Unlikely leaders and record payments

Week two of the KHL season sees some unusual names at the top of the charts. Whether it’s the scoring race or the conference standings, there’s a fresh look to the leaders right now. In addition, the league announced a record-breaking billion-ruble pay-out to be shared among its clubs from last season’s media rights and Novosibirsk unveiled the logo and branding for this season’s All-Star game.

Unexpected leaders

After two weeks of the season, the top of both conferences has an unusual look. In the West, Spartak leads the way with nine points from five games. Alexei Zhamnov’s team remains unbeaten in regulation this season, with only a shoot-out loss to Sochi spoiling an otherwise perfect start to the campaign. In keeping with an unpredictable opening to the KHL championship, Sochi is bottom of the Western standings with that Spartak game providing its only points. In the east, meanwhile, Neftekhimik is on top. In the past two seasons, the Wolves have suffered from dreadful starts, barely winning a game in September 2022 or 2023. This time, propelled by back-to-back wins over defending champion Metallurg, Oleg Leontyev’s team is flying with four wins from five games despite a conspicuous lack of star names on its roster. Young goalie Filipp Dolganov might be the first to make himself a household name: his 46 saves backstopped a 1-0 win over Lokomotiv to halt the Railwaymen’s winning start to the campaign.

Russian hockey, African ancestry

Among the players making an impression for Neftekhimik, the name of Zhoe Kristof Muissu stands out. The 18-year-old is in his rookie KHL season after a productive time with Reaktor, the Wolves’ JHL affiliate. Unusually, the Petersburg-born youngster has heritage from the heart of Africa: his father’s family comes from Congo, where he still has relatives.

600 games for Nikitin

Lokomotiv head coach Igor Nikitin took charge of his 600th game as a head coach in the KHL when his team travelled to Nefetkhimik. However, the celebrations were cut short by the home team. Dolganov’s shut-out earned a 1-0 victory, condemning Loko to its first loss of the season and denying it top spot in the overall standings. The result also means that Nikitin has to wait for his 400th KHL victory: he is currently in 399 and can reach his next milestone in tomorrow’s home game against Lada.

Demidov pots first goal

Ivan Demidov is one of the most exciting prospects in Russian hockey. The 18-year-old SKA forward, drafted by the Canadiens at #5 in the summer, has been prolific in the last two seasons in the JHL and dominated last year’s playoffs as SKA-1946 won the Kharlamov Cup. Now the talented hot shot, who also has a Hlinka-Gretzky gold medal from 2022, is taking his first steps in the KHL and scored his first goal in Sunday’s OT win over Lada. Demidov struck early in that game, reacting fast to convert the rebound after his own shot came back off the post.

Barys still awaits victory

At the other end of the standings, Barys remains the last team in the KHL without a win. Moreover, the Kazakhs have just four goals from four games to date, picking up one point from an opening day OT loss at home to Neftekhimik. Since then, David Nemirovsky’s team lost 1-4 to Traktor and had a pair of 1-5 reverses against Amur and Dinamo Minsk. After a tough time in its opening home stand, Barys goes on the road this week. Can it find success in games at Avtomobilist, Ak Bars or Vityaz?

Fast start for CSKA trio

The early scoring leaders all play for CSKA. That’s not always a surprise. But the trio of Prokhor Poltapov, Maxim Sorkin and current pace-setter Vitaly Abramov might not have been everybody’s first choice to dominate the scoring race. All three are relatively young and, in previous seasons, have tended to play supporting roles. However, the trio also highlights the value of integrating rising stars into the first team. Poltapov, the youngest of the three at 21, already has a Gagarin Cup to his name after featuring in 19 games of the successful 2022-2023 campaign (he had five points in that post-season run). Sorkin, 24, will play his 300th KHL game this week, all for CSKA, while elder statesman Abramov, 26, joined from Traktor in 2021-2022 and featured in two cup-winning campaigns. With 11 (5+6) points from five games, including a hat-trick in the 8-2 thrashing of Sibir, he’s currently two points ahead of his line-mates in the scoring race.

Abramov hat-trick paces CSKA, Lada downs Dynamo. September 10 round-up

Billion-ruble hand-out

The KHL’s annual payment to its member clubs will top one billion rubles for the first time. The record-breaking sum is primarily raised from the sale of TV and betting rights, and will be dispersed among the 23 teams based on their performances on and off the ice. Apart from a reward for success in last season’s play, clubs also earn according to their place in the KHL ratings. This is calculated on the basis of commercial effectiveness, work with fans, quality of facilities for players and spectators, and financial stability. The biggest pay-out – worth more than 100 million rubles – goes to Metallurg. In total, the payments are worth 1.175 billion rubles, almost twice as much as the 2023 figure. This includes a 99 million ruble investment in youth hockey development for junior teams and academies outside the KHL system.

KHL to make record payment to clubs

All-Star logo unveiled

As Novosibirsk prepares to stage the 2025 Fonbet KHL All-Star Game in February, the Siberian city released the logo for this season’s event. The theme combines Siberian frost with details of the new Novosibirsk arena, with a color scheme that adopts shades of blue. A full range of merchandise in support of the All-Star action will be available for fans to purchase.