Torpedo had a good season. The team, of course, had some low points, but there were no doubts that it would reach the playoffs. Peteris Skudra showed that he has the ability to build a good locker room, with which he can reach good achievements. Unfortunately for their fans, though, they couldn’t run past Lokomotiv in the Gagarin Cup playoffs’ first round. Torpedo was swept by the opposition and Skudra left the team.
The story of the season
The Nizhny Novgorod team started the season with an away trip. A result of seven points out of the possible maximum of twelve in the Khanty-Mansiysk – Omsk – Novosibirsk – Astana itinerary is indeed good. But after this promising start, a few misfires didn’t allow the team to have a truly successful first part of the season. The best game of the period was the home win (3:0) against Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, where Torpedo did not leave any chance to the team then coached by Alexei Kudashov. The home team was better in any part of the game. This slightly reduced the pressure on the team’s results. The team then won three straight games and got into the playoffs zone.
But during the fall the team didn’t have any long winning streak. The team tried to get the best in each of their games, but there were also some misfires. For example, in Minsk, the team coached by Gordie Dwyer had a huge win against Torpedo (5:1). Then, Torpedo lost another four games and left the playoffs zone, until the streak was broken in Moscow, when they defeated Dynamo (1:0) with a shootout win. Unfortunately for the team, the next games were lost again, against Lokomotiv Yaroslavl (1:4) and SKA St. Petersburg (4-5 SO).
This way, the win in Kazan against Ak Bars was even more important. It was a hard game, with not many scoring chances and three fundamental points for Torpedo (2:1). In November, Torpedo had five wins in six games and the October bad results were a thing of the past. The Nizhny Novgorod team got to the playoffs as the fifth seed and had to face Lokomotiv in the first round.
Maybe in a few years the fans will think that it was an easy win for Lokomotiv, considering the final score, but it would be a huge mistake. All the games ended with just one goal of difference and, moreover, at both games played at the Arena 2000 in Yaroslavl, Torpedo actually scored first. And if in the first game the hosts managed to turn the game around (2:1) still in the middle of the game, the next day Lokomotiv had to battle hard to avoid going to an uncomfortable overtime. Petri Kontiola gifted his team a win just 100 seconds to the horn.
In Nizhny Novgorod the fans saw more goals and both games ended up at the overtime, where the guests had a bit more luck. This was in particular true for the fourth game, when during the overtime Torpedo had several good scoring chances. Skudra’s team could well get the series back to Nizhny Novgorod, but they run out of luck.
That game was the last for Peteris Skudra at the helm of the team. After five years of work with the team, the Latvian coach left Nizhny Novgorod. The team changed also the boards, not only the coaching staff. Yan Golubovsky will be the team’s new general manager.
Peteris Skudra spent five consecutive seasons at the helm of Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod. As usual, he changed a lot of the roster during the summer pause, had a very hard preseason and got his team to the playoffs. The fans had a chance to watch the usual Peteris Skudra: very emotional and always eager to win more games. The coach managed to fulfill the minimum goal for the season, but there were more expectations for the Gagarin Cup playoffs.
For some time, it wasn’t clear whether Skudra was going to leave Torpedo. But now, it’s a fact. He will be replaced by David Nemirovsky.
Best game On November 24, Torpedo got to a city where winning a game is traditionally very hard for away teams. This is about Magnitogorsk. Moreover, Torpedo wasn’t in their best streak, without speaking about the difficulty of facing Sergei Mozyakin and company. But the Nizhny Novgorod team managed to show the opponents their best hockey. The home team didn’t create many chances to beat the goalie Ivan Lisutin, while Torpedo capitalized their chances and the goals by Ivan Zakharchuk and Vladimir Galuzin gave three deserved points to Skudra’s squad.
Worst game On October 9, Nizhny Novgorod was visited by the future Gagarin Cup champions: Ak Bars Kazan. During the last season, the teams faced four times, and this was the first game of this series. A packed arena in Nizhny Novgorod witnessed an easy win for the away team. Torpedo could not do much, while Vladimir Tkachyov, on the other hand, was unstoppable. He added two helpers of a hat-trick, becoming the main hero of Ak Bars’ huge win.
Discover Stanislav Galimov managed to revitalize his career in Nizhny Novgorod. After an unlucky period in Kazan, the goalie’s career seen a new peak. His great year was noticed by both fans and experts. The KHL awarded him with goalie of the month honors in September. And most importantly, playing for Torpedo Stanislav managed to make a big jump forward and become the team’s starting goalie. The goalie definitely didn’t fail in his efforts. In 39 regular season games, he had very good stats with a saves percentage of .917 and posting a goals-against average of 2.13.
Disappointment In Nizhny Novgorod, there were big expectations from Ziga Jeglic. The Slovenian national got to Torpedo during the summer, but he didn’t manage to become a leader for the team. Jeglic had just four assists in fifteen games, without scoring any goal. He was a shadow of himself, and Skudra decided to move on and release him still during the season.
Regular season: Yegor Dugin – 29 (12+17), Kaspars Daugavins – 27 (11+16)
Playoffs: Yury Sergiyenko – 4 (2+2), Kaspars Daugavins – 2 (0+2)
Magnitka didn’t manage to repeat last year’s achievements and was eliminated at the second round of the playoffs. What prevented the Ural team from performing better?
Metallurg’s roster significantly changed from last season’s lineup. A number of defensemen, including Chris Lee (who then returned during the season) and forward Danis Zaripov left the team. The departure of the veteran winger wasn’t just a loss, it was a true challenge for Magnitka.
The team had significant problems during the Fall, that caused the firing of the head coach Ilya Vorobyov. Metallurg didn’t seek an external replacement and gave the team to Viktor Kozlov. The Ural team managed to make it to the postseason, but they didn’t manage to go through the Eastern Conference semifinals.
The Story of the Season
The Gagarin Cup current runners-up didn’t have a good August and September. Metallurg had pretty much as many wins as losses. But the most important thing is that the Urals team lost to Ak Bars, Lokomotiv, Salavat Yulaev, SKA, and Traktor – all teams who aspire to a high place in the KHL standings. Among the few positive moments, a win against Barys (3:2 SO) can be noticed. In October it looked like Metallurg could improve the situation. The team won five games out of six, but then they stumbled again as they lost 2:7 against CSKA. Unfortunately for the team, that defeat started yet another losing streak. On November 2, Magnitka lost against Lada at home (1:3) and after that game, it was announced that Ilya Vorobyov was released from his duties as Metallurg head coach. The boards entrusted Viktor Kozlov as a new head coach, but that wasn’t the only announced change – Metallurg’s lineup was enriched by a few players who left the team in the 2017 offseason. More precisely, Chris Lee, Alexei Bereglazov and Wojtek Wolski. This latter suffered from a serious injury last year, had a great start of the season with Kunlun Red Star and once again wore Metallurg jersey.
These changes allowed the Urals team to be more consistent as they started defeating the leaders. CSKA was defeated in Moscow (4:1), while Lokomotiv Yaroslavl was beaten at home (4:1). The two wins against Jokerit Helsinki (2:1 SO, 2:1 OT) were also worthy of a mention. All this gave the team more confidence, but the team didn’t avoid the occasional slump. As a result, Metallurg Magnitogorsk finished the regular season as the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference, having to face Vladimir Krikunov’s Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg in the playoffs first round.
