For Ak Bars and Metallurg Magnitogorsk, an established coaching structure led to more success; elsewhere Neftekhimik and Ugra hired six head coaches between them and failed to make the playoffs. Our review of the Kharlamov Division looks at what went right and wrong from Kazan to Khanty-Mansiysk.
Ak Bars Kazan – wily Bilyaletdinov still packs a punch
Results: Ak Bars reached the final of the Eastern Conference and had a strong third-place finish in regular season. It added up to a successful season, but not quite a triumphant one for a club geared up to land hardware.
Summary: Hockey in Kazan is dominated by the figure of Zinetula Bilyaletdinov. The legendary coach completed his 1,000th career game behind the bench this season, and the lion’s share of those have been with Ak Bars. But this campaign represented something of a change of direction. Coach Bill’s title-winning teams were associated with star names, in particular Alexei Morozov. The class of 2017, meanwhile, came together with rather more modest reputations.
This was the season of Vladimir Tkachyov, who matured from promising talent to All-Star laureate. His 32 points in the regular season, plus a further 11 post-season markers, earned him an international call-up and the 23-year-old thrived alongside the likes of Justin Azevedo and Jiri Sekac.
There were disappointments, not least with the injury-strewn season that summer recruit Rafael Batyrshin suffered. Having won the Gagarin Cup with Metallurg last time out, he had the look of a key signing but didn’t really recover sufficient fitness to show his best form.
The playoffs brought two series victories against Eastern Conference big hitters: Salavat Yulaev, arguably Ak Bars’ key rival, was downed 4-1 – thanks in no small part to an Atte Ohtamaa goal 0.02 seconds from the hooter in Game One. Against that background, it was hard to be surprised when, later in the series, Salavat tied the game in the 60thminute, only for Azevedo to conjure a winner. Next came Avangard, and another solid success. But taking on Metallurg Magnitogorsk was a step too far, especially with one-time Ak Bars hero Danis Zaripov in blistering form. The defending champion progressed to another Gagarin Cup Final without dropping a game.
What’s next: Bilyaletdinov might have the safest coaching role in hockey, given his long-standing reputation in Tatarstan. His proven ability to fashion challenging teams from almost any group of players means that Ak Bars will always be a serious contender at the top end of the table. Anything less next season would, therefore, be a major surprise.
Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg – Razin splutters, Avto stalls
Results: The Motormen couldn’t find the right gear this season, missing out on the playoffs amid a coaching change.
Summary: Vladimir Krikunov, the head coach brought in to salvage Avtomobilist’s season, was in little doubt as to what had gone wrong. Asked about his team’s struggles, he laid the blame squarely with the previous coaching set-up. He questioned the decision to trade goalie Jakub Kovar to Severstal, and wondered why star forward Anatoly Golyshev’s form and relationship with the team had deteriorated to the point where he was sent to play four games for the farm club.
Krikunov may have had a point. Avtomobilist looked to be moving forward under Andrei Razin, until this season provided a horribly mistimed gear change and left the Yekaterinburg club’s progress stalled. With Razin’s outspoken style causing turbulence rather than motivation, results were patchy and the team’s playoff push never really got started. Krikunov arrived in October, but was unable to revive the team or its prospects. Instead, he was confirmed as the man to lead the reconstruction next season and made his intentions clear in March by releasing eight players after talking of the need for a handover from one generation to the next at the club.
That could mean greater reliance on Golyshev and a bigger role for Artyom Garayev after he produced his best season in the KHL this time around. But Golyshev, who impressed on the international stage even while he struggled at his club, may be hard to hold on to. Elsewhere, the likes of Dmitry Monya and Petr Koukal, players who couldn’t live up to big reputations, have moved on as the rebuild begins.
What next: Krikunov has said that if he can win something at Avtomobilist, that will be a fitting end to a distinguished coaching career. Some promising signs, including the return of Kovar between the piping, have already emerged, but at the moment the team feels like a work in progress.
Lada Togliatty – promise stifled by money worries
Results: Struggling with financial issues, Lada once again failed to reach the playoffs.
Summary: Entering its third season after returning to the KHL, Lada believed it had the budget and roster in place to compete for a playoff place. However, as vice-president Dmitry Shlyakhtin admitted, delays in paying salaries could have had a negative impact on the team’s progress. As such, he argued, resolving the club’s cashflow concerns was a bigger issue than seeking to replace head coach Artis Abols.
On the ice, there were some encouraging signs despite a playoff push that ended in failure before January was through. Nikita Filatov, one of the most naturally talented – and frustrating – Russian players of his generation, was handed a leading role in Abols’ team. An older and wiser Filatov, who admitted that in the past he had been guilty of squandering some of the opportunities that came his way, responded with the kind of performances he is capable of. Other bright spots included the emergence of young forwards Denis Zernov and Viktor Komarov.
What’s next: It all depends on the money. If the club’s sometimes fraught relationship with its key sponsors improves, there is hope that Abols can make progress on the ice. But, without stable finances, it’s hard to see any big changes for Lada in the near future.
Metallurg Magnitogorsk – marvellous Mozyakin and cup final defeat
Results: A third Gagarin Cup final in four seasons, but no successful title defense for Magnitka. A season dominated by the individual scoring feats of Sergei Mozyakin came up just short of perfection.
Summary: Goals from Sergei Mozyakin. In the season when he celebrated his 36th birthday, this master marksman showed no sign of slowing down. On the contrary, he produced his best ever stats. September saw him score goal number 429, breaking Boris Mikhailov’s All-time Russian record. As the season went on, he set new club records for goals and assists before finishing with the KHL’s best every goal tally (48) and points (85) in a regular season. His first playoff goal, away to Kunlun Red Star, brought up 1,000 career points in Russia’s top division, capping a memorable campaign.
The only thing missing was another Gagarin Cup. Magnitka dominated the Eastern Conference, taking top spot by 15 points ahead of Ak Bars and Avangard. Dropping just one game in the first three rounds of the playoffs, an in-form Danis Zaripov fired his team to a showdown with SKA. But there the run halted. Zaripov, Mozyakin and line-mate Jan Kovar were muted; SKA found ways to win the tight games. The cup was destined for St. Petersburg despite a fine season for Metallurg.
What’s next: Metallurg favors evolution over revolution, so it’s unlikely that there will be any wholesale changes to the roster. Wojtek Wolski could be back next season after his serious injury, while the NHL’s reluctance to go to next year’s Olympics should make it a less attractive destination for the likes of Viktor Antipin or Alexei Bereglazov. However, key men like Chris Lee, Danis Zaripov, Vasily Koshechkin and, of course, Sergei Mozyakin, are approaching the end of their careers. Finding the balance between utilizing their experience and preparing the ground for a new generation is likely to be Vorobyov’s biggest challenge next season.
Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk – the coaching merry-go-round whirls out of control
Results: Three head coaches over the course of the season could not quite get Neftekhimik into the playoffs. The team missed out by three points, thwarted by three losses in its final three games.
Summary: Even in pre-season, head coach Evgeny Popikhin was hitting the headlines after a brawl with Peteris Skudra in an exhibition game against Torpedo. He lasted until October 4 when he was dismissed with the team in 11th place in the Eastern Conference. Replacement Nikolai Solovyov had already departed from Metallurg Novokuznetsk and lasted just 24 days in Nizhnekamsk. His replacement was Andrei Nazarov, who began the campaign at Barys.
