The veteran defenseman will undergo a try-out with Severstal, Meija will play his 11th season for Dinamo Riga.
Former Gagarin Cup champion, defenseman Nikolai Belov agreed on a try-out with Severstal Cherepovets.
Dinamo Riga and veteran forward Gints Meija renewed their relationship for a further year. It will be his 11th season with Dinamo Riga.
KHL.ru gives the fans a chance to acquaint with the preseason plans for the different teams in the league. Today: Kharlamov Division.
The reigning Gagarin Cup champions will get back from vacations on July 13. The team will have its first training camp in Sochi until July 16.
July 16-28– Training camp in Rovaniemi (Finland).
July 29-August 1– Practices in Kazan.
August 2-9– Participation in the international preseason tournament Sochi Hockey Open.
August 10-19– Practices in Kazan. The following exhibitions are scheduled: August 13, against Neftyanik in Almetievsk; August 16, against Neftekhimik in Kazan.
August 20-25– Participation in the Latvian Railways Cup in Riga.
August 26-31– Practices in Kazan.
The team from the Urals will get back from vacations on July 13 and physical examination and tests are planned through July 16. From July 16-18, Avtomobilist will practice at their home facility.
July 18-31– Training camp in Chomutov (Czech Republic). Three exhibition games are scheduled, dates and opponents will be communicated later. After getting back from the Czech Republic, Avtomobilist will practice at home again.
August 5-11– Participation in the Nizhny Novgorod Region’s Governor Cup.
August 14-24– Practices in Yekaterinburg.
August 25-28– Participation in the Bashkotorstan Republic Cup.
August 30-31– Practices in Yekaterinburg.
The two-time Gagarin Cup champions will get back from vacations on July 13. From July 13-15 the team will undergo medical examination and tests.
July 16-25– Training camp in Magnitogorsk.
July 26-August 6– Training camp in Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Germany), with the following exhibition games: August 4, against Vityaz; August 6 (opponents TBD).
August 7-13– Training camp in Magnitogorsk.
August 14-18– Participation in the Chelyabinsk Region’s Governor Cup.
August 19-22– Practices in Magnitogorsk.
August 23-26– Participation in the Romazan Memorial tournament.
From August 27 to the start of the KHL regular season, Metallurg will practice at its home facility.
Andrei Nazarov’s team will be back from vacations on July 13 and will practice in Nizhnekamsk from July 13-18.
July 19-August 2– Training camp in Imatra (Finland), with two exhibition games: July 29, against Traktor; and August 2, against Jokerit.
August 4-8– Training camp in Nizhnekamsk, with an exhibition game (TBD).
August 9-12– Participation in the Kazakhstan President Cup.
August 15-24– Training camp in Nizhnekamsk, with an exhibition game scheduled for August 16 against Ak Bars.
August 25-28– Participation in the Bashkotorstan Republic Cup.
From August 29 to the start of the KHL regular season, Neftekhimik will practice at its home facility.
Torpedo will be back from vacations on July 13 and will practice in Nizhny Novgorod through August 4.
August 5-11– Participation in the Nizhny Novgorod Region’s Governor Cup.
August 13-22– Training camp in Nizhny Novgorod.
August 23-26– Participation in the Romazan Memorial tournament.
From August 28 to the start of the KHL regular season, Torpedo will practice at its home facility.
Traktor will be back from vacations on July 13, when the team will also undergo physical examination and tests. Checkups will continue through the next day. From July 15-19, Traktor will have a training camp at its home facility.
July 20-August 3– Training camp in Pajulahti (Finland), with three exhibition games: July 26, against Salavat Yulaev; July 29, against Neftekhimik; August 3, against Severstal.
August 4-13– Training camp in Chelyabinsk.
August 14-18– Participation in the Chelyabinsk Region’s Governor Cup.
August 19-22– Training camp in Chelyabinsk.
August 23-26– Participation in the Romazan Memorial tournament.
August 27-31– Training camp in Chelyabinsk.
KHL.ru gives the fans a chance to acquaint with the preseason plans for the different teams in the league. The last article is for the Chernyshev Division.
The team will get back from vacations on July 13, and for a few days the players will undergo physical examination and tests. Avangard will practice at their home facility until July 27.
July 28-August 9– Training camp in Rovaniemi (Finland), with two exhibition games planned that will be announced later.
August 10-13– Practices in Omsk.
August 14-18– Participation in the Chelyabinsk Region’s Governor Cup.
August 19-22– Practices in Omsk.
August 23-28– Participation in the preseason tournament “N.G. Puchkov”
August 29-September 1– Practices in Omsk.
The Seamen will get back from vacations on July 13 and will practice at their home facility through August 6. On August 3-4, the team will have two exhibitions against Amur Khabarovsk.
August 6-12– Training camp in Moscow, with two exhibitions against CSKA Moscow on August 9-10.
August 13-26– Training camp in Pardubice (Czech Republic).
August 16-18– Participation in the international preseason tournament Zbynek Kusy Memorial.
August 26-31– Training camp in Moscow.
From July 13-15 Amur players will undergo physical examination and tests, then the Tigers will practice in Khabarovsk through August 1.
August 3-4– Two exhibition games against Admiral in Vladivostok.
August 9-12– Participation in the Kazakhstan President Cup.
August 13-16– Training camp in Moscow, with an exhibition game against HC Dynamo on August 15.
August 16-28– Training camp in Ceske Budejovice (Czech Republic), with the following exhibitions: August 23, against HC Kometa Brno; August 25, against Motor Pardubice; and August 27 (TBD).
The Kazakhstani team will be back from vacations on July 13 and will practice in Astana until August 8.
July 19-August 2– Training camp in Imatra (Finland), with two exhibition games: July 29, against Traktor; and August 2, against Jokerit.
August 9-12– Participation in the Kazakhstan President Cup.
August 13-24– Training camp in Astana.
August 25-28– Participation in the Bashkotorstan Republic Cup.
August 29-31– Practices in Astana.
The team will be back from vacations on July 14 and the first training camp will be held in Riga.
July 17-31– Training camp in Liberec (Czech Republic), where the team will play one or two exhibitions, whose details will be communicated later.
August 1-16– Training camp in Sochi.
August 4-8– Participation in the international preseason tournament Sochi Hockey Open.
August 17-23– Training camp in Riga.
August 24-28– Participation in the preseason tournament “N.G. Puchkov” in St. Petersburg.
Salavat will be back from vacations on July 13, and until July 15 the players will undergo physical examination and tests and the practices will start.
July 16-27– Training camp in Vierumaki (Finland).
July 28-August 13– Practices in Ufa.
August 14-18– Participation in the Chelyabinsk Region’s Governor Cup.
August 19-24– Practices in Ufa.
August 25-28– Participation in the Bashkotorstan Republic Cup.
August 28-31– Practices in Ufa.
The Novosibirsk-based team will be back from vacations on July 13 and will practice at their home facility until July 31.
August 1-4– Training camp in Minsk, with two exhibitions against two Minsk-based teams: August 2, against Dinamo; and August 3, against Yunost.
August 4-12– Training camp in Valkeakoski (Finland), with the following exhibitions: August 6 (TBD); August 8, against Jokerit; and August 10, against HPK.
August 13-21– Training camp in Novosibirsk.