Many experts named this series as the most uncertain of the whole first round, but the bigger experience of the Metallurg players played a key role in the contest. Metallurg looked better than the opposition, playing very well with the special teams and deservedly winning the series (4-2). Even Krikunov praised Metallurg’s special teams after the series. The coach declared that Metallurg continuously changed the way they were playing on the powerplay and his team had a very hard time in getting used to their style.
But in the next round, Metallurg didn’t manage to stop the next Gagarin Cup champions. The team led by Kozlov won the first game (4:3 OT), but then suffered from four consecutive defeats, finishing their season. Most likely, Metallurg needs a rebuild. The team already lost a great line when Zaripov left the team, and now they will also need to find a replacement for the Czech center Jan Kovar.
Coach
It was the first time that Viktor Kozlov was a head coach. Kozlov had to deal with many problems and huge expectations from the fans. He managed to give the team a good guide, but could not defeat Ak Bars in the playoffs. It’s hard to evaluate Kozlov’s job, since he got the team midway through the season.
It’s already known that the new Metallurg Magnitogorsk head coach will be Jozef Jandac. This, however, doesn’t mean that Kozlov’s history with Magnitogorsk is over. He’ll stay with the team as an assistant coach and will have another chance of becoming the head coach again in a couple of years.
Best Game
On October 21 Metallurg got to Moscow to face CSKA. The Red Army was the second team in the overall standings and was starting to think about the playoffs already, while Magnitogorsk just started their battle to get to the playoffs. CSKA started the game very well, since Kirill Petrov scored already at the sixth minute, while Magnitka couldn’t find a solution against the home team’s defense. However, midway through the game Wojtek Wolski tied the game up, and then it was all Metallurg. The Urals team played a tactically perfect game and deservedly won the contest.
Worst Game
Oddly enough, Metallurg played against CSKA also its worst game. The Red Army got to Magnitogorsk on October 18 and the fans were eagerly waiting for the battle between the Gagarin Cup runners-up and one of the top contenders for this year’s title. But the game wasn’t really a battle. Vasily Koshechkin allowed a couple of early goals and was replaced by Ilya Samsonov, who allowed five goals to the opposition. All of the seven CSKA goals were scored by different players.
Discover
It’s hard to call the discover of the season one of the most experienced foreign players in the KHL. As you probably have already understood, we’re talking about Matt Ellison. In 55 games, he scored 45 (20+25) points, even surpassing Sergei Mozyakin in the top-scorers standings of the regular season. Why are we talking about him? Many fans weren’t sure about Ellison, but with his strong game he confirmed to be a high-level player and that wherever he plays, his hockey is always great. 
Anton Shenfeld got back to Magnitogorsk from Togliatti to take a step forward in his career. 37 games, seven (2+5) points – this is definitely not what the expectations were for Lada’s leader. Just in one season, Shenfeld’s production fell by almost five times. Naturally, he didn’t become a leader.
Regular season: Matt Ellison – 45 (20+25), Sergei Mozyakin – 42 (19+23)
Playoffs: Sergei Mozyakin – 12 (4+8), Wojtek Wolski – 11 (5+6)
During the tenth Kontintental Hockey League season Jokerit celebrated its 50th birthday. During the whole season several events were organized to celebrate such an impressive achievement. The culmination of the celebrations was the first KHL regular season game on open air. The results of the Finnish team were good on ice too as Jokerit ended on the third place in the Western Conference behind CSKA and SKA.
The story of the season
The Helsinki team had a very thoroughly preparation towards the 2017/2018 season. The previous campaign wasn’t the best for the Jokers as they got to the playoffs only as the eighth seed and lost 0-4 against CSKA Moscow in the first round, thus they needed to improve. A serious motivation boost was of course the 50th birthday of the team, to be celebrated in 2017 Winter, but a few off-ice events can’t make up for a good result on ice, thus they needed to show their worth on the rink.
The Helsinki team started with a few swing, but then the team led by Jukka Jalonen had an amazing streak of 15 wins on a row, with only one of them being an OT win. During the six-weeks streak, the Finns managed to defeat CSKA 4:0 and also to get the best out of the top teams of the Eastern Conference, Salavat Yulaev Ufa and Ak Bars Kazan. The Jokers’ triumphal parade was stopped by their closest neighbors, SKA St. Petersburg, who also were in the middle of a great streak, perhaps even more impressing.
Later in November, Jokerit had another great streak with seven games in eight games, three of them without allowing any goal. By the way, shutouts need to be mentioned apart. The regular season leader for shutout games was Jokerit goalie Ryan Zapolski. This was the second season in the KHL for the 31-years-old American netminder, by far the best one. Ryan had nine shutouts, was named once the best goalie of the month (and another twice the best goalie of the week) and was called to the All-Star Game. The first half of the season was very successful for the Jokers, even if counting the little swing they had in late October. One of the biggest reasons for their success was the great acquisitions during the summer. The Helsinki-based team signed one of the top-scoring defensemen in the league, Sami Lepisto, from Salavat Yulaev Ufa, the Danish national Nicklas Jensen from North America, who scored 20 goals during the regular season, and the successful teenager Eeli Tolvanen, a Finn starlet with a great shot and an even better nose for the net.
However, Jokerit didn’t manage to play the whole season at the same high level. In the second half of the season, the team led by Jalonen relaxed a bit too much and, as a result, before March 1 they lost two games in a row for three times. This problem, however, didn’t have any significant effect on the standings, as the difference in points within the Western Conference was so big that the team never left the third place, saving itself from meeting SKA St. Petersburg in the second round.
In the first round, Jokerit faced HC Sochi, and the first game was won by the team led by Sergei Zubov. But in the rest of the series, the Finns didn’t give any chance to their opponents, defeating them twice with a 7:2 score and winning two games with an overtime. Jalonen’s main weapon was Tolvanen, who scored five goals in five games. In the next round the Finnish team faced CSKA Moscow, but they couldn’t defeat the Red Army. The first two games were won by CSKA with a general 6:0 score, but then Jokerit proved wrong the ones who already thought that they were going to surrender. In the next three games Jokerit won twice, and the fifth clash was the most memorable as it became the longest game in the history of the KHL. The game-winning goal was scored only at the 143rd minute, and its author was Jokerit’s forward Mika Niemi. In this game the Finnish team gave its maximum, and out of mental and physical tiredness their season ended at the sixth game of the Western Conference semifinals.
Coach
In 2017 October it became clear that, no matter the result, Jokerit head coach Jukka Jalonen will leave the KHL to coach the Finland national team. The specialist already guided the national team, winning the IIHF World Championship gold medal in 2011. Jalonen arrived in Helsinki in 2016, and before of this job he coached SKA for two years (winning the regular season champions title), then staying without a club for two further seasons. Jokerit didn’t win any KHL medal, but Jalonen’s team played very good hockey, competed hard and the fans thanked him for the great job he had.