Off the ice, then, it was a whirlwind of activity. On it, though, results remained stubbornly elusive. Nazarov quickly went on a five-game winning streak, but also lost seven games out of 11 in December. The team stuttered rather than stomped; an often-effective offense was undermined by shaky defense.
There were memorable moments, most notably an 8-2 thrashing of Tatarstan rival Ak Bars in the closing stages of the season. But the season petered out with three losses – all in overtime or shootouts – against Jokerit, Dinamo Minsk and Dinamo Riga. The top eight was out of reach.
What next: Nazarov’s reputation as a head coach has suffered in recent seasons. Once viewed as a master of getting big results from small resources after relative success at Severstal and Donbass, his brief spell at SKA ended unhappily and subsequently he has missed out on the playoffs at Barys and now Neftekhimik. After the season, he spoke of bringing in younger players to refresh the roster and will be looking at a period of stability for himself and his club to form the foundations of a lasting success.
Traktor Chelyabinsk – defense builds a foundation, but forwards fail to decorate the plans
Results: Fourth place in the Eastern Conference exceeded expectations from the regular season; defeat to Barys in the first round of the playoffs fell short of post-season hopes.
Summary: Head coach Anvar Gatiyatulin made significant strides in his first full season behind the bench in Chelyabinsk. The team enjoyed its best regular season since 2013, when it reached the Gagarin Cup final but also said goodbye to the inspirational talents of Evgeny Kuznetsov.
The current team lacks a player of Kuznetsov’s ability, or even the unpredictable flair of his then team-mate Valery Nichushkin, but it has gained an admirable solidity. Despite scoring just 130 goals in regular season – the worst of any team to reach the playoffs in the East – it remained competitive thanks to the fine goaltending form of Pavel Francouz and Vasily Demchenko. Both goalies earned call-ups for their national teams along the way.
In the playoffs, though, that lack of goal power proved costly. Barys prevailed in six games, becoming the only team to buck the seedings in round one, and Traktor’s season came to an end.
What’s next: In Alexei Krichinin, Gatiyatulin has a player capable of bringing much-needed firepower to Traktor. If he can help add more potency to a solid defense, Traktor can continue to progress.
Ugra Khanty-Mansiysk – three head coaches, little success
Results: Ugra, once again, failed to make the playoffs. Three head coaches came and went, and the future is in the hands of Igor Zakharkin.
Summary: The coaching carousel was spinning swiftly in Khanty-Mansiysk when Pavel Yezovskikh was dismissed in mid-September. Andrei Sokolov, a former colleague of Bilyaletdinov, came in but managed just three months in charge. The third man at the helm was Andrei Razin, following his departure from Avtomobilist. None of the trio managed to steer Ugra towards the top eight and come the end of the season, the club’s directors opted to wield the ax once again.
Unusually, Ugra opted to play without imports and placed its faith solely in Russian players. Of those, former Dynamo Moscow goalie Alexander Sharychenkov and promising forward Pavel Varfolomeyev delivered the most satisfactory returns; summer signings Igor Radulov and Anton Kuryanov proved disappointing.
What’s next: To get Ugra moving upwards again, former Salavat Yulaev head coach Igor Zakharkin has been appointed as head coach for the coming season. He brings a wealth of trophy-winning experience for club and country … but mostly as Vyacheslav Bykov’s right-hand man rather than as head coach in his own right. In Ufa, with a strong roster, he struggled to generate consistent results; in Khanty-Mansiysk he will face a different challenge as he seeks to create a team stronger than the likely sum of its parts.
The regular season brought success for CSKA and Vityaz, but the playoffs belonged to Lokomotiv. Meanwhile, three of these seven teams have already dismissed last season’s head coach …
CSKA Moscow – third time unlucky for regular season champ
Results: Regular season champion for the third year running, CSKA looked well placed for a serious tilt at the Gagarin Cup that still eludes it. But Lokomotiv derailed Dmitry Kvartalnov’s team in the Conference Semi Final, and that saw the head coach dismissed.
Summary: In a word, mixed. CSKA, in recent seasons, has returned to the high expectations and standards of the past. In Soviet times, it was inconceivable that the Army Men would not be in the running for hardware; today, the quest for the Gagarin Cup is the inspiration. Under Kvartalnov, there was a sense that glory was edging closer. A Conference Final loss to SKA in 2015, a Gagarin Cup Final loss to Magnitka in 2016, the sequence suggested 2017 might be the year.
Admittedly, the roster lost some of its luster over the summer. Alexander Radulov, arguably the most exciting talent in the KHL, headed across the Atlantic for a second crack at the NHL. Nikita Zaitsev, one of the brightest young defensemen in Russia, followed. Kvartalnov faced the task of replacing the irreplaceable, and to some extent did not attempt to do so. Summer recruits – Greg Scott, Bud Holloway – were solid, rather than spectacular. This was to be a pragmatic, hard-to-beat CSKA, rather than a team perpetually on the brink of an eruption of goals.
In regular season, it worked. For much of the season, the race for top spot was neck and neck. SKA provided the flair, the flamboyance and a record-breaking goal tally. CSKA quietly won and won. When the music stopped, the two were almost inseparable: 137 points each, CSKA got the nod due to more wins in regulation.
But in post-season, that pragmatism teetered on the brink of predictability. A first-round sweep of Jokerit was impressive on paper, but three games going into overtime suggested that it wasn’t as dominant as the box scores suggested. There was a feeling that CSKA was finding it hard to put teams away and, as the opposition got stronger, would become increasingly vulnerable. Thus it proved. Lokomotiv found the answers, winning three games straight to take the Conference Semi Final 4-2 and run down the curtain on Kvartalnov’s time in the capital.
What next: Until a new head coach is confirmed, CSKA will inevitably be subject to intense speculation. Whoever takes on the job will be expected to lead a serious bid for the big prize, with little margin for error.
Dynamo Moscow – ups and downs in the capital
Results: At times terrible, at times terrific, Dynamo eventually took third place in the Western Conference before yielding to SKA in the Conference Semi Final. Head coach Sergei Oreshkin left the club at the end of the season, to be replaced by Vladimir Vorobyov, promoted from within.
Summary: There was a time when it seemed that the unthinkable could happen. Dogged by uninspiring form, Dynamo was in danger of missing out on the playoffs in the first half of the season. Eventually, the team turned it around with a powerful run in the New Year, amassing 14 wins from 16 games to climb to third in the table.
However, the seeds of the team’s playoff problems could be seen even in that run: defeats against Ak Bars and Metallurg Magnitogorsk during that run suggested that there was still some distance between Dynamo and the league’s biggest hitters. That was pretty much how things turned out. A first-round series with Torpedo provided challenges – four games went to overtime – but Dynamo prevailed 4-1. Up against SKA in round two, though, not even a hat-trick from Maxim Karpov in Game One could save the Blue-and-Whites. That opening game brought the team its only victory; the other noteworthy moments came from Andrei Kuteikin’s goals from the red line to embarrass Mikko Koskinen and Mikhail Biryukov during the playoffs.
Once again, Dynamo saw plenty of players deliver solid performances – six forwards and three D-men contributed 20 or more points in the regular season. But only two, Martins Karsums and Juuso Hietanen, went over 30. The lack of a real go-to guy who could snap tight games ultimately prevented Dynamo from emerging into the front-runners this time around.
