Season 2023-2024: 68 regular season games, cross-conference playoffs

On Thursday, May 18, the Meeting of Club Managers of the KHL took place.

On the day of the Season Closing Ceremony, the KHL management met with representatives of the 23 clubs and discussed the results of last season’s championship.

Results of the 2022-2023 season

In the past season, the teams played a 68-game regular season (a KHL record). The calendar included only one December break for the Fonbet KHL All-Star Game and national team games. A record number of matches were played in the playoffs (87), and the total attendance reached 730,000 spectators, which also set a new record.

Before the start of the season, the bookmaking company Fonbet became the title partner of the League, and clubs were given the opportunity to attract bookmaking companies as partners. The KHL managed to retain the main pool of partners and also reached agreements with two major companies: the MIR payment system and AvtoVAZ. A new contract with Match TV for broadcasting games was signed before the start of the season. A record-breaking 119 showdowns were shown throughout the season.

Club rankings

The updated club ranking, which was first published in 2017, has been presented. The leader of the ranking for the 2022-2023 season was CSKA, winning their second consecutive Gagarin Cup. The top three in terms of the value of sporting results were CSKA, Severstal, and Torpedo. A detailed analysis of the club rankings will be published on the KHL website in the near future.

Structure of the 2023-2024 season

The Continental Hockey League and the Russian Ice Hockey Federation have agreed on the structure of the upcoming season.

The regular championship will start on Sep 1 with the Opening Cup game between CSKA and Ak Bars, and it will run until Feb 26, with teams playing 68 matches once again. The calendar includes a break in December for the All-Star Week and national team games.

The playoffs will take place from Feb 29 to Apr 29, 2024. The first round will follow the standard scheme within the conferences, and from the second round onwards, the teams will be divided into two groups.

In the first group, the best remaining team from the West will play against the fourth team from the East, and the other pair will consist of the second remaining team from the East and the third team from the West in terms of seeding. In the semifinals, the winners of these pairs will play against each other.

The pairs in the second group will be as follows: the first team from the East against the fourth team from the West, and the second team from the West against the third team from the East. The winners of these pairs will also play against each other in the next round. There will be no reseeding in the semifinals.