Best game
Of course, here it could be mentioned the 4:0 win against CSKA in September, or even the incredibly long game they had in the playoffs, but the first game that comes to the mind is another one, and Jokerit didn’t even win. But it was definitely the best game. To celebrate Jokerit’s 50th birthday and the KHL’s 10th season, Jokerit and the league decided to play a game in open air on December 2 at the Park Kaisaniemi. Jokerit’s opponents were SKA St. Petersburg and it was truly memorable. More than 17,500 spectators attended the game, becoming a new attendance record for the league. The atmosphere was incredible, but the game was even better. Jokerit managed to make it a tied game twice and fought until the final horn. This game will be remembered for a lot of time.
Worst game
During the 2017/2018 season Jokerit twice lost with a 0:4 score. The first time it happened during the regular season as on October 30 Barys scored them four unanswered goals. The Finn team had 82 shot attempts, with 44 shots on goal, but they couldn’t beat Henrik Karlsson. The second 0:4 loss happened on March 16, in the first game of the second round of the playoffs against CSKA Moscow. This time the loss was more deserved, as the Red Army defeated Jokerit in pretty much any aspect of the game.
Discover
Eeli Tolvanen was awarded with best rookie of the week honors for six times. A further time he was the top forward of the week and twice the best rookie of the month. The kid didn’t simply get to the KHL, but took it by storm as he scored a hat trick in his very first game in the league. Earlier, Tolvanen was playing in the USHL and he made the right move signing with Jokerit. He started the season scoring with an incredible rate, 20 (11+9) points in his first 15 games. Later he cooled down a bit, but he finished the regular season with 36 points in 49 games. If that’s not enough, he represented Finland at the Olympic Games, making it to the All-Star team of the tournament, being its third top scorer. During the playoffs, the 18-years-old guy (he turned 19 only in April) played a bit less efficient, but once Jokerit finished his season he moved to the NHL, where he intends to play even in the future.
If compared with the two previous seasons, the Danish forward Peter Regin seen a significant decrease in his production. His 48 points in the regular season (he maintained this level for two seasons) was changed by 29 (8+21) points. That being said, it’s hard to call this season a true disappointment: Regin’s ice time went down, and his role in the team passed to other players. Most likely, the Finnish public expected more from the return of the then KHL top goalscorer Steve Moses, but he didn’t have too much time for his adaptation.
Top scorers
Regular Season: Nicklas Jensen – 37 (20+17), Eeli Tolvanen – 36 (19+17), Brian O’Neill – 29 (14+15), Peter Regin – 29 (8+21), Sami Lepisto – 29 (7+22)
Playoffs: Matthew Gilroy – 11 (1+10), Olli Palola – 7 (6+1), Eeli Tolvanen – 7 (6+1), Sami Lepisto – 7 (0+7)
The 2016/2017 season wasn’t the best for Salavat Yulaev as they had a first-round exit against Ak Bars Kazan (1-4). Changes in the hockey operations team were unavoidable and on March 27, 2017 the team announced that they hired 59-years-old Errka Westerlund as their new head coach. The Finn is one of the most-known European specialists and had already KHL experience from his stint with Jokerit Helsinki.
During the offseason, Salavat Yulaev had a lot of events. The biggest loss was, of course, the move of Kirill Kaprizov to CSKA Moscow. The club had new players in all roles. The goaltending line was filled in by the extravagant Ben Scrivens, the defensive corps by Philip Larsen and the forward lineup by Ilya Zubov and Jonas Kemppainen. The latter was signed with the scope of forming a good first line with Teemu Hartikainen and Linus Omark and that is what exactly happened.
The story of the season
The start of the season was very inconsistent for Salavat Yulaev Ufa. And this problem accompanied the team for the whole year. The Ufa team alternated great moments and fails, big wins and unexplainable huge losses.
The calendar gifted Salavat Yulaev a good start of the season with six games at home against teams surely within its reach. But the team led by Westerlund didn’t manage to live up to the expectations. After a win over Admiral (3:1) the team suffered from a loss from Amur (4:5) and an incredible defeat against Kunlun Red Star (1:2) with a goal allowed only two seconds to the final horn. However, those two games were followed by two big wins against HC Sochi (11:3) and Neftekhimik (6:0).
After the start, the season has been a true roller-coaster for the Ufa team, that oscillated between the top of the Eastern Conference standings and outside the playoffs zone. Mostly this was due to the fact that the Chernyshev Division leadership was often fought between Salavat and Avangard, who was even more inconsistent. Therefore, the Ufa team always tried hard to climb into the first place of the division, which would automatically give them the second seed in the playoffs. The second half of November was particularly bad for Salavat, when they lost six games out of seven. After that streak, many started questioning if Westerlund shouldn’t have been fired, and defenseman Zakhar Arzamastsev gave a resonant interview where he criticized the head coach and the General Manager Leonid Vaysfeld.
The club didn’t secure itself a playoff spot until the Olympic Games, but in the end they finished the regular season as the second seed in the Eastern Conference, getting Avangard as their opponents. The teams gifted the fans one of the most spectacular series of the postseason, that ended as the second series with more goals in the KHL history.
The teams scored 10 goals in the first game already (6:4), and during the game Salavat was behind (0:3) and (2:4). The most productive players were Omark and Hartikainen, who scored four and five points respectively. The result of the second game was a true surprise, as in Ufa the team on home soil was destroyed (2:7), and the third game was won by Avangard as well. The key moment of the series was the return of Ben Scrivens, who picked up an injury during the Olympic Games. Salavat started allowing fewer goals and a better defensive game became very important for their further success. The culmination of the series was the end of the seventh game. Avangard managed to tie the game at only 17 (!) seconds to the final horn playing six-on-three. But during the overtime, Maxim Goncharov won the game, and the series, for Ufa.
The next opponent was Traktor and once again the series went to the seventh game. The Chelyabinsk-based team managed to do the most important thing: blocking Salavat’s first line. Moreover, Traktor found a joker in the deck in Vitaly Kravtsov. It was Kravtsov to score the game-winning goal in the first game of the series (2:1). It looked like Salavat could get the initiative back after winning the second game (3:2 OT), but then surprisingly Mikhail Yunkov scored a double in the third game to gift an unexpected win to Traktor (0:2).
This was just the start of the intrigue. Traktor won 4:1 on their head coach Anvar Gatiyatullin’s birthday, but Ufa replied with a great performance by Ben Scrivens, who not only got a shutout, but also participated in the only goal of the game, scored by Anton Burdasov. It was the last win by Salavat. In the sixth game the team led by Gatiyatullin demoralized Ufa scoring seven goals, and in the seventh game they demonstrated that they were the true surprise of the season, getting an early lead (2:1) and then containing the opposition until the final horn.
Coach
Already during the pre-season tournament in Nizhny Novgorod, Erkka Westerlund told KHL.ru that his slogan was “We came here to win”. He confirmed his words as Salavat won the Governor Cup. And everything was on his side to think that his season will be a success: a lot of experience (Olympic Games and World Championship medals), a good record in the KHL with Jokerit and a very good roster, even considering the loss of Kirill Kaprizov.