What next: Vorobyov’s appointment offers continuity. He was part of Oreshkin’s coaching team last season and will be among familiar faces again next time. His ambition, clearly stated in a recent interview, is to bring the Gagarin Cup back to Dynamo. But last season suggests there is some distance to travel before the Blue-and-Whites can launch a genuine championship push.
HC Sochi – playoff failure sparks coaching change
Results: Sochi’s battle to make the playoffs was not resolved until the final day of the regular season – and ended in failure. A ninth-place finish saw the Black Sea team miss out on post season for the first time in its three-year history, and prompted the departure of head coach Vyacheslav Butsayev.
Summary: It all started so well. In the early weeks of the season, Sochi was in fine form and Swedish forward Andre Petersson was among the leading scorers in the KHL. The talk in the south was about whether this team could improve on its previous, brief playoff runs and mount a more serious challenge.
Then it all went wrong. Petersson, and others, ran into injury trouble. Twelve losses in 18 games through November and December put a big hole in those playoff hopes. The New Year saw a revival – six wins, three losses in January, and the playoff dream was still alive. But Sochi’s rivals, Jokerit and Vityaz, also kept picking up points. It came down to the final week, and the fixture list conspired against the team. Trips to title-chasing CSKA and SKA were hardly ideal for a team in desperate need of wins; two defeats, and Sochi was left just outside the top eight.
With no playoff action, the focus fell on Butsayev. He took charge of the team when it was created to make use of Sochi’s Olympic facilities, and assembled a roster from scratch that was never out of its depth in the Western Conference. But, after three years, there was little evidence of progress and the decision was made to seek a new direction.
What next: Sergei Zubov, most recently seen behind the bench at SKA in 2015-16, is the incoming head coach. Zubov was not involved in the season just gone, leaving SKA when Oleg Znarok arrived in Petersburg. The 46-year-old brings a wealth of experience, winning two Stanley Cups and Olympic gold as a player and joining Vyacheslav Bykov’s Gagarin Cup-winning coaching crew at SKA. Now he has a chance to build a team in his own image for the first time.
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl – consistency and progress
Results: Lokomotiv came fourth in the Western Conference table, stunned regular season champion CSKA in the playoffs and reached the Conference Final before succumbing to SKA. The Yaroslavl team finished with bronze medals for its efforts.
Summary: In his second year at the helm of Lokomotiv, head coach Alexei Kudashov was looking to turn potential into results – and a deep playoff run. The summer brought new recruits in the form of Max Talbot, a former Stanley Cup winner, and Brandon Kozun, fresh from an effective season with Jokerit. Kozun arrived from Finland via SKA, who traded him for Sergei Plotnikov’s rights after the former Loko forward returned from a tough season in North America.
Those two new forwards quickly found an understanding with Petri Kontiola, producing a line that plundered 132 points in the regular season. On defense, the early departure of Patrik Hersley to SKA was offset by the arrival of Jakub Nakladal, while Staffan Kronwall remained a solid figure on the blue line.
But, first and foremost, Loko impressed with its young players. Pavel Kraskovsky, Yegor Korshkov and Alexander Polunin continued to make an impact, building on last season’s success. Kraskovsky and Korshkov, the older two, won call-ups for Russia’s senior team during the Euro Hockey Tour, while Polunin made his second trip to the World Juniors as all three cemented burgeoning reputations in the game.
The regular season was solid, with Lokomotiv taking fourth place in the West. Consistency was the key – save for one run of four defeats in five games as September moved into October, the team never suffered any prolonged loss of form. There were a few stand-out games along the way, most notably a 2-1 win at SKA that avenged a 1-7 mauling on home ice a few weeks earlier and wrapped up an impressive sequence of road wins that also took in CSKA and Torpedo.
CSKA and SKA would also define Lokomotiv’s post season. After despatching Dinamo Minsk in round one of the playoffs, Kudashov’s team was rated as an outsider against regular season champ CSKA. But the Army Men ran out of steam; a series that had been close snapped open in Game Four as Loko powered to a 5-1 victory. That tied the scores overall, and the Railwaymen won the next two games to advance to the Conference Final for the first time since 2014. SKA proved too strong, but the 0-4 result did not entirely reflect a series of close games; the eventual Gagarin Cup winner found a happy knack of snatching late wins, and ended Loko’s season.
What next: This season was a clear step forward for Lokomotiv, and with the younger players on the roster gaining valuable experience – especially in the playoff pressure cooker – the future seems bright. Kudashov, a Gagarin Cup winner as player with Dynamo, is steadily crafting his own reputation as a talented young coach, and his Loko team could be one to watch in the coming seasons.
Severstal Cherepovets – young prospects offer hope for future
Results: It’s a long time since playoff hockey came to Cherepovets – 2013 was the last post-season adventure for Severstal. A new head coach couldn’t buck that trend, but could it offer hope for a brighter future?
Summary: Alexander Gulyavtsev took over as head coach at Severstal and immediately set to work on shoring up a leaky defense. The arrival of goalie Jakub Kovar from Avtomobilist looked like a good capture, defensemen Clay Wilson and Adam Masuhr promised stability on the blue line. However, there wasn’t a sharp drop in goals allowed over the course of the season, and Kovar agreed a move back to Yekaterinburg once the campaign was over.
Things got off to a bad start, with a run of nine straight losses following an unexpected shoot-out win over Magnitogorsk. Roster reshuffles followed: former team captain Andrei Shefer and forward Roman Berdnikov were scratched but, apart from a five-game winning streak in the fall, results did not improve. The club marked its 60th anniversary with kind words and warm applause for its efforts in the upper echelons of Russian hockey, but spirited performances during that ‘retro weekend’ could not prevent home defeats against SKA and CSKA.
By the start of February, even a theoretical chance of making the playoffs was gone. Comfort came elsewhere, with Maxim Trunyov repaying the faith of Gulyavtsev to record his best ever KHL season and 19-year-old defenseman Vadim Kudako earning a bronze medal with Russia at the World Juniors. Daniil Vovchenko, 20, also picked up plaudits after impressing in a struggling team. Severstal has a long tradition of nurturing talent – think Vadim Shipachyov or Pavel Buchnevich, in recent seasons – and Kudako or Vovchenko could yet be the next big players to be forged in Cherepovets.
What next: When budgets are tight, everything depends on raising home-grown talent. Gulyavtsev, whose connections with the club go way back, showed every willingness to trust the local lads emerging from the junior teams and – with his position seemingly secure for the coming season – that is likely to continue. But it’s a big ask for a young team to end that wait for a playoff place without some meaningful investment in the roster.
Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod – flying start, faltering finish
Results: A bright start to the season gradually dimmed; Torpedo came in sixth in the table, and fell to Dynamo at the start of the playoffs.
Summary: After last season’s abrasive but effective performances made Torpedo the kind of team nobody wanted to face, hopes were high for the coming campaign. The more optimistic fans in Nizhny Novgorod dared to dream that this might see a best-ever KHL finish and a run to the Conference Final.
The roster did not get a huge overhaul, with Peteris Skudra content with the efforts of his players last time out, and that consistency of selection was rewarded with a flying start. Torpedo rocketed to 11 wins in 15 games in September. Up until the New Year, the team was handily placed among the leaders in the Western Conference.
