Kontinental Hockey League

Kontinental Hockey League

Current season or competition: 2009–10 KHL season
Formerly	Russian Superleague
Sport	Ice hockey
Founded	2008
Commissioner	Alexander Medvedev
Motto	Хоккей – наша игра! (Hockey – our game!)[1]
No. of teams	24
Country(ies)	Belarus (1 team)  Kazakhstan (1 team)  Latvia (1 team)  Russia (20 teams)
Most recent champion(s)	Ak Bars Kazan (2)
Most titles	Ak Bars Kazan (2)
TV partner(s)	KHL-TV (Russia (as part of the NTV Plus package), USA and Canada (part of ViaNetTV)[2], and international through KHL's website) Russia 2 (Russia)[3] Viasat (Finland, Sweden[3], Norway, Denmark, Bulgaria, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia)[4] LTV7 (Latvia) Nova Sport (Czech Republic, Slovakia)[5][6][7]
Official website	KHL.ru (English)
Related competitions	Russian Championship VHL Minor Hockey League

The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) (Russian: Континентальная Хоккейная Лига, Kontinental'naya Khokkeynaya Liga) is an international professional ice hockey league in Eurasia founded in 2008. As of 2009, it is ranked as the strongest hockey league in Europe.^[8][9]

The title of Champion of Russia, regardless of the nationality of the club, and the Gagarin Cup, named after first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, are awarded annually to the league champion, following a 16-team playoff at the end of the regular season. Two teams from the KHL were guaranteed qualification into the Champions Hockey League season.

The league was formed in 2008 from a predecessor organization, the Russian Superleague (RSL). The RSL, in turn, was a successor to the Soviet Championship League, which was founded in 1946 with only five teams. The KHL began its operations with 24 teams. Today 20 are based in the Russian Federation and 3 more located in Belarus, Latvia and Kazakhstan.

Russians constitute a large majority of the players in the KHL because of its origins as the Soviet & Russian national league. A minority of 28.5% of the players are Eastern European, Northern European, and North American, with an increase in North Americans (4.2% in 2009–10) beginning to sign on with clubs as the league gains prominence. In 2009–10, there were 718 players in the league.^[10]

Players

Though now not as restrictive in maintaining an exclusively Russian composition of players and teams, Russian teams are still prevented from signing more than five foreign players and can suit up no more than four in any single game. Foreign goaltenders have an additional limit regarding total seasonal ice time.

Prior to the inaugural season, several KHL teams have signed several players from the NHL.^[11] A dispute between the two leagues over some of these signings was supposed to have been resolved by an agreement signed on July 10, 2008, whereby each league would honor the contracts of the other, but the signing of Alexander Radulov was made public one day after the agreement (though it was actually signed two days prior to the agreement taking effect),^[12] leading to an investigation by the International Ice Hockey Federation.^[13]

Notable active players

The top five point scoring players in the 2009–10 season were Sergei Mozyakin (66 pts), Maxim Sushinski (65 pts), Alexei Yashin (64 pts), Alexander Radulov (63 pts) and Mattias Weinhandl (60 pts). The top goal scorers were Marcel Hossa with 35, followed by Sergei Mozyakin, Maxim Sushinski and Pavel Brendl with 27 each. The top plus-minus rating went to Patrick Thoresen from Norway who was a +45. The top goaltenders (by wins) were Robert Esche (29), Vasily Koshechkin (25), Alexander Eremenko and Michael Garnett (24 each).

Origin of players

A list of active players in the KHL.^[10] There are a total of 15 nations with active players in the KHL, compared with the NHL's 23.^[14]

Country	Players active (2009–10)
Russia (20 teams in the KHL)	514
Kazahkstan (1 team in the KHL)	30
Latvia (1 team in the KHL)	26
Belarus (1 team in the KHL)	26
Czech Republic	25
Canada	25
Slovakia	24
Ukraine	23††
Finland	11
Sweden	9
United States	6
Germany	2
Norway	1
Austria	1
Switzerland	1
TOTAL	721 (207 non-Russian)

† For further information, see: List of Latvians in the KHL
†† For further information, see: Ukrainians in the KHL

Season structure

During the regular season, each team plays 56 games: four games against each of the teams in their own division (for a total of 20 games) and two games against each of the other teams (for a total of 36 games).