That being said, it’s hard to call “successful” Westerlund’s first experience with a Russian team. The Finn specialist, most likely, couldn’t find the key for a couple of specific situations. Throughout the season he was criticized by the press, by the fans and even from his own players with whom, apparently, he never found a common language.
On April 4th Salavat Yulaev announced to have parted ways with the Finn. The next season will start under the guide of Nikolai Tsulygin, who was one of his assistants. Moreover, Westerlund during an interview with a Finnish outlet opened up and said that the boards of Salavat were really pressing on him. On the other hand, it’s impossible to call this season a failure for Salavat Yulaev. The club managed to get to the second round of the playoffs, thus improving the results from one year ago. But anyways there were bigger expectations on the team.
On March 20 the Salavat Yulaev – Traktor playoffs series got back to Chelyabinsk with a 1-1 score. Traktor started the game very actively in front of its fans, without scoring, but outshooting the opposition 15-4. In the next period, Ufa managed to get the initiative, but Traktor started scoring. The Chelyabinsk team scored twice, and both times Alexei Kruchinin and Vitaly Kravtsov were instrumental: at the 23rd minute Kruchinin defeated Scrivens with a backhander, and seven minutes later he crafted the offensive play finalized by Alexander Sharov with a great shot.
The third period was even more interesting. First Mikhail Yunkov narrowed the gap, with the goal being awarded only after the replay. Linus Omark scored a powerplay goal, and then Mikhail Yunkov scored again to get a double. Yunkov’s performance was even more interesting if we consider that it was only the second game of the veteran forward of the playoffs.
Worst game
The Green Derby is always a special game. The fans in Bashkiria and Tatarstan are always eagerly waiting for the games. And losses are always painful. Especially in cases such as what happened on November 22nd in Ufa. It was the first clash of the season between the two teams. It was impossible to say that Kazan had an overwhelming advantage, but with the help of the strictest execution of the game plan and an almost 100% realization of their chances Ak Bars slowly made it so that only one team remained on the ice. Two powerplay goals on the start of the first and the second period became the foundation of the win, that in the end was very large. The Kazan team even allowed itself to search for beautiful goals, in particular the fifth one, scored after a hand pass by Stanislav Galiyev to Yaroslav Kosov.
“We didn’t play like a team. I apologize to our fans, I apologize from myself and all the players,” Erkka Westerlund said after the game.
Discover
Signing the Finn forward Joonas Kemppainen to a contract last April 30th has been a big success. The arrival of Erkka Westerlund was very important for the move of the 30-years-old forward from Novosibirsk, where he spent the 2016/2017 campaign. In the end, Kemppainen was the ideal center for the other two Salavat winger Linus Omark and Teemu Hartikainen. As a result, Salavat’s top line scored 52 goals in the regular season, more than a third of the total goals scored by the team.
Disappointment It was the second season in Ufa for one of the most experienced Russian defensemen, Denis Kulyash. He was even the captain of the team, but this season after just 16 games he was surprisingly put on waivers for the first time of his career. He could have played for Salavat’s farm team in the VHL, Toros Neftekamsk, but the team dissolved the contract with the player, who was then picked up by Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg. There, he had a quite successful second part of the season.
Regular season: Linus Omark – 55 (16+39), Teemu Hartikainen – 41 (20+21), Filip Larsen – 38 (11+27), Joonas Kemppainen – 37 (16+21), Enver Lisin – 24 (14+10).
Playoffs: Linus Omark – 17 (4+13), Teemu Hartikainen – 11 (4+7), Joonas Kemppainen – 9 (4+5).
All change!
The appointment of Andrei Skabelka as head coach of Barys this week means that all the KHL’s 25 coaching positions are now filled. However, 13 of the men behind the benches are taking on a new challenge for the coming season. That’s just over half – with changes affecting some of the league’s strongest clubs as well as many of its outsiders.
The full list reads like this: Admiral (Sergei Svetlov replaces Oleg Leontiev); Amur (Nikolai Borshchevsky replaces Andrei Martemyanov); Avangard (Bob Hartley replaces German Titov); Avtomobilist (Andrei Martemyanov replaces Vladimir Krikunov); Barys (Andrei Skabelka replaces Galym Membetaliyev); Jokerit (Lauri Marjamaki replaces Jukka Jalonen); Kunlun Red Star (Jussi Tapola replaces Bobby Carpenter); Metallurg (Josef Jandac replaces Viktor Kozlov); Salavat Yulaev (Nikolai Tsulygin replaces Erkka Westerlund); SKA (Ilya Vorobyov replaces Oleg Znarok); Slovan (Vladimir Orszagh replaces Eduard Zankovets); Torpedo (David Nemirovsky replaces Peteris Skudra); Traktor (German Titov replaces Anvar Gatiyatulin)
Of course, not every club is changing course. Zinetula Bilyaletdinov’s position at Ak Bars is surely unassailable, Igor Nikitin’s impressive first season with CSKA has secured his position and Dmitry Kvartalnov will continue at Lokomotiv. Elsewhere, Vadim Yepanchintsev impressed in his first season at Spartak, while Dinamo Minsk has kept faith with Gordie Dwyer despite missing out on the playoffs. But with so many changes, it’s hard to have much sense of job security right now.
Reformed character
Olympic champion and Gagarin Cup winner Yegor Yakovlev is leaving the KHL to take on a new challenge with the New Jersey Devils. The defenseman, a key player for Oleg Znarok on the domestic and international stage, is also promising to learn from some of his past critics and insists he’s cut out the diving that once spoiled his game.
“Really, this was a big problem,” he admitted in an exclusive interview with KHL.ru. “But I’m working on it. I understand perfectly well that in North America it won’t be acceptable and, throughout the season just gone, there were no instances where I fell easily.”
As for the move to the Devils, that’s all part of the plan. “A long time ago I had a plan for my career path,” Yakovlev added. “And I’m fulfilling it. I knew exactly what I wanted when I went to Lokomotiv, when I accepted the offer from SKA, and now, when I signed my latest contract.”
When the Washington Capitals won the Stanley Cup for the first time in franchise history, it was a big moment for many people connected with the KHL. With Alexander Ovechkin captaining the team, Evgeny Kuznetsov topping the post-season scoring and Dmitry Orlov manning the defense, it could hardly have been otherwise.
Of the trio, Kuznetsov has the greatest KHL connections. He burst onto the scene as a rising star with Traktor, setting all kinds of rookie scoring records and reaching a Gagarin Cup final with his home-town team. Not surprisingly, his triumph in DC has delighted many back home, especially his first coaches within the Traktor system, Vladimir Shabunin, Alexander Shvarev and Viktor Demchenko.
Orlov played three KHL season with Metallurg Novokuznetsk before winning World Junior gold in 2011 and getting the call-up from the Caps. With over 400 NHL regular season and playoff outings, he’s established himself as one of the classiest D-men around – and the 26-year-old has now completed two-thirds of the Triple Gold Club after adding a Stanley Cup to his 2014 World Championship medal. Orlov has already promised to bring the cup to Novokuznetsk over the summer, a reminder that even with its team now in the second tier of Russian hockey, the Siberian city remains a passionate follower of the game.