It didn’t quite last. Even at its best, the team was prone to inexplicable losses against modest opposition and when injuries began to bite, form inevitably faded. A slump in the closing weeks of the season saw a top-four finish turn into a sixth-place spot; the reward was a first-round playoff against Dynamo Moscow. Four of the five games went to overtime, and a combination of fine goaltending from Alexander Yeryomenko and a horrible blunder from Mikhail Biryukov contrived to put the Muscovites in control.
Torpedo’s final goal of the season was scored by Kirill Urakov, a 19-year-old forward who made his KHL debut this season. Still learning his trade, he picked up good notices for his contribution and was part of Russia’s roster at the World Juniors over New Year. His progress bodes well for a breakout season next year.
What next: Few coaches divide opinion like Peteris Skudra. His passion on the benches can boil over into a rage that saw him get into fights and pick up suspensions over the course of the season. But he seems to have earned the respect and affection of the hockey public in Nizhny Novgorod. If the season just gone was a small step back for his team, he will be given the chance to put things right and reshape the roster over the summer.
Vityaz Moscow Region – into the playoffs at last
Results: It was a historic season in Podolsk as Vityaz clinched a playoff spot for the first time in the KHL era. Head coach Valery Belov made all the difference after his arrival from Ak Bars; stepping out from his role alongside Zinetula Bilyaletdinov, he assembled a roster that was good enough for seventh place in the West.
Summary: Belov’s return to a club that he served as both player and coach in the Russian Super League was the big story of the summer. Recent history did not paint an attractive picture of Vityaz: years as a goon show had harmed the team’s reputation, while more recent seasons had seen the organization ditch the rough stuff but fail to produce results. There were some big name players – most obviously Maxim Afinogenov – but previous playoff bids tended to fizzle out in January at the latest.
This time, things were different. Belov recruited well, with the capture of Sibir’s Alexei Kopeikin proving to be a masterstroke. Kopeikin, approaching the veteran phase of his career, was rejuvenated by the move, scoring 51 points. That, in turn, seemed to inspire Afinogenov to his best ever KHL production with 47 points at the age of 37. Throw in the contribution of Miro Aaltonen, with 44 points in his rookie KHL season, and Vityaz had a potent offense. On defense, Jakub Jerabek made a big contribution while young goalie Igor Saprykhin stepped up effectively after injury ruled out first-choice Harri Sateri late in the season.
The season didn’t produce any blistering winning streaks, nor any alarming slumps. Instead the team maintained a steady mix of victories and defeats more or less throughout. Along the way, a high-scoring 9-5 win at home to Dinamo Minsk caught the eye and a 5-3 success at home to Kunlun clinched that long-awaited playoff spot. The game was played on Valentine’s Day, the result no doubt gladdened hearts.
Into the playoffs, and Vityaz faced a tough task against SKA. Ultimately, it was too much. A battling 1-3 loss in Game One was respectable, but the remaining three games ended in heavy defeats. “We no longer had the strength to fight,” concluded Belov.
What next: With Belov firmly in place, the team will look to build on this success and ensure that last year’s playoff run isn’t just a one-off. Getting beyond the first round becomes the next target.
From championship glory at SKA to rock bottom at Dinamo Riga, the Bobrov Division was a tale of the haves and have-nots. The seven teams in this section highlighted the clear contrast between clubs with significant budgets and organizations trying to assemble bargain rosters. Here’s a rundown of all seven clubs and their achievements and disappointments in 2016-17.
Dinamo Minsk – regular season success, playoff disappointment
Results: The Belarusians enjoyed their best ever regular season campaign, but are still waiting to make playoff progress. A first-round loss to Lokomotiv Yaroslavl means Dinamo has yet to reach the second round.
Summary: Craig Woodcroft’s arrival in Minsk brought a few changes. Goalie Ben Scrivens came with NHL experience, D-man Marc-Andre Gragnani returned to the KHL after helping Lev Prague to the 2014 Grand Final and the offense was reshaped to accommodate Sergei Kostitsyn, one of Belarus’ favorite hockey sons.
Dinamo started its season late, delayed by Belarus’ Olympic Qualifying campaign. The first game ended in a 4-2 defeat at Spartak, but 11 wins in the first 15 outings set the tone for a strong regular season. Hefty defeats at SKA and CSKA dampened thoughts of joining the Western Conference leaders, and suddenly the season was off on something of a roller-coaster. At times, Dinamo was excellent, stringing together winning runs and testing the strongest teams in the competition. At others, it was awful – to the point that even the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, was moved to describe a 1-3 home loss to Dinamo Riga as ‘shameful’.
Oddly, the combination added up to statistically the club’s best KHL season, finishing with 105 points to claim fifth place in the West. But then, once again, the slump struck. A playoff series against Lokomotiv was over in five games with 2-7 and 1-5 defeats along the way; a solitary home win came too late to test the Railwaymen and Dinamo’s season was over. Woodcroft’s campaign, never short of entertainment, ended up posing as many questions as it could answer.
What’s next: Woodcroft, who is also assist coach for Team Belarus, will be staying next season. A self-confessed perfectionist, he spoke of learning the lessons of the playoff defeat and warned that the season should not be judged on those five games alone. Now he and his team will get the chance to put that learning into practice next time round.
Dinamo Riga – frustrated, but still hopeful
Results: Rock-bottom of the Western Conference, and never in serious contention for a playoff place, this was another frustrating season for the Latvians.
Summary: Without a big budget, Dinamo did well to hold onto many of its stronger players from the previous season but found it tough to add to its roster. With Arena Riga in use for Olympic Qualifiers in early September, the team also began with a tough road trip: six games in the Eastern Conference, many against strong opposition. That yielded just one point from a shoot-out loss in Ufa, piling up the pressure from the start.
It wasn’t that any individual result was particularly poor. Instead, Dinamo suffered a string of narrow losses, typified by a four-game series of shoot-out losses in October that left head coach Normands Sejujs suggesting it might have been less painful to take heavy defeats in each game rather than narrowly miss out time after time.
There were isolated bright spots. The arrival of Latvian legend Sandis Ozolins on the training staff coincided with an upturn in form in November. In December, two games played in Tallinn brought sell-out crowds to a new destination for the KHL. Overall, though, this was a season of struggle and defeat in Beijing on Jan. 16 saw Dinamo’s playoff hopes officially come to an end. Too many established players – Miks Indrasis, Mikelis Redlihs, Tim Sestito – saw their production fall away this season compared with last and the end result was inevitable.
What’s next: With one of the smaller budgets in the KHL, and with few young players making much of an impact in 2016-17, it’s hard to see where an improvement in Dinamo’s fortunes would come. However, as Sejujs pointed out, so many narrow losses could have been different if the team had been better at taking the chances it created. A handful of extra goals – well within the reach of several of Riga’s players – could have transformed last season from failure into a genuine playoff bid and, therefore, could make next season more successful.
Jokerit Helsinki – Finns in search of consistency
Results: Throughout the season Jukki Jalonen’s team faced a battle to secure a playoff place. In the final stages of the regular campaign, the Finns booked their spot but suffered a 0-4 loss against CSKA Moscow in the first round of post-season.