The eight top-ranked teams in each conference receive playoff berths. Within each conference quarterfinals, semifinals and finals are played before the conference winners play against each other for the Gagarin Cup. The division winners are seeded first and second in their conference, based on their regular season record. Since 2010-11 season, all rounds are played as best-of-seven series.^[15] In each round, the top seeded remaining team is paired with the lowest seeded team etc. This play-off structure is very similar to the current format of the NHL play-offs.

In the play-offs, overtime periods will last 20 minutes or until the sudden death goal. The number of overtime periods is not limited. Teams that failed to enter the play-offs will play their own tournament to determine the KHL junior draft first choice for the next season.

This play-off format does not allow the strongest teams to take the topmost positions in the KHL final standings when these teams are from the same conference. This is because the format makes the conferences equally represented in top two, four, eight and sixteen of the final standings regardless of the relative strength of the conferences.^[15]

As of July 25th, 2010, the official KHL documents for 2010-11 season contain conflicting statements regarding home ice advantage for Gagarin Cup final series.

«... The first two games and, if needed, the fifth and the seventh games are hosted by the teams having higher seeds in the pair. The team that won in four games is the winner of the series.
Note: In case when the Championship final is played between teams having equal seeds in their conferences, the home ice advantage is given to the team with better record after the regular season» (translated from russian).^[15]

The Note clause suggests that home ice advantage for the final series is determined by the seeds of the finalists within their conferences.

Thus, one of the teams may have higher seed in the pair (that is, better seed in the entire League, determined by their regular season records), claiming home ice advantage according to upper part of the quote. Whereas the other team may have better seed number within their conference, claiming home ice advantage according to suggestion in the Note clause.

Teams in 2010-11

CSKA• UHC Dynamo Spartak Atlant •Lokomotiv •Severstal Salavat• •Torpedo •Dynamo Mn. •SKA Dinamo R.• Metallurg Mg.• •Traktor Ak Bars• •Neftekhimik •Barys •Avtomobilist Avangard• •Sibir •Metallurg Nk. •Amur •Yugra

Division	Team	City/Area	Arena	Capacity	Founded	Joined[1]	Team Captain
Eastern Conference
Chernyshev	Amur Khabarovsk	Khabarovsk	Platinum Arena	7,100	1966	2006	Alexei Kopeikin
	Avangard Omsk Oblast	Omsk	Omsk Arena	10,318	1950	1991	Alexei Kalyuzhny
	Barys Astana	Astana	Alatau Sports Palace	5,532	1999	2008	Kevin Dallman
	Metallurg Novokuznetsk	Novokuznetsk	Kuznetsk Metallurgists SP	8,040	1949	1992	Alexei Koledaev
	Sibir Novosibirsk	Novosibirsk	Ice Sports Palace Sibir	7,400	1962	2002	Alexander Boikov
	Salavat Yulaev Ufa	Ufa	Ufa Arena	8,400	1957	1992	Vladimir Antipov
Kharlamov	Ak Bars Kazan	Kazan	Tatneft Arena	10,000	1956	1992	Aleksey Morozov
	Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk	Nizhnekamsk	SCC Arena	5,500	1968	1995	Andrei Ivanov
	Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg	Yekaterinburg	KRK Uralets	5,500	2006	2009	Alexander Gulyavtsev
	Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk	Khanty-Mansiysk	Arena Ugra	5,500	2006	2010
	Metallurg Magnitogorsk	Magnitogorsk	Magnitogorsk Arena	7,700	1950	1990	Evgeny Varlamov
	Traktor Chelyabinsk	Chelyabinsk	Yunost Sport Palace	7,500	1947	2006	Andrei Nikolishin
Western Conference
Tarasov	Atlant Moscow Oblast	Mytishchi	Mytishchi Arena	7,000	1953*		Sergei Mozyakin
	Vityaz Chekhov	Chekhov	Ice Hockey Center 2004	3,300	1998*	2005	Chris Simon
	Lokomotiv Yaroslavl	Yaroslavl	Arena 2000	9,000	1949	1987	Ivan Tkachenko
	Severstal Cherepovets	Cherepovets	Ice Palace	6,000	1956	1989	Alexander Shinin
	Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod	Nizhny Novgorod	Trade Union Sport Palace	5,500	1947	2007	Alexei Troshchinskiy
	Dynamo-Minsk	Minsk	Minsk-Arena	15,000	2004	2008	Ville Peltonen
Bobrov	CSKA	Moscow	CSKA Ice Palace	5,600	1946		Konstantin Korneev
	Dynamo Moscow	Moscow	Luzhniki Minor Arena	8,700	2010		Alexei Kudashov
	Spartak Moscow	Moscow	LDS Sokolniki	5,000	1946	2007	Dmitry Upper
	SKA Saint Petersburg	Saint Petersburg	Ice Palace	12,300	1946	1992	Maxim Sushinski
	Dinamo Riga	Riga	Arena Riga	10,300	2008		Sandis Ozoliņš