The legendary Ovechkin left Russia before the KHL came into existence, returning to plunder 40 points in 31 games for his first club, Dynamo Moscow, during the 2012-13 lock-out. A Russian Superleague champion in 2005, an Olympic All-Star the following year, seven times winner of the Rocket Richard Trophy, multiple World Champion … the list of honors is endless. And, along with his Washington team-mates, the Great Eight highlights once again the strength of Russian hockey at all levels of the game.
The Yaroslavl team didn’t manage to repeat last year’s success as in Spring 2017 they went all the way through the Western Conference finals, surrendering only to the eventual champion SKA St. Petersburg. This year, the “railwaymen” faced SKA one round earlier, and the team led by Dmitry Kvartalnov won only one game during the series and finished its season.
The story of the season
Lokomotiv started the 2017/2018 campaign led by Alexei Kudashov and it was a rocky first part of the season. In the first eight games, the “railwaymen” won only four times. After this first cycle, the staff managed to change something in the team’s tactics and the team started to regularly get points, with a five-game winning streak.
But what happened in late September remains a mystery. Three big losses in five games, an incredible defeat in Novosibirsk, and then a loss to Avangard Omsk at home soil. After losing 1:6 against SKA in Yaroslavl, the boards opted for a head coach change and the choice fell on Dmitry Kvartalnov, who last year was coaching CSKA Moscow when Lokomotiv defeated them at the conference semifinals stage in Spring 2017.
The head coach change had a positive impact on the team. Kvartalnov’s coming gifted new emotions to the “railwaymen” as they won nine of the first 12 games under the new coach’s guide. A key moment was when Lokomotiv managed to defeat CSKA in Moscow (3:2 OT) when the Red Army team was on a great streak, thus creating a very good streak themselves and being at that point out of the crisis. It’s hard to say if Lokomotiv had the concrete goal of unhorsing Jokerit Helsinki from the third seed in the Western Conference, but in any case, they didn’t manage to do it. During the winter the Yaroslavl team lost too many points and they could not reach them back. Lokomotiv got to the playoffs with the fourth seed in the Western Conference.
But then Lokomotiv did not manage to contain SKA St. Petersburg. Kvartalnov’s team won only the second game of the series, showing their best defensive hockey of the playoffs. The team also started very well in the third game, but they could not find the key to beat SKA goalie Mikko Koskinen. The fourth game was memorable also because of some well-discussed fights. One of the best things of the Lokomotiv season was the debut of the 17-years-old Grigory Denisenko, one of the most talented Russian 2000-born players. Generally speaking, Kvartalnov called up to the main team many players from the Lokomotiv academy, gaining much praise from the boards at the end of the season.
As we already mentioned, Alexei Kudashov was fired during the fall and substituted by Dmitry Kvartalnov. The new coach brought up his style since the very first day. The “railwaymen” started playing in a much more aggressive hockey and rapidly became the second team in the whole league for shot attempts, which became very evident even to the fans, and as it was experienced by CSKA Moscow. But the most important thing was perhaps the fact that Kvartalnov started giving more space to youngsters. Under his guide, many young players had their KHL debut, even more so during the playoffs. After that Lokomotiv got eliminated by SKA, Kvartalnov has been confirmed as the team’s head coach, thus having a chance to spend an entire offseason in Yaroslavl.
On October 13th, the future Gagarin Cup winners Ak Bars Kazan got to Yaroslavl. The clash between the “railwaymen” and the Eastern Conference leaders promised to be very uncertain, but the game reserved little suspense to the fans. Lokomotiv managed to outplay Ak Bars (6:2) and earned three well-deserved points. Forward Egor Korshkov scored a double and goalie Emil Garipov was benched after allowing the fourth goal.
Worst game
Lokomotiv had a bad night even during that period when they were winning game after game. On November 4th, little people would have bet on Dinamo Riga during an away game in Yaroslavl, but the team led by Girts Ankipans moved on after the game with a shutout win (4:0). The “railwaymen” could not do anything during that game, while Miks Indrasis scored a double and added another point with an assist. The Dinamo Riga leader was simply unstoppable.
Discovery The first player in the “discovery” list is defenseman Alexander Yelesin. And not only because he broke the “fastest goal” record in the KHL. Under Kvartalnov, Yelesin really improved his game and became a key player on defense. Yaroslavl fans were pleased to see that he has a great shot and that he has a very solid psychology. The national team didn’t miss his progress and called him up for the Euro Hockey Tour.
Yaroslavl fans were expecting much more from Pavel Kraskovsky, especially so after his 2016/2017 strong season. The center was regularly called to the national team and had a solid role in the lineup, but he didn’t have the best season. He is hardly pleased by having scored only twice during the entire regular season. It’s not too strange to have such highs and lows for young players, but next year Kraskovsky has to play much better.
Regular season: Staffan Kronwall – 35 (10+25), Brandon Kozun – 33 (13+20)
Playoffs: Petri Kontiola – 5 (1+4), Staffan Kronwall – 3 (2+1)
Vorobyov confirmed at SKA
It was widely expected, but the deal is finally done. Ilya Vorobyov is officially the new head coach of SKA St. Petersburg. Vorobyov, who led Metallurg to the 2016 Gagarin Cup, replaces Oleg Znarok in the hotseat – and is also confirmed as his long-term successor with Team Russia after signing a two-year contract with the Russian Hockey Federation. Expectations at SKA are always high, and Vorobyov could find himself following in the footsteps of Znarok and Vyacheslav Bykov to become the third man to coach two different clubs to Gagarin Cup glory.
Avangard has pulled off something of a coup after confirming the capture of Bob Hartley as head coach. The experienced Canadian has spent the last two seasons in charge of Team Latvia, leading the Baltic nation to its first World Championship quarter-final since 2009, and is excited about the quality of hockey – and more – in the KHL. “When I came to Riga in March, I sat down and watched the KHL playoffs and, to be honest, I was impressed with the level of hockey I saw,” he told Sport Express. “Moreover, I was impressed with the way the KHL goes about its business. Just look at the TV coverage, it’s really, really good!”
Hartley can look forward to a refreshed roster for coming campaign as well: Sergei Shirokov, Olympic Champion, is returning to the club from SKA, while Finnish goalie Karri Ramo is also heading back to Siberia.
Prokhorov takes charge of youth development
Vitaly Prokhorov, Olympic Champion in 1992 and former Spartak Moscow and St. Louis Blues left winger, has been appointed vice-president of the KHL. Prokhorov’s remit will be to oversee the development of young hockey players in Russia, from school age through the MHL Youth League and into the adult game. Prokhorov, a former head coach of various Russian junior age-group teams, will also be working to help young Russian players return home from minor leagues in North America by creating better conditions for their hockey development in Russia.
Czech referee Antonin Jerabek has been a familiar face on the KHL circuit since he first came to Russia in 2009-10 as part of an officiating exchange. Now, 285 games later, he’s heading back to his native Czech Republic, having been whistled at Olympics and World Championships and played a key role in developing the KHL’s Refereeing Department.