Summary: Not for the first time, Jokerit had to cope with the departure of its leading scorer. Brandon Kozun swapped Helsinki for Yaroslavl, blunting the team’s offense. It was a loss comparable to the departure of the Lo-Ko-Mo line that powered the Finns in their first KHL season, but this time it was compounded by the departure of head coach Erkka Westerlund.
Jalonen came in, and presided over a frustrating campaign. Jokerit rarely looked capable of stringing together a winning run and, aside from the impressive 48-point haul from Danish forward Peter Regin, did not have the kind of individual performers who could turn tight games around. Summer signing Brian O’Neill did a decent job in support of Regin; the American put up 36 points in his first KHL campaign.
There were some memorable individual results along the way – most notably a 6-3 win at CSKA in October. But, in keeping with the season’s overall inconsistency, that game was preceded by a 0-6 reverse in St. Petersburg.
The playoff series against CSKA was, in many ways, closer than the scoreline suggested. Jokerit was close in every game, but not close enough to win one. That, in a nutshell, was the story of a transitional season in Helsinki.
What’s next: Jalonen is set to remain behind the bench, Jokerit has scotched suggestions that it might drop out of the KHL, and fans in Finland will be hoping for a more consistent performance next time. In the longer term, confirmation that Jokerit will remain in the KHL for at least the next five seasons should help the club lay the foundations for a competitive roster in years to come.
Medvescak Zagreb – transfer turmoil undermines Dwyer
Results: Medvescak came into the season hoping that a strong team identity and passionate home support could help it back into the playoffs. Instead, it finished the campaign with just 14 players dressed for a game against Slovan Bratislava and ended up well outside the top eight.
Summary: Another team on a tight budget, Medvescak’s problems came in the trade market. As soon as a player put together a bit of form, it seemed, another club made an offer that the Zagreb team could not refuse. Thus, starting goalie Danny Taylor went to Sibir following Alexander Salak’s injury, forward Gilbert Brule headed to Neftekhimik to join up with Andrei Nazarov and, by the end of the season, even head coach Gordie Dwyer was head-hunted by Ambri-Piotta in the Swiss League.
Against that background of constant change, Medvescak gave ice time to five goalies, 10 D-men and 20 forwards – 35 players in total. Only seven of them – Mark Katic, Goran Bezina, Blake Parlett and Thomas Larkin on defense, Francis Pare, Alexandre Giroux and Mike Glumac on offense – appeared in more than 50 games. Consistency was hard to come by, and results reflected that. There were good days – wins over SKA and Magnitogorsk – but there were also some nightmares. Six-goal hidings against CSKA and Metallurg highlighted the gap between the top of the league and the outsiders, but a 3-7 reverse at fellow struggler Severstal was especially hard to take.
Dwyer, one of the youngest coaches in the game at just 39, worked hard to build a team in a North American image and succeeded in making Medvescak a highly distinctive outfit in the KHL. But, with leading players regularly allowed to leave the club, it proved impossible for him to mold that into a winning roster.
What’s next: After four seasons in the KHL, Medvescak announced last month that it had successfully applied to compete in next season’s EBEL, an Autrian-based cross-border league. The club’s management suggested that the financial strains of continuing in the KHL would be too much unless more sponsors came forward. A definitive answer on the club’s future is expected when next season’s clubs are confirmed in the coming weeks.
SKA St. Petersburg – imperious and victorious
Results: Lifting the Gagarin Cup, setting new records and staking a claim to be regarded as the top KHL team of the past three seasons – this campaign could hardly have gone better for SKA. And, along the way, head coach Oleg Znarok built a roster around Russian talent that can help him in his role as national team supremo.
Summary: The arrival of Znarok in St. Petersburg was both logical and surprising. Logical, in that SKA has the budget and the ambition that requires coaching staff of the highest possible caliber, and Znarok’s proven record at club and international level fits that bill. Surprising, in that Znarok’s post as head coach of Team Russia has been seen as a full-time role since Vyacheslav Bykov left the job in 2011. Could Znarok successfully serve two masters?
The first test came in September, when Russia went to the World Cup of Hockey. SKA barely flinched, blazing through the month with just two losses in 11 games under the stewardship of Pyotr Vorobyov, the veteran former Lokomotiv head coach. Pauses for other international competitions were similarly smooth. SKA kept on winning, and kept on piling up the goals. In total, the team scored 249 in the regular season, setting a new KHL record. No other team topped 200.
Ilya Kovalchuk and summer signing Pavel Datsyuk played a big role in that, bringing a touch of magic to the team’s offense, but scoring power came all over. The bright partnership between Vadim Shipachyov, Evgeny Dadonov and Nikita Gusev matured and promises to do some serious damage for SKA and for Russia in future seasons. In goal, Igor Shestyorkin set a club record of 272 minutes without allowing a goal as he came of age.
Post-season, SKA remained imperious. The Gagarin Cup was won with just two games lost, making for the quickest post-season campaign in KHL history. Even the absence of Datsyuk and Vyacheslav Voynov, two players with Stanley Cup-winning experience, had little impact on the team’s progress. That Shipachyov line was irresistible, Patrik Hersley provided some handy scoring on defense and, when the need arose, the likes of Dinar Khafizullin and Alexander Barabanov proved to be unlikely heroes.
What next: Winning is hard, defending the crown is harder. SKA will be aware that last season saw almost everything go right. But, with a powerful roster and great strength in depth, plus a coaching staff that knows how to get the maximum from those enviable resources, this is a club that is set up for success. If anyone can combine the pressures of an Olympic year and a Gagarin Cup defense, Oleg Znarok is likely to be that man.
Slovan Bratislava – injury woe slows Riha’s progress
Results: Milos Riha’s magic touch could not lift Slovan into the playoff places this season as a catastrophic series of injuries slowed the Slovaks’ progress.
Summary: The summer trades were not kind to Slovan. Key players such as Cam Barker, Lukas Kaspar and Lubo Visnovsky left the club, with the latter calling time on his illustrious career. Jeff Taffe, an experienced American who had impressed at Neftekhimik, did his best to replace Kaspar’s goals and delivered 43 points, but the team would inevitably suffer due to a loss of leading players. Then injuries began to chip away at the roster: after a 4-2 defeat at CSKA in October, Riha lamented that his team flew to Moscow with 10 first-choice players injured. Efforts to patch up the squad didn’t work out: the signings of Filip Novak and Tomas Kopetsky looked good on paper but contributed little on the ice.
Goaltending was another issue. Michael Garnett’s reliable presence between the piping was never fully replaced; both Justin Pogge and Barry Brust combined game-winning performances with nights to forget, making it hard for Slovan to generate a run of results. Brust didn’t help his cause by embarking on a war of words with Riha.
There were some bright spots. The emergence of young forward Michal Hlinka in the latter half of the season showed some promise for the future. He picked up the bulk of his 11 points in the final 20 games of the season after making the step up from playing in the Slovak League with Dulka Trencin and could be primed to make a more significant contribution next term. Overall, though, this was a frustrating season in Slovakia.
What’s next: The nucleus of a decent team can be found in Bratislava, but turning Slovan into playoff certainties rather than top-eight hopefuls will depend on getting more consistency. Better goaltending, and fewer injuries, could make the difference next season.