August 20– Exhibition game against Metallurg Novokuznetsk in Novokuznetsk.
August 23-26– Participation in the Romazan Memorial tournament.
August 28-31– Final training camp in Novosibirsk.
At the League teams’ directors meeting on May 23, 2018, the new ranking parameters were presented, and the teams were again ranked by the various indicators. KHL.ru explains what factors influenced on the teams’ positions improvement or worsening at the end of the jubilee season.
The parameters are counted on for a period of three seasons, the latest seasons and the previous two. The first evaluation of the teams’ activity, presented on May 24, 2017, included data from the 2014/2015, 2015/2016, and 2016/2017 seasons. The new rankings were formed using data from the 2015/2016, 2016/2017, and 2017/2018 seasons. Changing each of the parameters affects the location of the club in the general ranking, but a significant improvement or worsening occurred if the same indicators in the 7th and 10th seasons were significantly different from each other.
A good on-ice result in the 10th season could improve the general ranking of a team if in the 7th season, not counting this time, the team had a worse position. For example, Severstal Cherepovets got to the playoffs in 2017/2018 for the first time in several seasons and was the 16th overall team. But in the 2014/2015 season, the team had the 18th position in the standings. That’s why Severstal couldn’t count on a significant improvement in this indicator.
The biggest jump forward was made by Amur Khabarovsk, Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk, Traktor Chelyabinsk, and Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg. All these teams got to the playoffs in the KHL’s tenth season: Amur ended the season in the 13th place (28th last year), Neftekhimik had the 10th spot in the standings (22nd place three years ago), Avtomobilist gained seven positions if compared with the 2014/2015 season, and Traktor won the Bronze Medal, while having a first-round exit in the 7th season.
Among the teams with a worsening in this parameter, we can mention Dinamo Minsk, SKA St. Petersburg, HC Dynamo Moscow, Sibir Novosibirsk, and Barys Astana. Only SKA qualified to the Gagarin Cup playoffs this year, but if in the first evaluation the St. Petersburg team had two Gagarin Cup triumphs to be counted, this year only one was included.
To fight for the highest places in the standings and to assemble a good roster of players and coaches, teams need a good budget. The league, comparing the on-ice results and the players budget of the teams, determined the amount necessary to assemble a competitive roster.
In May 2017, to calculate this parameter the league used the data for the 2014/2015, 2015/2016, and 2016/2017 seasons, and the average players budget was around 700 million rubles. In May 2018, the average dropped to 650 million rubles*: teams should spend at least this amount on players’ salaries in order to receive the maximum mark in this parameter. It is important to note that teams won’t get additional points augmenting their spending, but they would lose points if spending less money.
* - the drop in the average labor costs from 700 to 650 million rubles is related to the different number of teams whose financial indicators were counted to calculate the average players budget (in accordance with the given set of conditions).
It’s worthful to note that 16 out of 27 clubs had an increase in this parameter. 11 teams got the maximum mark already in the first calculation happened in May 2017, and after this year’s calculation, Avtomobilist, Traktor, and Torpedo joined in.
The calculation of this parameter is influenced by the share of state financing and the funding by companies with state participation in the general budget of the club. Only six teams fully adhere to this condition: Barys, Dinamo Minsk, Jokerit, Kunlun Red Star, Severstal, and Spartak.
Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg almost halved their funding through public funds.
In the 10th KHL season, 13 teams had wage delays. Slovan, Torpedo, and Admiral had the biggest problems with this parameter. Admiral had a maximum delay of 257 days.
In average, the delays were cut to 149 days. If compared with the 9th season, HC Dynamo Moscow, Dinamo Minsk, Dinamo Riga, and Traktor had no delays.
A capacity of 12,000 spectators is the threshold for the calculation of this parameter. The fewer spectators an arena holds; the less points will be gained in the overall rating.
In the 2017/2018 season, three clubs had a different arena capacity. Spartak spent the season at the VTB Ice Palace, with a capacity of 12,100 spectators, while last year the team also played games at the MSA Luzhniki, thus the average capacity was only 9,580 spectators. Dinamo Riga played all their home games without moving to a smaller arena (10,300 in 2017/2018 against 8,905 in the 2016/2017 season). Kunlun Red Star had a worsening here: if last year the team played in both Beijing and Shanghai, the team spent the 2017/2018 season in Shanghai, with an arena capacity of 4,800 spectators.
Capacity and occupancy are two indicators that influence each other. If a team plays some home games in an arena with an inferior capacity, the occupancy can increase, but the former parameter may suffer. If the team moves to an arena with a larger capacity, the occupancy may noticeably decrease, and this affects the scoring.
To calculate this parameter, the average attendance of all the teams from the previous three seasons was used. It’s also noted, that only regular-season games were considered.
According to 2017/2018 data, four teams had a higher Occupancy rate of arena: Avtomobilist, Jokerit, CSKA, and Severstal. Neftekhimik, Admiral, Barys and HC Dynamo Moscow had a slight decrease.
Only Sporting achievement (30%) and Labor costs (20%) parameters had a bigger influence on the KHL teams ranking. This is not surprising, as the TV demand is directly related to commercial income for both teams and the league. How is the TV demand calculated?
The KHL owns all the TV rights to show the league’s games, and as such creates TV content, films games, and creates TV broadcasts. The league concludes contracts for the sale of the games’ TV rights to Russian and foreign broadcasters. The final value of contracts is determined by the interest in the sport, and, accordingly, it brings to higher prices for advertising during the games.
All the income gathered by the league from regional and foreign TV-licensees is summed, to have a base to calculate the conditional share of revenue brought by the specific team. The sum is calculated based on the cost of one game (which can vary in different cities and countries) and the number of matches chosen by each TV company. The profit from a game is divided equally between the home and the away team. Using this formula, it’s possible to calculate the share of each team and its contribution to the overall earnings of the League from the sale of TV rights. Each team’s share is the TV demand.
According to 2017/2018 data, the TV demand has mostly fallen for the teams who had the worst on-ice results, for example, HC Dynamo Moscow and Dinamo Riga. The parameter’s leader is Jokerit, while the best between Russian teams is SKA St. Petersburg. The top-five includes also CSKA, Metallurg, and Ak Bars.
The values for this parameter didn’t change at all. Among the leaders there are Avtomobilist, Dinamo Minsk, SKA St. Petersburg, and four teams from Moscow Region: Vityaz, HC Dynamo, Spartak, and CSKA. To calculate this parameter, not only the population and the number of KHL teams in a city is counted, but also the population of the closest cities. That’s why, for example, Lada got the maximum rating, due to the proximity to Samara, a city with a population of over one million.
The parameter wasn’t calculated for Kunlun Red Star, as the team is temporarily based in Shanghai, and not in Beijing, who should be the team’s home city.
KHL.ru keeps on reviewing the seasons for the league’s teams. Today it’s the turn of Dinamo Minsk. One of the most popular teams in Belarus had a rocky start of the season, then improved things a bit, but without managing to get to the playoffs.
Last summer, the team decided again to self-impose a limit on foreign players; Ben Scrivens, Matt Ellison, Sergei Kostitsyn, and head coach Craig Woodcroft left the team. The team hired Gordie Dwyer– who earlier coached Medvescak Zagreb – as a new head coach. The team had a rocky start of the season, then had a few very good games, but didn’t manage to reach the playoffs.