But one of his first memories involved an early encounter with his countryman Milos Riha, behind Spartak’s bench at the time, and a typically volatile exchange with the colorful coach. “I remember the game at Sokolniki because early in the game I blew up and thwarted a Spartak rush. Immediately, I realized I was mistaken and went to the bench to apologize to Riha. He answered me, in Czech, in good humor, accepting that these things happen. Spartak fell behind, then hauled it back to a one-goal game but right before the hooter I called [Spartak forward] Branko Radivojevic for tripping. That time, Riha was more wound up. He spoke to me in Czech again, but this time it was much less friendly,” laughed Jerabek.
Ever thought you’d see movie star Johnny Depp or rock legends Joe Perry and Alice Cooper suiting up in the KHL? Well, we might not quite go that far, but the three did appear in SKA uniform this week after their band, the Hollywood Vampires, played the Ice Palace in St. Petersburg.
While most could have foreseen – and indeed, many openly predicted – that SKA, CSKA and Ak Bars would reach their respective Conference finals, Traktor was the unexpected guest at the party. Despite the city of Chelyabinsk's illustrious hockey history, when homegrown coaching hero Anvar Gatiyatulin guided the team all the way to the semi-finals of the 2017-18 knockout stage, it was the first time Traktor had been driven that far for five years, since the days of Valery Belousov.
The story of the season
Traktor found it very hard to get out of first gear as it embarked on its journey through the regular championship. In the first month alone, the Chelyabinsk collective played 13 games and contrived to lose nine of them. The second half of September was worse than the first, and pessimists wondered aloud whether the stability achieved during the preseason, when the club managed to hold onto its leading players, was in fact just a recipe for stagnation, and that a restructuring would have been a wiser move. Scarcely a month into the campaign, some of the commentary vultures were already circling over the Traktor head coach. The response from Gatiyatulin, his staff, and his players was simple but effective – they pulled together, played better, and after a particularly gray patch of form which ended on the 24th of September, only twice did the Chelyabinsk men suffer two defeats in a row.
By the time the end of the regular season was approaching – frequently a frantic and tense time for several clubs – the Traktor engine was humming, and the Chelyabinsk Men put together seven straight victories. In this purple patch, they allowed a miserly five goals in total, and only Avangard's notoriously impenetrable defense conceded fewer. Traktor had secured third place in the Conference standings, and a mere four points behind the eternal favorite, Ak Bars. The Foreign Legion made a significant contribution to the success in the “regularka”, with Paul Szczechura, Richard Gynge and newcomer Nick Bailen leading the scoring, while at the other end, Pavel Francouz was superb as the last line of defense. The Russians also played a huge role, naturally, with the highly experienced Maxim Yakutsenya in impressive form throughout, while second only to Szczechura in the top sniper rankings was Igor Polygalov, a summer signing from Neftekhimik. And it was the Nizhnekamsk team which faced Traktor in the first round of the knockout stage. Many considered Andrei Nazarov's men to be the favorites, and with some justification – the young coach had assembled a talented and determined collective, but they had no answer to an emerging teenage sensation. 18-year-old Vitaly Kravtsov scored four goals and the Chelyabinsk Men wrapped up the series in five games.
And so, for the first time since 2013, this city in Russia's hockey heartland had a team among the medal places, a mere six months after many had written them off. There was to be no sensation in the Eastern Conference final – eventual champion Ak Bars was too strong in all four games - but the Chelyabinsk team and its passionate fans can look toward to the 11th KHL Championship with renewed confidence.
Coach
42-year-old Anvar Gatiyatulin was born in Chelyabinsk, played for Traktor, and started his coaching career by guiding his home town's stars of tomorrow at the Traktor hockey academy, then he himself graduated to become head coach of the club's Youth Hockey League side, Beliye Medvedi (“Polar Bears”) from which he joined the staff of the KHL team. In 2015, he had a spell as interim head coach, but the tenth KHL Championship was his second season in full charge of the team. Under his leadership, Traktor now boasts one of the meanest defenses in the League, and Gatiyatulin's expertise was called upon by Team Russia for the current World Championships. Of his role next season, however, we await confirmation.
Best match Perhaps the best match, and certainly the most fondly remembered by the faithful fans, came during the thrilling Eastern Conference semi-final against a formidable and resurgent Salavat Yulaev. The Ufa Men had triumphed in Game 5 of the series, thereby surging into a 3-2 lead, and Traktor found itself facing a disappointingly early end to a promising season. With their backs to the wall, the Chelyabinsk Men emerged with all guns blazing and inflicted a resounding 7-1 defeat on the contenders from Bashkortostan. After a calm and scoreless first period, Traktor struck three times in the first half of Act Two, and even when a reeling Salavat Yulaev came back off the ropes to score on the half-hour mark, Gatiyatulin's men hit them with a two-minute, three-goal blitz to remove any doubt about the outcome. The fact that all seven goals were scored by different players bears eloquent testimony to the team spirit instilled in the team by the boss.
Worst match The Chelyabinsk men did not produce a single poor performance in th entire knockout stage of the Championship, and even though they suffered a 0-4 final series sweep at the hands of Ak Bars, they fought admirably in all four meetings. To find any contenders in this category, we have to take our minds back to the early days of the regular season, before winter had arrived. There was a 0-5 reverse against SKA in September and the following month there was an even more convincing defeat, 1-7, and it was against the men from Kazan. By the 17th minute, the hosts led 6-0 and the game was over as a contest. Later events in the playoffs were to prove, however, that this was a mere freak occurrence.
Discovery
There is only one contender for the revelation of the season title at Traktor. Vitaly Kravtsov only turned 18 in December, and while he was finding his feet in senior hockey over the course of the regular season, there was little hint of what was to come. He averaged less than 10 minutes of ice time, and and only sporadically posed a threat to the opposition, but when spring was on the way he sprung into life. In 16 playoff games Kravtsov scored 11 (6+5) points, the third-highest haul after Alexei Kruchinin and Alexander Sharov, and he was the KHL's Rookie of the Month for both March and April, and Rookie of the Round in the Conference quarters, semis, and final. He is still young, of course, and has a lot of hard work in front of him, but he has certainly announced his arrival in style.
Unsurprisingly, during such an impressive season, only two players were shown the door – defenseman Kirill Koltsov, whose efficiency rating was hurtling toward “minus infinity”, and forward Gilbert Brule, who left the ice without points in six successive matches. The coaching staff seemed extremely content with the way the other players carried out their duties, and while Alexei Kruchinin had a surprisingly poor regular season, he more than made up for it with his sparkling form in the playoffs.
Top scorers
Regular Season: Paul Szczechura – 40 (20+20), Richard Gynge – 32 (14+18), Nick Bailen – 30 (11+19), Maxim Yakutsenya – 29 (7+22)
Playoffs: Richard Gynge – 16 (8+8), Alexei Kruchinin – 13 (5+8), Vitaly Kravtsov – 11 (6+5), Nick Bailen – 9 (3+6)
Last week saw the KHL closing ceremony, a festival of glitz and goals. It also brought news about the coming season – its schedule and some of its new faces.
New season takes shape
As part of the annual post-season meeting of KHL club directors and GMs, details of the schedule for the 2018-19 season were announced. The headline figure is more hockey: each team will play 62 games in the coming season. The extra games will include a bunch of specially selected clashes against key rivals, maximizing the excitement for fans and players alike.
