime, two Moscow teams, Spartak and CSKA were moved to the Tarasov Division, while Vityaz Chekhov move to Bobrov. HC Lev Poprad was dissolved and replaced by a new organization, Lev Praha from Prague, Czech Republic. This brought the number of teams in the Bobrov division to 7, representing 5 different countries.
The expansion to 28 teams for the 2013–14 season caused some re-alignments among the Western conference divisions; as such, Croatian newcomer KHL Medveščak Zagreb were added to the Borbov division, while HC Vityaz, HC Donbass and Dynamo Moscow were moved to the Tarasov Division and replaced by Dinamo Minsk and CSKA Moscow.
Lev Praha had to withdraw prior to the 2014–15 season for financial reasons, whereas Jokerit from Helsinki, Finland joined. Furthermore, CSKA Moscow and Atlant Moscow Oblast swapped divisions.

Division winners

• 2014: SKA Saint Petersburg (105 points)
• 2013: SKA Saint Petersburg (115 points)
• 2012: SKA Saint Petersburg (113 points)
• 2011: UHC Dynamo (96 points)
• 2010: SKA Saint Petersburg (122 points)
• 2009: Salavat Yulaev Ufa (129 points)

 

Vsevolod Mikhailovich Bobrov (Всеволод Михайлович Бобров; 1 December 1922 – 1 July 1979) was a Soviet athlete, who excelled in football, bandy and ice hockey. He is considered one of the best Russians ever in all of those sports.

Bobrov was born in Morshansk. After serving in the Soviet Army during World War II he was invited to play football for the Army club CSKA Moscow in 1945. Playing until 1953 for CSKA, VVS, and Spartak, he would go on to win the Soviet Championship three times, scoring 97 goals in only 116 games. Bobrov led the country in goals in 1945 with 24 and 1947 with 14. In 1945, Vsevolod was a guest player for Dynamo Moscow's tour of Great Britain, and drew rave reviews after scoring six goals as the Russian club played against teams including Chelsea, Arsenal, and Rangers. He was capped three times for the Soviet Union national team representing them in the 1952 Summer Olympics. He scored five goals in total, including a hat trick against Yugoslavia.

·     Bobrov began playing hockey for CSKA a year after his football start, in 1946. His playing career in this sport lasted until 1957, with the years between 1950 and 1953 spent with VVS. Although football was Bobrov's first sport, his success in ice hockey was even greater. In 1950, a plane crash almost killed the entire Soviet national ice hockey team. Bobrov survived the crash as he overslept and travelled by rail. In the Soviet Championship, that his teams won seven times, Vsevolod scored an amazing 254 goals in only 130 games. He played for the Soviet national team in the 1956 Winter Olympics, becoming one of the few athletes to participate in both the Summer and Winter games. Bobrov proceeded to lead his country to the gold medal, and also won the World Championship in 1954 and 1956. Overall, he scored 89 goals in 59 games for his country. In Russian ice hockey, his name was given to an exclusive list of players, the Bobrov Club, who scored over 250 goals during their career.

·     Bobrov, who served as a player-coach in both sports during his time with VVS, would go on to coach various teams after retiring as a player in both football and ice hockey. In the latter, he coached the USSR in the 1972 Summit Series and then led them to the World Championship in 1974 and 1975.

·     Vsevolod Bobrov died in Moscow in 1979. He was elected to the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame in 1997, the first year it was created. For the greatest Russian athlete in the 20th century, Bobrov finished third behind football goalkeeper Lev Yashin and Greco-Roman wrestler Alexander Karelin.