Dinamo started the season with six defeats, gaining a total of two points. However, the team looked bad only in the game against Jokerit (1:6), when Eeli Tolvanen had a hat-trick. On September 6, the team had their first win in Sochi (4:2).
One of the best parts of the Dinamo season was the September home series against Urals teams. Two shutout wins over Traktor (3:0) and Lada (2:0), a defeat against Avtomobilist (1:3), and an incredible win over Metallurg (5:3). Dinamo was down 0:3 by the 46th minute but then scored five unanswered goals, with the game-winning goal being scored at just 45 seconds to the horn.
The team continued to be in a fever and could not get to the playoffs zone. And that tasted even worse, considering that Dinamo was able to defeat several cup contenders at home, as the team defeated Torpedo, Ak Bars, Neftekhimik, and Avangard. Midway through December, Dinamo defeated SKA in St. Petersburg (3:2 SO), and right before the New Year they repeated the feat, this time at home (6:3).
At the start of January, Dinamo had an important home series with Far East teams, but the three defeats in three games meant abandoning any dream of the playoffs. But this didn’t prevent Dinamo from having some good games. On January 20, in Riga, the second KHL open-air game was played. Minsk was down 0:2 for most of the game, but then managed to tie the game up and at just four minutes to the horn, Jack Skille gifted the Belarusian team a deserved win.
After a couple of good seasons in Medvescak, Gordie Dwyer had in front of himself a new challenge in Minsk. The team gradually got closer to the kind of hockey he had in mind. From time to time, the Minsk-based team looked great, especially against the top teams. The players are already used to working under a foreigner head coach and the team decided to renew the contract with Dwyer and his staff for a further season.
Dinamo Minsk had a number of good games this year, it’s hard to pick only one. But two games were worthy of a mention. On September 17, Dinamo was losing 0:3 against Metallurg by the 36th minute, then had an incredible comeback. From the 47th to the 53rd minute, Dinamo tied the game up with a double by Alexander Kitarov and a goal by Alexander Pavlovich. At just 45 seconds to the horn, Evgeny Lisovets scored the go-ahead goal ad at just one second to the end of the game, Pavlovich made it a 5:3 game.
On December 29, Dinamo faced SKA St. Petersburg at home. After the first period, Dwyer’s team was down by one goal. But in the second period, Dinamo managed to score Igor Shestyorkin four times in just three minutes and a half. SKA tried to get back on track and pulled the goalie when the score was 4:2 but allowed two empty-netters. The final score was 6:3 in favor of the guests.
Dwyer’s teams had enough bad games, but one of these games entered in the KHL history. In the first game of the season, on August 23, Dinamo faced Jokerit at home. After two periods, Minsk was down 1:2, and in the third period the 18-year-old Eeli Tolvanen gave a masterclass in great hockey, scoring three goals and becoming the youngest player ever to score a hat-trick in the league’s history.
The goalie Jonas Enroth was one of the team’s key player for this season, and Dinamo won many games thanks to his strong showing between the pipes. The 2013 World Champion deserved a call to the Olympics, where Sweden didn’t show their best hockey. Minsk can be optimist towards the new season as Enroth decided to renew his contract for a further year and new signings – with the Kostitsyn brothers amongst them – will certainly strengthen the team.
There were many expectations on veteran forward Alexander Materukhin. He could not find his way with the new head coach. Last year he scored 22 goals, while in 2017/2018 he scored only five (0+5) points and left the team midway through the season.
Regular season:Marc-Andre Gragnani– 35 (6+29), Quinton Howden– 32 (17+15)
Who talked cellphones to perfect his English? Who’s going where in the summer warm-up tournaments? All this and more in the review of the week.
Move to a new country, pick up the local language. It’s a common challenge for athletes and officials, and not always easy to solve. When Russian referee Evgeny Romasko went to work with the NHL, though, he found a novel solution to reinforce his English classes.
“I called a cellphone company so that I could talk to their operator for 15 minutes for free!” Romasko told KHL.ru. “I asked questions, got replies and tried to understand. I was trying to form my phrases correctly, without mistakes.” The plan worked: Romasko worked four seasons in the NHL – without relying on an interpreter – before returning to Russia this summer to resume in the KHL.
Maybe the newly-arrived KHL imports can follow Romasko’s example and practice their Russian skills with Megafon, the league’s own communications partner?
Referee Evgeny Romasko: “It was time to get back home”
The excitement is building. On July 5, the KHL schedule for 2018-19 is set to be published. And those warm-up games are barely a month away. The first pre-season schedules are already emerging and, as always, there’s plenty of action to look forward to.
The first of the summer tournaments takes place in Sochi. The Black Sea resort hosts its annual Hockey Open from August 3-8 and welcomes Gagarin Cup winner Ak Bars, a post-Znarok SKA and Team Russia’s ‘B-team’ as well as Lokomotiv and Kunlun Red Star. Tradition pre-season action continues in Nizhny Novgorod, Astana, Chelyabinsk, Riga, Magnitogorsk, Ufa, St. Petersburg and Moscow, while there are two international tournaments involving KHL teams.
CSKA is going to Switzerland to take part in the Hockeyades event from August 13-16. Played in Davos, the Army Men will face their Swiss hosts plus two other local teams – Lausanne and Servette – plus France’s Rouen Dragons. Admiral and Slovan are also taking on European rivals in Pardubice between August 16 and 19. The Czech hosts, Dynamo Pardubice, and Germany’s Eisbaren Berlin complete that four-team line-up.
KHL Teams preseason plans. Bobrov Division
KHL Teams preseason plans. Tarasov Division
KHL Teams preseason plans. Kharlamov Division
KHL Teams preseason plans. Chernyshev Division
Dinamo Riga has secured the services of two long-serving players, brought another familiar face back home and taken a promising youngster on trial. Gints Meija is staying at the Latvian club for an 11th season after agreeing a new contract, while Mikelis Redlihs is also staying for another year. Andris Dzerins, recently of Hradec-Kralove in the Czech league, is returning to his home country and young forward Rihards Marenis arrives from the NCAA on a trial basis.
Veteran D-man Nikolai Belov is also on try-outs at the moment after linking up with Severstal. Belov, who won the Gagarin Cup with SKA in 2015, did not play last season but has 450 KHL appearances with Neftekhimik, Ak Bars, SKA and Traktor.
Another Russian prospect, 21-year-old D-man Sergei Zborovosky, is heading back home after a stint in North America. The Moscow-born blue-liner, drafted by the Rangers in 2015, will play for Sochi next season. A one-time MVD hopeful, Zborovsky spent four seasons across the Atlantic where he played for Regina Pats, Greenville Swamp Rabbits and the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack.
New foreign players for Vityaz, Metallurg, Lokomotiv, Dinamo Riga, and Barys.
Vityaz agreed on a one-way, two-year deal with Slovak forward Marek Hrivik. Moreover, Miro Aaltonen is back to the Red-Whites with a two-year contract.
Iiro Pakarinen joined Metallurg Magnitogorsk on a one-way, one-year contract. Moreover, the Magnitogorsk franchise signed defenseman Viktor Antipin to a three-year deal.
Kunlun Red Star inked Canadian forward Justin Fontain to a one-way, one-year contract.