• Kontinental Hockey League on Google maps

An asterisk (*) denotes a franchise relocation. See the respective team articles for more information.

^ 1. Indicates when the club most recently ascended to the top level of ice hockey in Russia

Seasons

2008–09 season

The first KHL season began on 2 September 2008. Winner of the regular season was Salavat Yulaev Ufa with 129 points from 56 games. Top scorer was Atlant's Sergei Mozyakin with 76 points (34 goals and 42 assists). The play-offs produced a major upset as the 16th placed team, Avangard Omsk defeated top seed Ufa in the first round. The Gagarin Cup was won by Ak Bars Kazan who defeated Lokomotiv Yaroslavl in a seven games play-off final.

2009–10 season

The second season saw several changes, most notably, the division were aligned according to geographical criteria and Khimik Voskresensk was replaced by Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg. The regular season was again won by Salavat Yulaev Ufa with 129 points from 56 games. For this they were awarded the first Continental Cup. Top-scorer, as in the previous season, was Sergei Mozyakin with 66 points (27 goals and 39 assists). Ak Bars Kazan successfully defended their title by defeating Western conference winners HC MVD in a seven game play-off final.

2010–11 season

On 1 May 2010, HC Budivelnyk from Kiev, Ukraine and HC Yugra from Khanty-Mansiysk were accepted by the KHL as new teams for next season.^[16] However, HC Budivelnyk later had to postpone their participation to next season because their stadium was not ready. Other changes involved Lada Togliatti which dropped out of the league after failing to meet the league's financial requirements and HC MVD was merged with Dynamo Moscow to form UHC Dynamo. On 16 July, it has been announced that HC Lev from Poprad, Slovakia has been admitted to the league.^[17]

Trophies and awards

The winner of the play-off is awarded the Gagarin Cup, the KHL champion title and the Russian Champion title, regardless of the country the club represents. The team ranked first in the standings after the regular season, i.e. the winner of the regular season, is awarded the Continental Cup^[18] (Russian: Кубок Континента, Kubok Kontinenta). The winners of the conference finals are awarded the Eastern Conference Champion Cup (Russian: Кубок Победителю конференции Восток, Kubok Pobeditelyu konferentsii Vostok) and the Western Conference Champion Cup (Russian: Кубок Победителю конференции Запад, Kubok Pobeditelyu konferentsii Zapad).^[19]

The KHL presents annual awards to its most successful players. In 2009, a total of 23 trophies in various categories were awarded. Among the winners were Danis Zaripov (regular season MVP), Alexei Morozov (play-off MVP) and Ilya Proskuryakov (rookie of the year).^[20]

The KHL also awards Opening Cup annually to the winner of the first game between the Gagarin Cup winner and the runner-up of the previous season.

See also

• Kontinental Hockey League All-Star Game
• Russian Major League
• Minor Hockey League
• Potential Kontinental Hockey League expansion
• Ice Hockey Federation of Russia

References

External links

• (Russian) www.khl.ru - Official homepage.
• (English) en.khl.ru - Official homepage.
• (English) KHL All Stars Game
• (English) KHL vs NHL exhibition games official homepage
• (Russian) Kontinental Hockey League Players' Trade Union

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