Spartak Moscow – great fans, poor results
Results: It was another season of struggle for the Red-and-Whites. Despite enthusiastic support, the Moscow team could not reach the playoffs and that failure cost German Titov his job as head coach.
Summary: If a single game was to sum up Spartak’s season, it would be the derby against CSKA in January. The Red-and-Whites went into the game on an eight-game losing streak, and prior to hosting their city rivals, footage emerged online of the team being angrily chastised in the locker room by supporters. That encounter ended with pledges to do better, to restore pride by winning the derby. Sadly, after a competitive opening, Spartak allowed CSKA to jump out to a 5-0 lead in the second period; the final score of 1-6 offered no comfort to the long-suffering supporters.
Hopes were high after last season’s transitional roster seemed to settle into something more permanent. But the team never really found a run of form – and got through a huge number of players along the way. In total, 35 skaters got on the ice in the KHL for Spartak last season, and too many made little impact. The likes of Tim Stapleton, a mid-season arrival, would have expected better than one goal and six assists in 22 games; Marcus Hogstrom’s spell in defense ended midway through the season with the Swede leaving the club after contributing just eight points in 30 games.
Instead, the highlights came off the ice: there was magnificent support, regardless of whether the team played at Luzhniki or the VTB Arena in Moscow. And, in an anniversary year for Russian hockey, the club’s retro game against Lokomotiv on December 22 was among the brightest events of the season: a festival of nostalgia in the stands and a 2-1 victory on the ice.
What’s next: After German Titov left the club, Alexei Yarushkin took over as acting head coach until the end of the season. But, on April 20, Vadim Yepanchintsev returned to the club as head coach. The former Russian international forward played for Spartak from 1993-97, and his coaching career includes spells with the Red-and-Whites and Atlant. As assistant to Oleg Bratash, he helped Spartak’s juniors win the Kharlamov Cup. Now he’s back to try and bring success to the senior team.
The 2016-17 season was full of excitement from start to finish. It was the year when the KHL expanded into China, when Sergei Mozyakin smashed records on a regular basis, and when Team Russia opened its doors to a new generation of talented youngsters. In a three-part reflection of some of the highs of the ninth KHL campaign, we start with the opening months of the regular season:
August – Kornoukhov fired, Datsyuk arrives, Metallurg keeps winning
The season began in Magnitogorsk, where the Opening Cup was contested in traditional style between last year’s Gagarin Cup finalists. CSKA’s Dmitry Kugryshev got the first goal of the campaign, and finished with two on the night, but Metallurg skated to a 3-2 victory with Sergei Mozyakin getting the first goal of what would prove to be a record-breaking season.
Prior to the opening game, excitement ahead of the new season was growing all over the KHL. The return of Pavel Datsyuk after 14 seasons with the Detroit Red Wings was a thrill for SKA fans … and the Magic Man didn’t forget his roots in Yekaterinburg. On the eve of the new season he opened a new rink – described as a ‘temple of hockey’ – in his home town; the facility is already helping to develop future generations of Urals stars. On the ice, he wasted little time making an impact, with a goal just 30 seconds into his home debut in Petersburg as SKA crushed Salavat Yulaev 7-1.
August also saw the first coaching change of the season – and in record time. Avangard Omsk surprised everyone by replacing head coach Evgeny Kornoukhov before the action was even underway. Happiness at seeing the popular Fyodor Kanareikin back in the game after recovering from serious illness was tempered by concern that coaching was an ever-more precarious position – something that many other clubs would demonstrate as the season unfolded.
September – exploring new territory, breaking old records
The KHL explored a new frontier when Beijing’s Kunlun Red Star took to the ice for the first time. The Chinese capital, due to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, had never seen pro hockey prior to this season, but league newcomer Kunlun made an instant impact. The dress rehearsal, away to Amur, went well: Sean Collins got the first ever goal for the franchise; Tuukka Mantyla grabbed a last-minute winner. Then came the grand opening at Beijing’s LeSports Center, and a 6-3 win over Admiral. For the 8,000 or so fans, it was a game with a bit of everything – goals, drama, new heroes and, best of all, a home win. The big experiment of the season was off to a promising start.
From new faces to old favorites, Sergei Mozyakin scored the tying goal against Dinamo Minsk, helping Metallurg Magnitogorsk to a 5-4 victory on September 13. Nothing so unusual in that, but it was Mozyakin’s 429th career goal in Russian hockey, setting a new All-Time record. The previous record-holder, Boris Mikhailov, got his 428th goal in October 1980, five months before Mozyakin was born, and in a much-changed hockey environment his total had looked unbeatable in the modern era … until Metallurg’s captain emerged to claim the crown of Russia’s greatest goal machine.
September also saw international action. There was Olympic qualification in Minsk and Riga, but there was disappointment for the KHL countries involved. Belarus lost out to Slovenia – with the Balkan nation helped by Robert Sabolic, Ziga Jeglic and Jan Mursak on its path to a second successive games; Latvia was denied by Germany. Kazakhstan also came up short, missing out in Norway. In the World Cup of Hockey in Toronto, Oleg Znarok selected SKA’s Evgeny Dadonov, Pavel Datsyuk and Vadim Shipachyov, as well as CSKA’s Ivan Telegin. Other KHLers in the competition included Tomas Kundratek and Vladimir Sobotka (Czech Republic) and Mikko Koskinen (Finland). Russia lost out to Canada in the semi-final.
October – Yuen and Mozyakin score goals, Shestyorkin denies
There was more good news from Kunlun, where Zach Yuen became the first Chinese player to get among the scorers in the KHL. Red Star had used four Chinese-eligible players in the early stages of the season, giving priceless experience to young, local talent, and Yuen repaid that faith. The 23-year-old, a versatile player who can operate as a center or a D-man, got his first point of the season when he assisted on Max Warn’s game-winner at Spartak Moscow. Then he went one better, grabbing the only goal of the game against Amur on October 28 in Shanghai.
Sergei Mozyakin’s scoring feats were destined to be a recurring theme this season, and October saw him overtake Evgeny Korshkov as Metallurg’s record scorer. Korshkov spent 10 seasons in Magnitogorsk, and reached his tally of 421 in 2004; Mozyakin topped it in his fourth full season with Magnitka.
In St. Petersburg, there was another club record to celebrate when young goalie Igor Shestyorkin went 272 minutes and eight seconds without allowing a goal. Nikita Ustinenko of Dinamo Minsk ended the shut-out streak in the second period of SKA’s 6-2 home win on October 10; Shestyorkin, just 20, was barely half-an-hour away from breaking Alexei Murygin’s KHL record from last season.
November – Russia’s youngsters impress, SKA dominates
The focus switched to the international arena at the start of the month as Team Russia triumphed in the Karjala Cup. Oleg Znarok selected a young, experimental roster, allowing proven stars like Kovalchuk and Datsyuk to rest at home, and was rewarded with wins over Finland, Sweden and the Czech Republic. Valery Nichushkin, recently returned to Russia after a spell with the Dallas Stars, was a key part of the offense, forging an effective partnership with his one-time schoolmate Anatoly Golyshev. On defense, Magnitogorsk’s Alexei Bereglazov translated his solid start to the domestic season into the international arena, while the young goaltending talents of Ilya Sorokin (CSKA) and Igor Shestyorkin (SKA) were solid between the piping.