Canadian defenseman Marc-Anthony Zanetti signed a one-way, one-year contract with Dinamo Riga.
Barys Astana signed two Canadian forwards to one-year deals: Patrice Cormier and Curtis Valk.
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl signed a one-way, one-year deal with Canadian forward David Desharnais.
CSKA Moscow inked forward Anton Slepyshev to a two-year contract.
Valery Belov’s team didn’t manage to repeat last year’s achievements and didn’t access to the postseason.
Podolsk fans were expecting Vityaz to fight for a playoff spot, but a weak start and the departure of some top-players didn’t allow the Moscow Region team to get to the Gagarin Cup battle.
Review of 2017/2018. Barys: Dawes’ last year in Astana
Review of 2017/2018. HC Sochi: defeating SKA and winning a playoff game
Review of 2017/2018. HC Dynamo: without the playoffs for the first time
Before the season, three key players left Vityaz. Goalie Harri Sateri, defenseman Jakub Jerabek, and forward Miro Aaltonen moved overseas. The boards had the hard task to find adequate replacements, but they failed.
Vityaz’s problems started already on the first game day. In their season opener, Vityaz lost 3:4 SO to HC Dynamo Moscow, who also had a bad start. The game was followed by four defeats in five encounters.
It looked like a home win on Avangard Omsk (6:2) could sparkle some life into the team, but then Vityaz kept on losing. The home defeat against Barys (1:5) was particularly bad. Yes, Barys was in a winning streak, but not many could expect such a bad display from Vityaz. Moreover, new foreigners didn’t have good performances. As a result, Jaakko Rissanen was sent to Kunlun Red Star, while Jesse Mankinen left the KHL.
Goaltending was an issue too. The coaches alternated five different goalies during the season, but they could not find a solid starter. Igor Saprykin played 35 games, and while it’s hard to blame him for the team’s result, he had enough mistakes. All this has its repercussions on the team’s position in the standings. To try and save the situation, Vityaz acquired the Finn netminder Tomi Karhunen, but he picked up an injury after only three games and didn’t play anymore in the 2017/2018 season.
Vityaz didn’t have a true winning streak. The team had three straight wins, but they had many more defeats. Belov’s team often suffered from huge defeats at home, like against CSKA (0:7), Avtomobilist (1:5), and HC Dynamo Moscow (1:5).
Vityaz ended the season at the 11th place in the Western Conference. Belov’s team missed the playoffs by 16 points.
It was the second full year for Valery Belov at the Moscow Region team. The gameplan didn’t change, and the staff managed to get new players in the roster. He got the maximum from the roster at his disposal, and he will stay in his place next year too.
Selflessly, brazenly and rationally – this is how Vityaz played against CSKA in Moscow on December 23. As expected, the Red Army outshot the opposition, but Vityaz got away with three points winning 3:1 thanks to a double by Vojtech Mozik and a goal by Alexei Makeyev. During the game, Vityaz had a 3:0 lead.
CSKA again. On January 5, the Red Army visited Podolsk and ended the game with a big win (7:0). The home team simply didn’t have a chance to fight for a positive result. Mikhail Grigorenko scored a double in the first period, and Vityaz didn’t manage to rally.
It’s not easy to find Croatian players in the KHL. During the season, Vityaz bet on Borna Rendulic and did not regret. He fit perfectly into the team and became the squad’s seventh scorer, playing only 32 games. He had 19 (8+11) points.
There were big expectations around Alexei Kopeikin, especially considering that in the 2016/2017 season, the forward scored 51 points in 60 games. In his first season at Vityaz, however, his stats definitely decreased. In 52 games he scored only 12 points. It’s hard to say why it happened and Kopeikin will have a lot to work on the next preseason.
Regular season:Alexei Makeyev– 38 (18+20), Maxim Afinogenov– 36 (16+20)
The veteran forward relived his career.
Barys Astana inked forward Brandon Bochenski to a one-year deal. One year ago, Bochenski announced his retirement.
HC Sochi signed French defenseman Yohann Auvitu to a two-year deal.
HC Dynamo Moscow terminated the contract with forward Alexander Petunin and signed with him a new two-way, two-year deal.
SKA renew ties with one of their local players.
SKA St. Petersburg dissolved Alexander Barabanov’s contract to sign a new two-year deal with him. The old contract was valid through the 2018/2019 season.
Moreover, the team also signed a two-way, one-year deal with defenseman Artyom Zemchyonok, who spent the last season with Admiral Vladivostok.
Sibir decided to change coach during the season, had a great showing later on, but couldn’t get to the playoffs as they missed a single point. KHL.ru reviews the 2017/2018 season for Sibir Novosibirsk.
Review of 2017/2018. Spartak: Playoffs after five years
Review of 2017/2018. Barys: Dawes’ last year in Astana
Review of 2017/2018. Dinamo Minsk: first Dwyer attempt
Review of 2017/2018. Vityaz: No playoffs this time
Sibir ended the regular season at the ninth place in the Eastern Conference for the second straight year. The Novosibirsk-based team is a true testament to the fact that, in the regular season, every single point is important. In both campaigns, Sibir would have got to the postseason with only one point more. Why the team started this trend? Where can Sibir find the little bit they lacked?
Start a new season without the previous season’s leaders is not pleasant, but it’s a normal thing for Novosibirsk. Last summer, three very good Russian forwards left the team: Sergei Shumakov, Maxim Shalunov, and Konstantin Okulov, all three moving to CSKA Moscow. Sibir GM Kirill Fastovsky had once again to think a way to get out of the hard situation fast, trying to fill the gaps in the roster before the season’s start. However, this was just half of the problem: the team was left also by the starring of last few years success: head coach Andrei Skabelka.
Fastovsky didn’t look far for the replacement, as Pavel Zubov, Skabelka’s assistant since 2015, was announced as the team’s new head coach. To replace the players who left the team, Sibir signed two players from abroad, Swedish forwards Patrik Zackrisson and Alexander Bergstrom, Vyacheslav Osnovin from CSKA, and Sibir’s “prodigal son” Jonas Enlund. Moreover, Alexander Salak was back: after a serious injury picked up in 2016 October, he didn’t play anymore last year.
The newly-assembled team had a mixed start, with three good wins and three equally bad defeats. This inconsistent performance continued, but after a while, defeats started prevailing. Moreover, Salak showed some problems with getting into game shape after his long absence. Zubov, at his first experience as a head coach in the KHL, entertained the journalists during the press-conferences with some great, stylish speeches, crafting phrases with big resonance among the fans, but his scintillating conversation didn’t help the team’s results. When Sibir lost five games in a row, and the eighth place in the standings was getting further and further away, the boards decided for a change.
Vladimir Yurzinov was announced as the team’s savior. In the 2016/2017 season, he won a great professional challenge, getting Kunlun Red Star to the playoffs in their inaugural season. Yurzinov wasn’t scared by the difficulties and he already had experience in Novosibirsk, having worked there in the mid-00s. No one was expecting a miracle out of his hiring, but things started changing fast.
When Yurzinov started coaching Sibir, only 17 games were missing. The team managed to win 14 of these games. Sibir defeated Ak Bars, Traktor, Avtomobilist twice, and regional rivals Avangard also twice. Moreover, both Siberian derbies were super important for both teams, as the playoff chances were more or less the same for Sibir and Avangard. The newly-acquired Swedes were tearing the league up at the end of the regular season, Sannikov and Enlund woke up, Salak and Alexei Krasikov collected three shutouts thick and fast.
