Best Players of the 2023-2024 eighth week

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

The League’s teams played 32 games last week, with 554 players (44 goalies, 183 defensemen, and 327 forwards) taking part in the action. The scoring was at 5.78 goals per game.

- Best goalie for the third time in his career was Alexander Samonov (Salavat Yulaev), who won one game from three last week. Samonov faced 86 shots, or 28.7 per night, posting a saves percentage of 96.51% (best figure in the league) and a goals-against average of 1.02. Samonov was awarded the Best goalie honors twice representing SKA.

- Best defenseman for the fifth time in his career was Alexander Nikishin (SKA), who scored 8 (2+6) points in three games. Nikishin posted no negative ratings, ending the week with a plus-1 differential. He also recorded five hits and blocked three shots. Nikishin was awarded the Best defenseman honors all five times while representing SKA.

- Best forward for the second time in his career was Maxim Shabanov (Traktor), who scored 6 (3+3) points in four games. Shabanov posted no negative ratings, ending the week with a plus-2 differential. He posted the game-winner in Traktor’s win over Metallurg (4:2) on Wednesday and recorded five hits, blocked one shot, and posted three takeaways.

- Best rookie for the second time in his career was forward Nikita Artamonov (Torpedo), who scored 4 (2+2) points in three games last week. He posted all four points in the game against Avtomobilist, where he established a record for the most single-game points for U18 players in the league. He also posted one hit and blocked two shots.