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Review of the season: SKA. Battling for the Continental Cup after a rocky start
KHL.ru keeps on reporting on the results of the 2023-2024 season for the League’s clubs as the focus today is on SKA. The St. Petersburg franchise had a slow start to the season but nearly clinched the Continental Cup closer to the end of the first stage.
SKA had a difficult start to the 2023-2024 campaign. After two consecutive wins at the beginning of the season, the team fell into a slump, suffering five straight losses. Following several successful transfers, such as the addition of Borna Rendulic from Sochi and Nikita Serebryakov from Admiral in October, the coaching staff finally found the right roster.
Gradually, SKA’s performance improved, and by the end of the regular season, the St. Petersburg franchise was contending for the Continental Cup. The side narrowly missed out on the trophy on the penultimate day of the regular season, losing their final match to Kunlun Red Star (2:3). Although this match was officially an away game for SKA, it was held at the SKA Arena. The relocation was a significant milestone for the team — since Feb 11, they have been playing at the largest hockey arena in the world.
In the first round of the playoffs, SKA faced Torpedo. Despite losing the first match, the St. Petersburg side bounced back with four consecutive wins, sweeping the series with a shutout (3:0). However, SKA couldn’t advance past the second round, falling 1-4 to Avtomobilist.
Best players
70 games, 50 (27+23) points
Glotov was SKA’s top scorer in the 2023-2024 season with 27 goals, the club’s second-highest producer in the playoffs with 10 points (two less than Marat Khairullin), and third in plus-minus rating (plus-34, trailing only Alexander Nikishin and Artyom Zemchyonok). The forward performed excellently in both the regular season (22+18) and the playoff games (5+5).
72 games, 57 (18+39) points
By the end of the 2023-2024 season, Nikishin became SKA’s top-scoring defenseman with 57 points (18 goals and 39 assists). However, Alexander excelled not only in offense. He also led the team in plus-minus rating (plus-35), hits (127), and blocked shots (106).
77 games, 58 (21+37) points
Sergei might not have performed his best in the series against Avtomobilist, but this doesn’t overshadow his achievements. Throughout the season, Tolchinsky scored a total of 58 points (21 goals and 37 assists), becoming the team’s top scorer.
Coaching
This season, from a statistical standpoint, was less successful for Roman Rotenberg as the head of SKA compared to the previous one. In 2022-2023, SKA secured 50 victories in the regular season, earned 89.7% of possible points in the first part of the season, won the Continental Cup, and reached the conference finals in the playoffs. In the 2023-2024 season, the team achieved 46 victories, earned 73.5% of possible points, finished second in the Western Conference, and was eliminated in the second round by Avtomobilist.
Best game
SKA can count a fully won season series against CSKA and impressive matches with Lokomotiv as highlights — both clubs are considered significant rivals for the St. Petersburg side, making any victory particularly valuable. However, perhaps the most remarkable game of the season for SKA was the home game against Torpedo on Nov 25. Trailing 0:3 in the second period, the team made a stunning comeback to win in a shootout. Valentin Zykov was especially outstanding that evening, scoring two goals and netting the winning attempt in the postgame shootout.
Young players
In goal, 21-year-old Artemy Pleshkov played 10 games, while 19-year-old Pavel Moisevich was entrusted for 14 appearances and set a record for the longest shutout streak at the start of a KHL career—242:55.
On defense, the most active U23 player for SKA was Maxim Fedotov. The defenseman, who turned 22 in January, played a total of 69 games for SKA, scoring 15 points (3+12) and achieving an overall plus- 12 rating. Additionally, 19-year-old Ivan Vydrenkov was frequently brought up to the main team, playing 15 games and recording 0+1 points.
Among the forwards, the most games were played by Ivan Zinchenko (22 years old, 33 games, 4+4), Ilya Fedotov (21 years old, 16 games, no points), and Semyon Sinyatkin (20 years old, 12 games, 1+1).
Several other young players from the SKA system were called up to the main team for at least a couple of games. Notably, 18-year-old Ivan Demidov, a talented young forward, played four KHL matches in the 2023-2024 season, averaging seven and a half minutes on the ice per game.
Summer work
Although Roman Rotenberg repeatedly emphasized that SKA is composed of a young team with potential for development over the coming years, the club decided to strengthen itself with very experienced players this off-season. SKA has signed Sergei Plotnikov and Mikhail Grigorenko, the main stars of CSKA’s championship era, both receiving long-term contracts in St. Petersburg. They also added another veteran in Sergei Andronov, most recently with Lokomotiv.
At the same time, the list of players who have left the team is quite extensive. Artyom Sergeyev and Artyom Shvets-Rogovoi moved to Dynamo Moscow, Alexander Galchenyuk joined Amur, while Alexander Kadeikin and Brendan Leipsic moved to the Urals, one to Traktor and the other to Avtomobilist. Moreover, in the past few days, SKA traded two more forwards for monetary compensation. Dmitry Buchelnikov will play for Vityaz, and Stepan Starkov for Admiral.