The key dates are:
Sep. 1, opening day;
Feb. 22, end of regular season;
Feb. 25, start of playoffs;
April 25, end of playoffs.
There are also proposals to stage some regular season games on neutral ice as part of an on-going effort to further increase the KHL’s appeal across Europe. Vienna, Austria, and Zurich, Switzerland, are among the cities in line to stage games during the fall.
“There’s going to be even more exciting hockey,” promised KHL president Dmitry Chernyshenko.
Jan Kovar is leaving Metallurg, but incoming head coach Josef Jandac was delighted to pick his fellow-countryman’s brains about life and hockey in Magnitogorsk in preparation for his new role.
“Jan spent some great years with Metallurg,” the coach told KHL.ru in an exclusive interview. “He was full of praise for his time in Magnitogorsk. Of course, I was interested in hearing about the nature of the players, their character, the chemistry on the team. I can’t repeat much of what he told me, but it was a very useful view from within.”
However, Jandac won’t be trying to persuade the forward to stay. “I realized that Jan needed a change. He wants to shake himself, to experience something new. And, of course, this might be his last chance to try for the NHL.”
It’s all change in Moscow, where next season will see Dynamo and CSKA on the move. The Army Men are leaving their Leningradsky Prospekt home to take residence in the VTB Arena, built for the 2016 World Championship. It means a big boost in the number of fans able to get to CSKA games, with the club’s old arena limited to just 5,500 spectators.
Dynamo, meanwhile, is leaving the VTB Arena and will – eventually – return to the club’s spiritual home on Leningradka. The winter is set to bring the long-awaited opening of a new multi-sport arena on the site of the venerable Dynamo football stadium, and the hockey team is set to be a big part of that in the New Year. Before that, the Blue-and-Whites will play home games at Megasport, the 2007 World Championship arena located a short walk from the team’s new home.
Fasel congratulates Datsyuk
IIHF President Rene Fasel was on hand to present a special award to SKA’s Pavel Datsyuk. Not only did he secure a place in the famous Triple Gold Club when he captained the Russians to Olympic glory in PyeongChang, he also became the first player to win the Olympics, the World Championship, the Stanley Cup and the Gagarin Cup. That earned the 39-year-old the unique Syrius Award, and an endorsement from Fasel.
“I’d like to congratulate the KHL on its 10th anniversary,” he said. “You are continuing your fantastic work, it’s been an excelletn season. As Gennady Timchenko said, a strong league means a strong national team. Winning medals at the PyeongChang Olympics was tough, but you did it.
“Pavel, you’ve won the World Championship, the Olympics, the Stanley Cup and the Gagarin Cup, and when Dmitry Chernyshenko asked me to come here and present this trophy to you, I agreed without a moment’s hesitation. Special congratulations to you!”
Datsyuk was just one of many prizewinners at the KHL closing ceremony last week.
Last season saw the first KHL games screened on TV in Great Britain. Next season will see the first British international play in the league. Defenseman Ben O’Connor, a key part of the national team’s rise to the top division of the IIHF World Championship, has signed a contract to join Barys Astana.
The former Sheffield Steeler is no stranger to Kazakhstan – he spent more than three seasons in Central Asia with Saryarka and Arlan – and he made an impression at that time after potting 56 points in 51 games in Kokshetau. Now he’s hoping to blaze a trail for British talent on the world stage.
“British players have seemed to get overlooked for some reason and I think the success of the national team is making people take notice now,” he told the Elite League’s website. “I would certainly love to see more guys ply their trade abroad and it’s only a matter of time when you consider we’re in Pool A against some top teams next year and the world will be watching.”
A tough tournament for Russia ended in delight for Sweden as the Tre Kronor became World Champion once again on Sunday night. Elsewhere, there was international recognition for the KHL’s development and a Dynamic flurry of transfer activity.
Everberg, Hellberg win World Championship gold
Two KHL players, Neftekhimik’s Dennis Everberg and Kunlun Red Star’s Magnus Hellberg, were part of the Swedish roster that won gold at this year’s IIHF World Championship. Everberg, who was also part of the Tre Kronor’s champion roster last season, played in Sunday’s final as the Swedes edged past Switzerland 3-2 in a shoot-out. The forward finished the tournament with one goal and one assist in 10 games. Hellberg was used as a back-up to former Ak Bars goalie Anders Nilsson, but featured in three of his team’s games. He collected one shut-out and one shoot-out victory, allowing five goals in his appearances for a GAA of 1.63 and an SVG of 93.75%.
It proved to be a frustrating tournament for the KHL’s sizeable contingent in Denmark. Russia failed to win a medal for the first time since 2013 (coincidentally, that year also saw Sweden beat Switzerland in the final), Finland missed out after a quarter-final loss against the Swiss while Belarus was relegated after a shambolic performance in Copenhagen. There was better news for Latvia, which reached its first quarter-final since 2009 and pushed Sweden all the way before losing 2-3.
The KHL in the Hall of Fame
To celebrate the end of the 10th KHL season, a collection of exhibits has been donated to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Canada. A miniature replica of the Gagarin Cup takes pride of place, alongside the equipment that Danis Zaripov wore in the Gagarin Cup final series against CSKA Moscow. The Ak Bars forward collected his fifth KHL title after helping the Kazan team to victory. The collection also included winners’ medals from the last two seasons and a commemorative medal from the 2018 Week of Hockey Stars in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Phil Pritchard, Hockey Hall of Fame vice-president, said: “The Hockey Hall of Fame is proud and delighted to receive several items from the history of the KHL. It represents an important part of the development and popularization of our game throughout the world. We look forward to a long and successful cooperation with the KHL.”
Dynamo dips into the market Dynamo Moscow failed to reach the playoffs last season for the first time in the KHL. And the two-time Gagarin Cup winner has responded by rebuilding its team ahead of the coming campaign. This week saw some big signings unveiled by the Blue-and-Whites, including an Olympic champion.
Vadim Shipachyov was part of Oleg Znarok’s gold-medal roster in Korea, albeit one who only featured in one game. He’s also been part of two Gagarin Cup wins with SKA but has opted to switch to Dynamo for the 2018-19 season. He’ll be joined in Moscow by Dmitry Kagarlitsky, so impressive last season for Severstal, and Maxim Afinogenov, the ageless winger of Vityaz.
Garipov: two years, then the NHL?
Ak Bars goalie Emil Garipov is coming off the best season of his life. First choice for his team throughout a successful campaign, he wrapped it up by backstopping the team to Gagarin Cup glory. Not surprisingly, that attracted attention from abroad, with four clubs reportedly interested in taking the netminder to the NHL. Yet the 26-year-old opted to sign a two-year extension in Kazan before looking to test himself across the Atlantic.
“I signed a two-year extension and after that we’ll see,” he said in an exclusive interview with KHL.ru. “God willing, everything will work out and after that I’ll have a chance to try my skills across the ocean. I hope Ak Bars’ fans won’t take offense at that.”
IIHF honor for Dinamo Riga stalwart
Kirovs Lipmans, former president of the Latvian Hockey Federation, received the Paul Loicq award at the annual IIHF Hockey Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Copenhagen. Lipmans, whose time in charge of Latvian hockey saw the Baltic nation establish itself in the Elite Pool and host the World Championship in 2006, received an award dedicated to those who contribute to hockey’s development off the ice.