Back in league action, SKA was in imperious form at the top of the table, and a 9-0 victory over Barys made it 15 wins on the spin. Ilya Kovalchuk chipped in with four points to reach 250 for the club. Elsewhere in the Western Conference, a lively battle for the playoff places was developing. Jokerit and Dynamo Moscow, two teams expected to be confidently plotting post-season campaigns, were struggling for consistency and got caught in a mid-table morass. Emerging from the pack, Vityaz, under the guidance of Valery Belov, was showing signs of making a serious bid for the top eight and reaching its first ever KHL playoff.
And that Mozyakin milestone for the month? November 19, and a hat-trick away to Spartak saw the master marksman become Magnitogorsk’s all-time record goalscorer.
The second half of the regular season brought more moments of history. Sergei Mozyakin set more individual scoring records, SKA set a new marker for team scoring. Chad Rau got the first ever winner in 3-on-3 overtime, while his Kunlun Red Star team qualified for the playoffs at the first attempt. Vityaz also reached its first playoff in the KHL era, ending a nine-year wait. And a new-look All-Star Game delivered a brand-new star in the form of 18-year-old Andrei Altybarmakyan.
December – Kareyev denies, Kaprizov dazzles
Andrei Kareyev isn’t a household name, but there’s evidence to suggest that the young goalie might be soon. On December 9, he made 52 saves for Metallurg Novokuznetsk against Avangard, setting a new KHL record. It wasn’t enough to claim the win, though: the visitor took the verdict in a shoot-out after a 2-2 tie.
A rule change introduced on December 13 meant that tied games would be settled by a period of 3-on-3 overtime, mirroring amendments made by the NHL and the IIHF for tournament play. Four days later, Chad Rau claimed a small piece of history by grabbing the first game-winner in that format for Kunlun Red Star, snapping a 3-3 tie with Avtomobilist. Nigel Dawes had a memorable Christmas, celebrating December 25 with a hat-trick as Barys defeated Magnitka 5-3. His treble was the eighth of his KHL career and made him the leading scorer of hat-tricks in the league’s history. Dawes also became the highest scoring import in the KHL earlier in the season, overtaking clubmate Brandon Bochenski.
Elsewhere, the World Junior Championship got underway in Canada … and Kirill Kaprizov was one of the brightest stars on display. The Salavat Yulaev youngster cemented his burgeoning reputation with a powerful performance on the international stage. He started with a goal and an assist in Russia’s 3-5 loss against Canada, and kept on scoring to finish with 9 goals and 3 assists from seven games as Russia took bronze. His clubmate Mikhail Vorobyov weighed in with 10 assists in the tournament
January – Altybarmakyan shines among the stars
Salavat Yulaev’s slump became the talking point of the New Year. Expectations were high in Ufa, especially after the success of the team’s juniors in the World Championship. But 2017 was hardly a happy new year for the club as a long losing streak plunged its playoff prospects into doubt. But there were happier times in the capital of Bashkiria when the 2017 All-Star Game came to town. This year’s event had a new format, with showcase games featuring the best players from Russia’s Youth, Women’s and Sledge Hockey teams as well as the KHL. The main event was also a bit different – instead of a head-to-head clash between the Eastern and Western Conferences, the climax was a four-team showdown between teams representing the KHL’s four divisions. Each team was supplemented by a rising star selected from the Junior All-Star Game earlier that week.
Victory went to the Chernyshev Division, but the game-winning hero was a surprise. Young Andrei Altybarmakyan made the most of his wild-card pick with the decisive goal in a 3-2 victory over the Tarasov Division.
In the championship, the race for the regular season title was down to a two-way fight between SKA and CSKA, while Metallurg Magnitogorsk was out in front in the East. The playoff battle was intriguing. In the East, newcomer Kunlun Red Star was fighting it out with Sibir, Neftekhimik and Admiral, while the West saw Vityaz continue to press the likes of Jokerit and HC Sochi.
February – Mozyakin tops the scoring, Kunlun and Vityaz celebrate playoff spots
History was made at both ends of the KHL map as the regular season came to a thrilling close. First, Vityaz reached the playoffs for the first time ever, claiming seventh place in the West and helping to condemn HC Sochi to an early finish for the first time since the Black Sea team joined the league in 2014. In the East, though, the battle went to the final day as Admiral, Sibir and Kunlun jousted over two remaining spots after Salavat Yulaev rallied to win its final two games and end its miserable run of form.
Ninth-placed Sibir was first up, needing a regulation-time win at Avtomobilist to put the pressure on its rivals. Andrei Skabelka’s team had overcome serious injury problems to remain in contention, and led 1-0 thanks to a second-period goal from Yegor Milovzorov. But a goalie error in the third period handed Avto a tying goal and the shoot-out win wasn’t enough. That meant that Kunlun already knew it was safe, despite a 2-1 loss at Dynamo Moscow. Admiral won 3-1 at Vityaz to take seventh place.
The final week also brought drama at the top of the table, where CSKA overhauled a three-point deficit to claim the regular season crown for the third season running – but by the narrowest of margins. The Muscovites finished level with SKA on 131 points, taking top spot by virtue of a greater number of victories in regulation. CSKA’s reward was a first-round playoff series against Jokerit, while SKA would face Vityaz.
Among the individual stats, the race between Sergei Mozyakin and Ilya Kovalchuk to top the scoring charts was the key battle. Mozyakin came out on top, with 85 points (48+37) establishing a new KHL best. He improved on Steve Moses’ 36 goals for Jokerit in 2014-15 and Alexander Radulov’s 80 points for Salavat Yulaev in 2010-11. But he finished the season tantalizingly short of next big milestone: his career points tally was 999 ahead of the playoff series against Kunlun. Kovalchuk could not overtake his rival, but his 78-point haul still helped SKA to 249 goals in regular season – another KHL scoring record.
Uniquely, this year there wasn’t a single series that went to game seven … but don’t go thinking anyone found progress easy. Even where teams swept their series, the individual games tended to be hard fought. And, in a season studded with scoring records, it’s no surprise that the 2017 playoffs continued to set new marks for goals and assists along the way.
Round one – Mozyakin’s millennium, playoffs in China and bragging rights for Ak Bars
At first glance, there were few surprises at this stage. Of the eight series across two Conferences, only one – Barys’ victory over Traktor – overturned the end-of-season rankings. But there was still plenty to note.
In the Eastern Conference, playoff hockey went to China for the first time ever as Kunlun Red Star faced defending champion Metallurg Magnitogorsk. Magnitka, as expected, prevailed, but the series produced one of the goals of the season from Kunlun’s Linus Videll and a memorable victory for the Chinese team in Game Four. That 3-1 win on February 28 was a real highlight for the league’s newcomer.
Beijing was also the venue for one of Sergei Mozyakin’s most memorable achievements of a record-laden campaign. His goal in the 39th minute of Magnitka’s 3-2 win on February 26 brought up his 1,000th career point in Russian domestic hockey, a mark never before reached by any player in Soviet or post-Soviet times. Typically, it didn’t take long for the master marksman to start work on his second millennium, assisting on Danis Zaripov’s game-winner.
Elsewhere in the East, the ‘Green Derby’ between Ak Bars and Salavat Yulaev went decisively in favor of the team from Kazan. The 4-1 series sweep led to the dismissal of Salavat head coach Igor Zakharkin. Admiral took two games from Avangard before going out, while fifth seed Barys surprised four-placed Traktor in six games.