On the last day of the regular season, everything was still up for grabs. In the morning the team was in the eighth place of the Eastern Conference and getting to the playoffs depended only on themselves. All they needed to do was to gain points in the evening game against Chelyabinsk. Even just one point. But the team led by Anvar Gatiyatullin didn’t agree and sought a win to get ready to the playoffs, while in Astana, Omsk won. As a result, for the second straight season, Sibir didn’t get to the playoffs and will most likely undergo another facelift of their roster.
Sibir prepared for the 10th KHL season under the guidance of the product of Togliatti hockey Pavel Zubov, who was one of Skabelka’s assistants. After Yurzinov’s arrive, Zubov was newly named an assistant. The 53-year-old Yurzinov worked for many years in Finland, while in Russia he won the KHL bronze medal with Salavat Yulaev Ufa. It’s already known that he’ll stay with the team for the next year and the boards have big expectations.
In the last part of the regular season, Sibir had no room for error but was also not helped by the calendar. Around the New Year, the team had a home series, with the final game being against Ak Bars Kazan. Sibir fans left the arena happy as their heroes defeated Ak Bars with a three-goal difference, allowing just one to Danis Zaripov. Sibir gained a good advantage in the first period already, scoring two powerplay goals and not allowing a single inch to the opponents.
When your team’s chances to get to the playoffs depend on a game, where only one point is needed, and the goal is failed, that game automatically becomes the worst in the season. This is what happened with Sibir. The last regular-season game on March 1 should have been Yurzinov’s team triumphant walk, but they surprisingly lost the game with a 1:4 score. The only Novosibirsk goal by Rok Ticar kept the team alive until the start of the third period, but then Traktor was unreachable.
Of course, Sibir’s discovery of the season was the 32-year-old Swedish forward Alexander Bergstrom. He went to the KHL last summer from SHL side Karlskrona, and his first part of the season wasn’t too good, but he always played consistently. However, in the second part of the 2017/2018 campaign, he had an incredible series of 14 straight games with at least one point. Bergstrom was Sibir’s second scorer and top goal-scorer, and he repeated his best goal-scoring performance in his latest ten years with 21 goals. Next year, he will play for Traktor.
22-year-old Alexei Krasikov had also a very good season. He’s playing better and better for Sibir and this season in 30 games he posted 4 shutouts with a goals-against average of 1.99.
At the start of the season, the expectations around veteran forward Alexei Sopin were quite high as he was thought as a solid second-line forward. He played only ten games, without impressing the coaches, and then was not included in the lineup anymore. Alexander Salak didn’t manage to get back to his usual level after last year’s serious injury. Another veteran Sibir forward, Stepan Sannikov, didn’t have his best year: during the season he was stripped of the captaincy and had one of the worst plus-minus in the team.
Regular season:Patrik Zackrisson– 41 (13+28), Alexander Bergstrom– 40 (21+19), Stepan Sannikov– 26 (10+16), Jonas Enlund– 26 (9+17), Andrei Sigaryov– 24 (9+15)
On July 5, the Kontinental Hockey League presented the calendar of the 11th season. The main principles behind the choices were the interests of teams, fans, TV partners, and national teams.
The Calendar was created by a group of KHL specialists with the participation of the Director of the Department of competition Sergei Kozlov and the expert Vladimir Zhidkov.
Photo: 05.07.18. 2018/19 KHL schedule presented
The regular season will start on September 1 in Kazan with a game between the reigning Gagarin Cup champion Ak Bars and the regular season winner SKA St. Petersburg. The first stage will play through February 22 and will last 175 days, with 152 being game days. Each of the 25 teams will play 62 games with the following principle: all the teams will face one another twice (for a total of 48 games). The teams will play another two games against their division rivals (10-12 games) and two games with rivals from other divisions (4 games). The regular season will be made up of a total of 775 games.
The playoffs will start on February 25 for both Conference. The further date for the end of the Gagarin Cup finals is April 25.
Consistent with the IIHF international calendar, the 2018/2019 KHL season will follow the following pauses for the different Euro Hockey Tour stages: from November 8-11 (in Finland), from December 13-16 (in Russia), from February 7-10 (in Sweden). There will also be pauses for the KHL All-Star Game in Kazan (from January 18-20) and New Year celebrations (December 31 – January 2).
The 2018/2019 season calendar includes many differences when compared with last year’s schedule.
Due to the change in the number of teams and to give divisions a better balance, the League decided to introduce some changes in the teams’ alignment. Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod has been moved to the Eastern Conference. Dinamo Minsk and Slovan Bratislava were moved from the Bobrov Division to the Tarasov Division, replacing HC Dynamo Moscow and Severstal Cherepovets respectively.
Each team will play 62 regular-season games, the highest number in the whole KHL history. Moreover, for the first time since 2014/2015, the league will start in September, avoiding games in August.
One of the most interesting events in the season will be the regular season games scheduled in Western Europe. On October 26 and 28, at the Erste Bank Arena in Vienna, Slovan Bratislava will face CSKA and SKA, while on November 26 and 28, at the Hallenstadion Zurich, the Army teams will face Dinamo Riga.
The playoffs structure underwent some changes too. To better serve fans, in the first round of the Gagarin Cup playoffs, both Conference will play the same day. This will allow avoiding playing games at the same time and the fans will be able to follow online most of the games in a single day. Moreover, all the playoff games will be played every other day, without back-to-back encounters.
If compared with the last season, each game day will have an average of 4.96 games played, against the 5.21 games of the 2017/2018 season. The game days against total regular-season days percentage is 86.85%, the third result in the KHL history and the best in the last six seasons.
Georgi Kobylyansky, KHL VP for Hockey Operations:
– In 10 years, the League gathered a huge experience in creating calendars, understanding that every day there are different conditions. This is why no calendar looks like another, every year we create a whole new calendar, trying to respect the needs of each of the interested parties: teams, national teams and, most importantly, the fans. Our goal is to create the most comfortable conditions for fans to watch the games of their favorite teams and to give them only the most positive emotions. I hope that the 2017/2018 season calendar will reveal itself as comfortable and balanced. We are waiting for you at our hockey arenas!
Download calendar (.pdf, 174 KB)
After two seasons where Admiral got to the playoffs, the Seamen had the worst season in their history. KHL.ru keeps on reviewing the 2017/2018 season.
The Seamen started the new season with a new wave of optimism. In the 2016/2017 playoffs the team fought hard against Avangard and had a very good showing. Moreover, the team managed to retain both the leaders and the coaching staff. However, the hopes for the third straight Gagarin Cup playoffs run flew away quite fast and as a result the team went into full rebuilding mode. During the season, Admiral not only was one of the last teams in the standings, but also amassed debts toward players.
The team started the season with a seven-game away tour, but the first win happened only in the fifth game, against Traktor in Chelyabinsk (3:2). In spite of the results, the team led by then-head coach Alexander Andrievsky showed a good hockey and, in many occasions, the Seamen seemed on the verge of getting three points from the away games.
