Best Players of the 2023-2024 eighteenth week

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

The League’s teams played 33 games last week, with 559 players (42 goalies, 187 defensemen, and 330 forwards) taking part in the action. The scoring was at 4.94 goals per game.

- Best goalie for the first time in his career was Pavel Khomchenko (Avangard), who won three games from three with his team last week. The Omsk goalie faced 113 shots, or 37.7 per night, posting a saves percentage of 96.46% and a goals-against average of 1.33.

- Best defenseman for the second time in his career was Maxim Berezin (Lada), who scored 3 (1+2) points in two games last week. The Togliatti defenseman netted the OT, game-winner in his team’s win over Avtomobilist on Saturday (4:3 OT). He also recorded two hits and blocked six shots. Berezin was awarded the Best defenseman honors in the tenth week of the 2013-2014 season.

- Best forward for the first time in his career was Cedric Paquette (Dynamo Moscow), who scored 6 (5+1) points in three games last week. The Blue-and-Whites’ forward posted no negative ratings, ending the week with a plus-4 differential. He also recorded three hits and blocked four shots. Paquette netted his first KHL hat-trick in his team’s victory over Torpedo on Saturday (6:1).

- Best rookie for the second time in his career was goalie Maxim Motorygin (Dynamo Moscow), who won three games from three last week. Motorygin faced 73 shots, or 24.3 per night, posting a saves percentage of 94.52% and a goals-against average of 1.45.