In the West, it was all about overtime. Regular season champion CSKA might have swept Jokerit, but the Finns took three of the four games to extras without managing to force a victory. Dynamo Moscow beat Torpedo 4-1, but the series featured five additional periods. Two of those came in game one before Maxim Karpov won it; game five was the only one settled in 60 minutes. Life was less stressful for SKA, which swept playoff debutant Vityaz, and Lokomotiv, which dropped just one game against Dinamo Minsk.
Round two – hat-trick kings, red line kings and CSKA hitting the buffers
The match-up between CSKA and Lokomotiv provided the shock of the playoffs. The Army Men, fresh from a third straight regular season title, were favorites to overcome a Loko team that had rather more potential than experience. But Alexei Kudashov’s team rose to the challenge to win it in six. The key moment came in Game Four. CSKA was 2-1 up in the series and tied at 1-1 in Yaroslavl as the game went into the third period. Then Loko blasted home four unanswered goals, winning 5-1 and decisively tipping the momentum of the series.
The other pairing in the West saw SKA and Dynamo Moscow come together for the fifth time in six seasons. At the start of that run, Dynamo had the edge, winning in 2012 and 2013 on the way to lifting the cup; subsequently, it’s been the Petersburg team that has dominated. When Maxim Karpov hit an overtime winner for the Blue-and-Whites in Game One, some fans recalled Dynamo’s 2012 triumph. Then, Denis Mosalyov completed a hat-trick in overtime; this time Karpov repeated the trick. But SKA was in no mood to repeat history, powering through the next four games to progress. Even the loss of Pavel Datsyuk, who suffered the first game misconduct of his career and then picked up an injury that ruled him out of the rest of the campaign, could not halt Oleg Znarok’s progress against his former club. For Dynamo, the only small consolation was the fame of defenseman Andrei Kuteikin, who twice scored from the red line in this series after achieving a similar feat against Torpedo in round one. But SKA was able to draw a red line through its rival’s hopes once again.
In the East, Danis Zaripov was the main man for Metallurg. He scored back-to-back hat-tricks in games two and three of the series against Barys, helping Magnitka to a sweep. Moreover, he claimed the title of ‘Hat-trick king’, the first man to get three post-season trebles in the KHL. D-man Chris Lee also set a new record, getting the highest number of playoff assists from a blue liner with two more series to come.
Also in the East, Ak Bars got the better of Avangard in six games. That ensured a celebration for Zinetula Bilyaletdinov, as the head coach of the Kazan team marked his 1,000th game behind the bench in Russian hockey with victory. Progress wasn’t always assured: Ak Bars’ 3-1 win in Game Four was marked by cruel deflections that beat Avangard goalie Dominik Furch, but it was good enough to deflate a potential fight-back in Omsk and ultimately send Ak Bars to a showdown with Metallurg in the Eastern Conference Final.
Conference Finals – squeaky sweeps and an infamous water bottle
By this time in the season, it’s fair to expect tight series. With the four strongest teams duking it out, a game seven should be pretty much a lock in one or other match-up. Not this time. Neither series exactly played out like a sweep, but both of them ended up 4-0.
SKA delivered a masterclass in finding ways to win as it ended Lokomotiv’s run. Down 2-4 in game one, with five minutes left to play, the Petersburg team rallied to win it in overtime. Patrik Hersley and Nikita Gusev were inspired in that one. Loko took the lead again in Game Two, only to fluff its lines and suffer a 1-4 loss. Then came the bottle of water. Game Three in Yaroslavl saw Loko in front thanks to a Pavel Kraskovsky goal. With 10 minutes left, Kudashov was ejected from the game for throwing a bottle from the bench. SKA converted the power play, took it to overtime and Alexander Barabanov popped up to win it with his first goal in 38 games. Lokomotiv could be forgiven for feeling the fates were conspiring. SKA got another 2-1 victory in Game Four and, for the first time in the series, did not fall behind at any point in the game. The stats show a 4-0 outcome, but it’s not just in Yaroslavl that many regard it as the squeakiest sweep possible.
In the East, Metallurg had a similar run of tight games to oust Ak Bars. Along the way, Danis Zaripov tormented his former team to take his goal tally to 15 and match Evgeny Dadonov’s KHL playoff record. But the 4-0 stat hides a double-overtime win in Game One, thanks to Sergei Mozyakin’s 86th-minute goal. Zaripov got his second of the series in the next one, but it took 30 saves from Vasily Koshechkin to secure a 2-0 victory. Then it was off to Kazan where Zaripov made it four goals in three games to swing this one around in the last four minutes: down 1-2, Danis’ double handed Metallurg a 3-2 margin. Only in Game Four did Ak Bars fade. Two Mozyakin assists helped Magnitka jump into a 2-0 lead in the first 10 minutes and not even a response from Jiri Sekac could halt the visitor Mozyakin scored again, and Denis Platonov wrapped it up to set up a long break before a final series to savor – Metallurg vs SKA.
The Gagarin Cup Final – forwards win games, defences win championships
Ahead of this showdown, the talk was all about the forwards. Would Mozyakin, Zaripov and Kovar continue their devastating form for Metallurg? How much damage could Gusev, Dadonov and Shipachyov do for SKA? Would defensemen on both sides end up suffering sleepless nights against such potent offenses?
Game One seemed to justify the assumption that this would be a scorers’ final. SKA edged it 5-4, two goals from Dadonov bettered one from Mozyakin. The big guns seemed to be firing. Magnitka replied at once, winning 3-1 to level the scores before the game moved to St. Petersburg and the ding-dong battle seemed to be shaping up nicely. But one of the truisms of hockey is that it’s defences that win cups. Now SKA’s defense stepped up its game and proved that point. Lockdown. Game Three, played on Cosmonaut’s Day, saw the Mozyakin line fail to launch. It took 92 minutes to separate the teams, but the trio produced just three shots on goal between them. SKA’s victory was delayed by Vasily Koshechkin, who made 58 saves before Dadonov beat him in double overtime. Game Four was similar; the hot shots mustered just four attempts between them as SKA peppered Koshechkin with 50 more efforts. Dinar Khafizullin was the unlikely home hero with two goals, SKA won it 3-2 to take a grip on the series.
That grip came in the form of a vice that strangled the Metallurg forwards. The defending champion was unable to unleash its formidable scoring power until it was too late and Magnitka was chasing Game Five – and the series, in the final stanza. This time SKA had clawed back a 0-2 deficit and briefly led 4-2. Metallurg turned on the style in the third, clawing a goal back immediately through Yaroslav Kosov and laying siege to Mikko Koskinen’s net. The first line was back in business – 13 shots between them, seven for Zaripov alone – but the goals did not come. Oskar Osala was millimeters away from salvaging overtime as his shot rolled along the goal line before bouncing to safety off a post; seconds later Sergei Plotnikov’s empty-net goal ended the season. Metallurg claimed a share of two scoring records – Zaripov’s 15 goals tied Dadonov’s mark from 2015, Lee’s 20 assists matched Mozyakin’s tally in 2014 – but SKA won 5-3 on the day, 4-1 overall, and lifted its second Gagarin Cup. Incredibly, Oleg Znarok’s team dropped just two games on the way to glory. The bar for next season has been set high.