Going on, it was even better. In the home tour, Admiral had a good series with wins over Slovan and CSKA, and games with points against Jokerit and Vityaz. On September 21, in Moscow, the Seamen played one of their best games, losing to Spartak 6:7 allowing the game-winning goal at only one second to the horn.
However, the next home series was much less successful. Admiral lost three out of four home games, and after losing to Lada (0:2) and Metallurg, Andrievsky left the team. The boards assigned the temporary head coach position to Fredrik Stillman, who was working in the team as a defensive assistant to Andrievsky. The team started having good results, and Stillman was confirmed as a head coach. Under Stillman, the team alternated wins and defeats, but still displayed decent hockey. The Far East team had a few very good games, for example on October 31 against Salavat Yulaev (5:1) or on November 2 against HC Sochi (4:0).
However, close to the end of 2017, the team started amassing debts toward players as the team changed hands. All this happened during a six-game losing streak at home. This streak put an end to the playoffs hopes of the club.
Leading players started leaving Admiral. In the first game after the trades deadline, the Seamen didn’t count anymore on Vladimir Tkachyov, Jonathon Blum, Ivan Nalimov, Robert Sabolic, and many other players.
On December 28, Andrei Razin was announced as new head coach. But it didn’t last long. The famed coach worked in Vladivostok for a bit more than two weeks, winning three games out of five, but on January 14, Razin’s departure was announced. The coach and the boards exchanged some comments through the Internet, and on January 16 Admiral finally lost any playoffs hope.
Without going into the details of Razin’s early departure from Vladivostok, the facts remain facts: the team finished the season with Oleg Leontyev as temporary head coach, and the Seamen had four different coaches in just one season: a sad way to establish a new KHL record. However, the team managed to have a good finish of the year, as in the very last game the Seamen defeated their regional rivals Amur Khabarovsk, in a game without much meaning for them, but with an enormous value for the Tigers.
The Seamen had four different head coaches during the regular season: Alexander Andrievsky, Fredrik Stillman, Andrei Razin, and Oleg Leontyev. It’s impossible to say that any of these coaches worked bad, the teams had many problems with injuries and also with the mere number of available players toward the end of the season
On September 15, in Vladivostok, Admiral interrupted CSKA’s ten-game winning streak. At the first intermission, the teams were tied 1:1 with goals coming from Maxim Kazakov and Sergei Shumakov, the latter scored at just two seconds to the first period’s horn. At the start of the second period, Vadim Krasnoslobodtsev and Vladimir Tkachyov scored to quick goals giving the Seamen a well-deserved lead. In this game, Ilya Sorokin was replaced during a game for the first time during his stint with CSKA Moscow.
In spite of all the difficulties the team had during the season, it’s hard to choose a game where Admiral had a true bad showing. The first game of the season against Spartak was a very good one, but in the second game, in Vladivostok, the guests dominated. The Seamen played with only three lines and lost 2:6, with a double coming from Anatoly Nikontsev and a great goal scored by Alexander Khokhlachyov.
32-year-old Viktor Alexandrov missed the 2014/2015 season, then Admiral gave him a chance to get back to the big hockey scene. In the 2017/2018 regular season he scored more or less the same as the previous two years. Alexandrov became a true leader of the team, as much as Vladimir Tkachyov and Robert Sabolic.
As already mentioned, the team showed decent hockey, in spite of the results, and almost all the players didn’t disappoint too much. Maxim Kazakov, however, didn’t have the best season. Every fan remembers how great he looked in Novokuznetsk on a line with Ryan Stoa and Kirill Kaprizov. In Admiral, he didn’t have a great regular season last year, but he scored five goals in the playoffs series against Avangard. The 2017/2018 regular season was similar to the 2016/2017 one, and in spite of the low competition for a spot in the roster, Kazakov didn’t manage to become a true leader.
Regular season:Vladimir Tkachyov– 30 (14+16), Robert Sabolic– 25 (10+15)
The Finn defenseman will continue his career in Omsk.
Avangard Omsk signed Finnish defenseman Ville Pokka to a one-year deal.
Spartak Moscow and Admiral Vladivostok completed a trade, where forward Alexander Kuvayev will move to Vladivostok in exchange for the forward Vadim Pereskokov.
The Chinese team had a good start of the season, but then lost the patience, fired the head coach Mike Keenan and didn’t get to the playoffs.
Kunlun had a good debut season in the KHL, getting to the playoffs. After the first campaign, head coach Vladimir Yurzinov left the team, and Mike Keenan was hired to replace him. It looked like the Dragons would have a bright season in front of them, but the reality was different. Kunlun didn’t reach the postseason and Keenan was fired during the regular season.
Review of 2017/2018. Admiral: A time of changes
Review of 2017/2018. Barys: Dawes’ last year in Astana
Review of 2017/2018. Dinamo Minsk: first Dwyer attempt
Review of 2017/2018. Vityaz: No playoffs this time
Keenan, who was not only the team’s head coach, but also its general manager, had a big roster shuffle. A big group of players left China, and the work on the roster continued during the season as well.
The Kunlun 2017/2018 season started with a seven-game away trip. In the first three games, the Chinese team lost twice. After a win against HC Sochi (4:2), Keenan’s team lost to Ak Bars (2:4) and Neftekhimik (1:2). However, the Dragons managed to win four games in a row and started thinking again about the playoffs.
It was a bit surprising to see that Kunlun started losing games at home, even if the opposition was solid. First, the Dragons lost to Jokerit (1:4), then to CSKA, but only in overtime (3:4 OT). After these games, Kunlun finished the home series on a happy note, with a couple of shutout wins over Slovan and Vityaz, both with a 2:0 score.
After these games, the Kunlun season turned into a nightmare. From September 19 to December 1, the team played 25 games and won just five. At first, Keenan was fired as a general manager only, but then he was fired as a head coach too. The reasons were pretty simple: the team was going further and further from a playoffs spot. Moreover, Keenan had some strange actions, like getting rid of Chinese defenseman Zack Yuen.
To save the sinking ship, Bobby Carpenter was brought in as new head coach on December 3. In that moment, Kunlun was in the 11th place in the Eastern Conference. However, Carpenter didn’t manage to revert the momentum. He won his first game against Amur in Khabarovsk (4:3 OT), but then he had three losses in four games. Keenan’s departure didn’t give the Dragons enough emotions, and after two weeks of rumors, Wojtek Wolski left China and got back to Metallurg Magnitogorsk. The staff needed to find a new leader, but they didn’t equal the task.
Kunlun ended the regular season with a five-game losing streak. Soon, the Dragons announced to have signed a deal with the Finn specialist Jussi Tapola, who will have the task to build next year’s squad.
Much was said about Mike Keenan’s job in China. However, no one knows the true reasons behind Kunlun’s failure after such a good start. Keenan had a great career stint in Magnitogorsk not so long ago, so it’s hard to think that he stopped knowing how to coach a hockey team. However, in China he didn’t manage to build a good team and his failure was evident.
On August 28, Kunlun flew to Ufa. A battle between Mike Keenan and Erkka Westerlund– sounds like a great program. At the end of the game, Keenan had the upper hand. Kunlun played a great game on defense, allowing only one goal to Salavat, scoring twice. To make it even sweeter, the Dragons scored the game-winning goal at just two seconds to the horn.