Among Lipmans’ key achievements, the prize recognized his efforts in getting Dinamo Riga into the KHL and providing the opportunity for Latvian players to compete at the highest level in their own country.
SKA went into the season firmly established as the favorite among favorites. Few of the pundits predicted problems for Petersburg's Army Men, despite the possible pitfalls during an Olympic season for a roster studded with stars who would be on regular international duty, and that strange, recurring curse in KHL history where the winners of the marathon that is the regular season invariably stumble in the sprint that is the playoffs. Nor were there any problems with major changes in the roster. Granted, the NHL attracted Evgeny Dadonov and Vadim Shipachyov (soon to return), but the only other departure was Steve Moses, while the new arrivals could also be counted on the fingers of one hand – in came Maxim Karpov, Sergei Kalinin, Vladislav Gavrikov, and Sweden's David Rundblad.
The story of the season
SKA, as reigning champion, hosted the curtain-raiser for the new season, the Opening Cup, and secured a confidence-boosting 4-2 win over CSKA. Few could have foreseen what followed, even among those pundits certain of SKA's success. The victory over Moscow's Army Men was the start of a record-breaking 20-game winning streak, 17 of which were wrapped up in regulation time. The run of victories was eventually halted by Sergei Zubov's HC Sochi, who pulled off a surprise triumph at the Petersburg Ice Palace. The men from the Black Sea later added insult to injury by defeating SKA again in the return match in Sochi. To no-one's surprise, the gap at the top of the standings opened up by this stunning run was never to be seriously threatened. SKA stormed to the regular season title and amassed 138 points, a full 14 ahead of the nearest rival, CSKA.
In the first round of the playoffs, SKA encountered Severstal, a team whose ambitions were so modest that an eighth-place finish was celebrated as a minor miracle. No-one gave the Cherepovets collective a chance of progressing any further, and indeed, SKA duly recorded a 4-0 series sweep, but to their eternal credit the outsiders, led by young coach Alexander Gulyavtsev and captained by the highly experienced Dmitry Kagarlitsky, fought tenaciously, and twice (in Games 1 and 3) even took the Petersburg Men to overtime. 
The battle for Western Conference supremacy was, aptly enough, contested by the Army Men, SKA and CSKA, and it produced some classic encounters. Game 1 ended with the Muscovites celebrating a cheeky 5-4 overtime win at SKA's Ice Palace, but after leveling the series, Oleg Znarok's men took revenge with a resounding 5-2 win at CSKA's Moscow home. Igor Nikitin's men hit back, tied the series, and then it was Lars Johansson's turn to produce goaltending heroics, keeping SKA off the scoreboard in Game 5 to allow Kirill Kaprizov to score the crucial goal and leave the Muscovites just one victory away from the Gagarin Cup final. That success duly arrived in Game 6, thanks to Mikhail Grigorenko's killer overtime goal, and SKA's defense of its crown was over.
This was the second season in which Oleg Znarok combined the role of SKA head coach with that of Russian national team boss, and he has now added an Olympic gold to his honors list, one which already includes three Gagarin Cups. The experienced specialist should also be congratulated for putting together such a talented, entertaining, and winning team at SKA, even if this season he had to watch as Zinetula Bilyaletdinov led Ak Bars to glory and joined Znarok as a three-time KHL champion. His workload next season will be a little lighter now that Ilya Vorobyov has taken the national team's reins while Oleg has accepted a role as consultant.
In a season of so many victories, it is a tough task to find the best, but one of the most resounding wins came in that classic Western Conference final against fierce rival CSKA. On March 2, Game 3 of the series took place in Moscow, with the teams tied at 1-1 following the two opening skirmishes in Petersburg. After Patrick Thoresen's 17th-minute strike gave the visitors the lead, Kirill Petrov leveled the score within two minutes, but this proved to be a false dawn for the home side when Jarno Koskiranta restored SKA's lead a mere 68 seconds later.
The second period began as the first had ended, with the Muscovites floored by a left-right combination from the visitors. A 22nd-minute goal by Patrik Hersley made it 3-1, and two-and-a-half minutes later Nikita Gusev added a fourth to send Ilya Sorokin to the bench. Just after the halfway mark, a Mikhail Grigorenko's goal gave CSKA hope, but a late empty-netter from Alexander Barabanov sealed a thrilling 5-2 triumph. If Barabanov had the last word, then the hosts had the last laugh – the next three games went to CSKA, and took the Muscovites into the Gagarin Cup final.
Worst match
On December 29, SKA played in Minsk, and going into the first interval with a 1-0 lead thanks to a third-minute strike by Yegor Yakovlev, the Petersburg Men could be forgiven for assuming this was to be a routine victory over modest opposition, and possibly the fans' thoughts had already turned to last-minute New Year presents. However, Dinamo had clearly not read the script. They began the second period with a blitz of three goals in 58 seconds(!), with Marc-Andre Gragnani, Jack Skille and Evgeny Kovyrshin inflicting the damage. With his team apparently reeling, Oleg Znarok called a timeout.
It did not help. A little over two minutes later, Justin Fontain hit a short-handed goal to make it 4-1, and an unlikely victory started to look very likely indeed. Sergei Shirokov gave SKA some hope before the second intermission, and the spectators braced themselves for a probable third-period onslaught from the visitor. When that did not happen, the coach decided to pull Mikko Koskinen, but Dinamo responded by scoring twice into the unguarded net – Alexander Pavlovich and Quinton Howden the scorers – before a last-minute face-saving goal from Sergei Plotnikov made it 6-3 to the men from Minsk.
Discovery
Since making his debut, at the tender age of 18, for Lokomotiv in September of 2014, defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov's star has risen steadily. Already by 2015 he had attracted enough attention to merit a call-up to the national team, thanks to a certain Oleg Znarok, and so it was logical that last year Gavrikov would move to SKA. His account for the tenth KHL Championship reads 14 (5+9) points and an efficiency rating of +21, the second highest among the defensemen, and surpassed only by fellow new arrival David Rundblad. Of course, the proudest moment of Gavrikov's season came in February, when he helped Russia to claim Olympic gold in Pyongchang.
It is fair to say that none of the team deserves such a label. Vadim Shipachyov has every right to be disappointed with his NHL adventure, and on his return he did not receive the ice time he might have desired, but a haul of 25 points from 22 games, including 3 game-winning goals, shows he is as ruthless as ever. Maxim Karpov did not exactly set the world on fire, but he still performed admirably, and moreover, hardly anyone expected him to be given as much playing time with SKA as he had enjoyed in his days with Dynamo.
Top scorers
Regular season: Ilya Kovalchuk – 63 (31 + 32) points, Nikita Gusev – 62 (22 + 40), Sergei Shirokov – 41 (19 + 22), Sergei Plotnikov – 39 (16 + 23), Pavel Datsyuk – 35 (8+27)
Playoffs: Nikita Gusev – 12 (7+5), Vadim Shipachyov – 11 (4+7), Ilya Kovalchuk – 10 (6+4).
