Best Players of the 2022-2023 eighteenth week

The Kontinental Hockey League’s commission has determined the best players of the Regular Season’s eighteenth week in four categories.

Last week, the League’s teams played 32 games, with 528 players (38 goalies, 175 defensemen, and 315 forwards) taking part in the action. The scoring was at 5.79 goals per game.

- Best goalie for the fifth time in his career was Timur Bilyalov (Ak Bars) who won two games from two last week. Bilyalov faced 54 shots, or 27 per night, posting a saves percentage of 98.15% and a goals-against average of 0.49. The Ak Bars’ netminder recorded a shutout in his team’s 2:0 win over Vityaz.

- Best defenseman for the first time in his career was Alex Grant (Barys), who scored 5 (4+1) points in four games last week. In the Sunday game against Admiral, Grant netted four goals, becoming the first KHL defenseman to reach this achievement. He also recorded six hits and blocked six shots.

- Best forward for the first time in his career was Alexander Chmelevski (Salavat Yulaev), who scored 5 (2+3) points in three games last week. Chmelevski posted no negative ratings last week, ending with a cumulative plus-3 differential. He also recorded one hit, blocked four shots, and had four takeaways.

- Best rookie for the first time in his career was forward Nikita Grebyonkin (Amur), who scored 3 (1+2) points in three games last week. He also had one hit, two blocked shots, and seven takeaways.