Kunlun had enough bad games this season. But the worst of them all happened on November 18. The KHL reigning champion SKA St. Petersburg got to Shanghai and if the first period was more or less balanced, SKA destroyed the home team as Magnus Hellberg allowed six goals, plus one more goal was scored on Alexander Skrynnik. Kunlun managed to score once with Brandon Yip.
Belarusian defenseman Pavel Vorobei was the best offseason acquisition for Kunlun last summer. Not many people knew that 19-years-old defenseman, and even less people would be willing to bet on him. However, Pavel found a way to the team’s second defensive pair, regularly played with the man advantage, rapidly scored his first KHL goal and became a leader in the Kunlun’s defense. As a result, Vorobei was the team’s top-scoring defenseman with 12 points.
No one was expecting many points from Roman Graborenko, but he should have helped in improving the team’s defense. The physical defenseman got to China through Neftekhimik but didn’t manage to be a true reinforce for the Dragons. His minus-6 is one of the worst stats amongst the team’s defensemen.
Regular season:Gilbert Brule– 36 (17+19), Wojtek Wolski– 28 (7+21)
New players for Admiral, and an American in Minsk.
Dinamo Minsk signed American forward Beau Bennett to a one-year deal.
Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk completed a trade with Ak Bars Kazan. Defenseman Timur Fatkullin will move to Neftekhimik in exchange for a monetary compensation.
After a few trades, forward Vladislav Boiko (Ak Bars), Artur Boltanov, and Nikita Sirotkin (both Metallurg Magnitogorsk) joined Admiral Vladivostok. The forwards’ former teams received a monetary compensation.
The team which allowed more goals during the regular season changed coach in October already, but it did not help. KHL.ru reviews Slovan’s 2017/2018 season.
Long losing streaks, serious defensive problems and weak game away from home: this is exactly what Slovan lacked to get to the playoffs. If last year the Bratislava Eagles finished the season close to the top-eight, this season Slovan finished as the second least team in the Western Conference, ending up higher only than Dinamo Riga.
One year ago, the Slovak team’s season was ruined by injuries and Slovan had a competitive roster, being able to defeat Ak Bars Kazan, Salavat Yulaev Ufa, and Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. The board’s decision to confirm Milos Riha as the team’s head coach looked like a logical step. However, as a result, the team had its worst season ever in the KHL by points and goals scored. The season started not the right way since the very start, as after two games the total score was 2:12 after facing SKA and Lokomotiv.
By October’s start, Slovan had only five wins in 18 games and after a shutout home defeat against Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod, Riha was fired. To replace him, the Belarusian specialist Eduard Zankovets was hired, after his great 2016/2017 with Barys Astana, when he led an unknown team in September to get it to the second round of the Gagarin Cup playoffs. No one was expecting any miracle from Zankovets, but under his guidance, chances were good to at least revert some momentum.
But it didn’t happen. Under the new coach, the results didn’t improve. The team from Bratislava kept on going down and down in the standings, allowing too many goals and showing a poor game in the away games. A short, bright period happened between December 26 and January 19, where the team had five wins in seven games, but it wasn’t enough to get closer to the playoffs zone, it would have been impossible to save the situation.
There were some problems also with the lineup. Jakub Stepanek generally coped with his role of starting goalkeeper, but the team failed to find a reliable backup. The team’s leader, Lukas Kaspar, didn’t show his best hockey due to injuries. Moreover, in October the team’s top scorer Radek Smolenak left the team as he didn’t fall into Eduard Zankovets’ game plan. The result is now quite obvious. Slovan’s season fell into the “forget as soon as possible” column.
Slovan started the season under the guidance of Milos Riha, a coach who managed to get to the Gagarin Cup finals and won the Slovak Extraleague title with Slovan. Riha was fired in October and was replaced by the 49-year-old Eduard Zankovets. He worked many years in his native Belarus, including with the national team, and was part of the coaching staff in SKA and Avangard. The specialist was hired as new Slovan Bratislava head coach after his successful experience with Barys Astana.
Eduard Zankovets: “At Slovan, I get called to a different carpet!”
Every team, even in the worst season, has some bright games. Slovan had several games like this, especially at home. The best one was probably the January 9 game against Metallurg Magnitogorsk. The game had many penalties, the refs were whistling a lot that night, but the key moment happened in even strength. In thirty minutes, the home team scored three times on Vasily Koshechkin, Ilya Samsonov replaced him, but nothing changed on the scoreboard and Slovan had a deserved win.
It’s hard to pick a particularly bad game right away since Slovan had so many of these in the last season. Slovan was heavily defeated by Vityaz, and Spartak, had a shutout loss against Barys and Kunlun, but the Slovaks had the soundest defeats against SKA. The team lost both games with a 6-goal difference. The first loss was on the regular season’s first day, on August 23, when Slovan lost 1:7 in St. Petersburg. After a few months, in December, the Eagles simply could not stop the reigning KHL champions and allowed eight goals, scoring only two.
During an interview published on KHL.ru, Eduard Zankovets praised a group of young Slovak players, including the 21-year-old Boris Sadecky. He probably cannot be called a true discovery, but his goal against Lokomotiv Yaroslavl was named the best goal of the regular season. Michal Repik is a better option. He didn’t have the best plus/minus stat, but he was the team’s top goal scorer and doubled his best result in points scored in the KHL.
This is one of those cases where calling names is not an option. For Slovan, their fans, the coaches, and the boards it has been a true disappointment. Surely, the Eagles will want to rehabilitate their name next year.
Regular season:Colby Genoway– 29 (9+20), Michal Repik– 23 (12+11), Zach Boychuk– 23 (11+12), Marek Viedensky– 21 (11+10)
A clutch of old favorites confirmed their return to the league this week, next season’s schedule was announced – and not everyone was impressed with Brazil at the World Cup.
The week’s trades were dominated by news of stars heading back to the KHL. From Astana to St. Petersburg, there was no shortage of big names making a welcome return.
Nail Yakupov, #1 pick in the 2012 NHL draft, could make the biggest splash. The former Neftekhimik prospect – now 24 – signed up for SKA following a stint in North America that took in Edmonton, St. Louis and Arizona. In recent years, SKA has helped the likes of Artemy Panarin and Nikita Gusev turn potential into brilliance, which could be just what Yakupov himself needs to reinvigorate his career.
Barys Astana announced the return of Brandon Bochenski after a year out of the game. One of the KHL’s all-time top-scoring imports, the American retired from hockey 12 months ago. But the call of Kazakhstan was too strong and he agreed to come back for one more year in his second home to help the club develop the next generation of Kazakh talent.
Meanwhile in Magnitogorsk, Viktor Antipin is returning to Metallurg after a season at Buffalo. He joins another returning star, Nikolai Kulemin, back at his hometown team after a long stint in the NHL. Kulemin last played in Russia during the 2012-13 lock-out, where he joined Evgeny Malkin in Magnitogorsk and had 38 points in 26 games.
Antipin back in Magnitogorsk, Desharnais moves to Lokomotiv
CSKA continues its policy of repatriating Russians from North America. This time it’s 24-year-old forward Anton Slepyshev who is coming back over the Atlantic after three years in Edmonton. And Vityaz got in on the act as well, moving quickly to re-sign Miro Aaltonen after the Finn left Toronto. Aaltonen helped Vityaz reach its first KHL playoff in 2016-17; last season he was part of the Marlies first ever Calder Cup-winning roster.
The old Soviet song is quite clear on this one: hockey is a game for real men. So it’s hardly surprising that some of the antics at the on-going soccer World Cup have raised skeptical eyebrows in the hockey world. Brazil’s famed forward Neymar earned notoriety for his repeated diving in games against Mexico and Belgium, prompting Barys to join in the popular meme of placing the prone Paris St. Germain player in unlikely locations. On the Astana ice, the Brazilian found himself monstered by goalie Henrik Karlsson.
Elsewhere, the tournament has inspired fans in Chelyabinsk to recreate the head-dresses of the Russian supporters snapped tucking into their snacks during the host nation’s win over Spain. CSKA’s Maxim Shalunov, meanwhile, was among the Luzhniki crowd that celebrated Russia’s nerve-jangling shoot-out success. In Cherepovets, Severstal joined in the ‘moustache of hope’ meme honoring Russian coach Stanislav Chercheshev’s ‘tache (Russian football might have learned something from Oleg Znarok in matters of facial hair on the sidelines). And in Yekaterinburg, another host city, Avtomobilist wasted no time in recruiting international support. After last week brought photos of Swedish fans posing with the club’s red jersey, it was Mexico’s turn. ¡Arriba Avto!
The schedule for the 2018-19 season is out – and among the highlights are trips to Vienna, Zurich and Tallinn. As part of the KHL’s effort to boost interest beyond the league’s current borders, a bunch of regular season games will be played elsewhere in Europe to give even more fans a taste of what the KHL can offer.
2018/2019 season calendar: start in September and comfortable playoffs
First up, Slovan Bratislava makes the short trip across the border to Vienna, the capital of Austria. On October 26 and 28 the Slovak team will take on CSKA and SKA in a 7,000-seater arena in Vienna. A month later, Dinamo Riga will take on the same two opponents in Zurich, where up to 11,000 fans can see the games in the Hallenstadion.
Jokerit will take a trip to Tallinn in October, bringing the KHL back to Estonia after Dinamo Riga staged a couple of games there. On Oct. 26 and 28, Spartak and Severstal will visit the other side of the Gulf of Finland for their games against the Helsinki team.
Dinamo Riga and Slovan also have another special match-up planned as the season comes to an end. When the teams meet on February 18 in Latvia, the game will be played in the open air. Last season, Dinamo staged a hugely successful ‘Winter Classic’ against Dinamo Minsk, attracting more than 10,000 fans. Now it’s set to become a permanent feature of the hockey calendar in Riga.
Photo: 05.07.18. 2018/19 KHL schedule presented
Hiring Sandis Ozolins means creating big hopes, but the coach didn’t have a great success in his first attempt as a KHL team’s head coach.
Dinamo Riga was very low in the standings since the start of the regular season. After a decent first away trip, the team lost the patience and the boards decided to fire the head coach Sandis Ozolins, who was substituted by Girts Ankipans. The Riga-based team managed to get out of the last place in the standings but couldn’t even talk about the playoffs.
Dinamo Riga started the season with an away trip, having good games against Avangard Omsk and Sibir Novosibirsk, but losing both the games (1:3; 1:2). However, the fans could be satisfied with the team’s game. The only thing that the team lacked was a bit of finishing and luck and it was seeming like just a matter of time before Dinamo started winning games.
The first win of the season happened at the third game. Barys lost to Riga at home in a high-scoring game (3:5). Next, Dinamo managed to get two points in Khanty-Mansiysk (3:2 OT). The fans were thus looking forward to the upcoming home series.
It’s hard to tell what really happened in Riga, however. In each of the games against Spartak, HC Dynamo, and Lokomotiv, Dinamo scored only once, allowing three goals to the Red-Whites, five goals to the Blue-Whites, and two to the Railwaymen. It’s true that in the game against Lokomotiv, Daniil Apalkov brought the win to his team at only two seconds to the horn, but the Railwaymen looked much better than the opposition for the whole game.
Dinamo had 14 straight defeats. However, to fire Ozolins, 12 of them were enough. Ankipans was called to replace Ozolins, and the new head coach slowly started changing Dinamo Riga’s game plan. He tightened the defense up, changed a bit the roster, and started trusting the younger players more.
It’s impossible to say that Dinamo started winning games one after another, the team’s morale was very low, but the quality of the game started getting better and better, even if the team lacked a bit of consistency. After two or three good games, you could bet that a defeat was coming. The season’s highest moment was the open-air game against Dinamo Minsk in Riga. Dinamo organized a true party for their fans, but they could not defeat Minsk (2:3).
The Latvian team managed not to get to the last place in the overall standings, surpassing Ugra, but they finished the season as the Western Conference-worst team. It’s known already, that next year Ankipans will keep on coaching the team.
Girts Ankipans didn’t have much experience as he was an assistant coach for Dinamo and Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod, worked for the Latvian national team, but never was a head coach at such a high level. The specialist didn’t have the easiest of the tasks as he had to pull the team out of the hole they dug themselves at the start of the season. Not finishing the season at the latest place can be called a small success, and Ankipans’ merits are evident, but in Riga, the expectations are much higher.
On November 4, Dinamo landed in Yaroslavl to face Lokomotiv, who were in a good streak at the moment. The home fans were expecting an easy win. However, Dinamo Riga was much better than the Railwaymen: Janis Kalnins had a shutout, Miks Indrasis scored three points (2+1) as the team ended 4:0 in the guests’ favor.
Dinamo had many bad games last year. But one game was particularly bad. On September 8, Dinamo needed to defeat Barys to try and revert the momentum, but they could not to. Dinamo got brushed away with a 0:6 score. Nigel Dawes and Konstantin Pushkaryov scored a pair for Barys.
Miks Indrasis was undoubtfully Dinamo Riga’s best player. But not only, he also had his best season in his career. At the start of the season, he was even amongst the league’s top scorers. He finished the 2017/2018 campaign with 42 (21+21) points in 56 games. No one of his teammates could even get close to his stats. Next year, Indrasis will play for HC Dynamo Moscow.
In Riga, there were big expectations on Justin Peters. The Canadian goalie was expected to become the team’s starting goalie, but he didn’t cope with the assignment. He played only 14 games, with a goals-against average of 3.5 goals per game with a save-percentage lower than .870. Of course, the boards weren’t happy at all with this kind of numbers and decided to dissolve the contract with the netminder.
Regular season:Miks Indrasis– 42 (21+21), Brandon McMillan– 22 (14+8), Mikelis Redlihs– 22 (11+11)
Another North American signs in Minsk.
Amur Khabarovsk renewed their ties with defenseman Maxim Kondratyev for a further season.
Barys Astana signed a two-way, two-year deal with forward Nikita Mikhailis.
Dinamo Minsk renewed Alexander Pavlovich’s contract for one year and inked Patrick Wiercioch to a one-year contract. The Canadian defenseman won the IIHF World Championship gold medal in 2015.
Traktor Chelyabinsk renewed Sergei Sentyurin’s contract for a further year.
Canadian defenseman Alex Grant joins Jokerit Helsinki on a one-year deal.
География болельщиков "Автомобилиста"продолжает расти! 
Теперь за нас болеют и в Мексике