New Canadian coach, All-Star picks and hat-tricks
Last week in the KHL saw the rosters for next year’s All-Star Game take shape. A misfiring big gun in the Eastern Conference continues its rebuild, and a spectacular game in Khabarovsk saw two players score hat-tricks.
Boucher to coach Avangard
Guy Boucher is on his way to Omsk to take over as head coach of Avangard. The Canadian – no relation to Avangard’s American forward Reid Boucher – signed a contract taking through to the end of the 2025/2026 season. The 53-year-old is due to arrive in Russia in early December, with Sergei Zvyagin continuing to take responsibility for the Hawks until the new man arrives. Boucher began his coaching career in the late 90s, working with teams in major junior hockey in Canada. From 2011-2013 he was head coach of Tampa Bay Lightning, then he had a second spell behind the bench in the NHL from 2016-19 with Ottawa. Before accepting Avangard’s offer, Boucher was working as an assistant coach with the Leafs.
Dietz to Yekaterinburg
Kazakh international defenseman Darren Dietz will continue his career with Avtomobilist. The Canadian-born blue liner is heading to the Urals until the end of the season after he left Avangard last month. This season Dietz, 31, played 18 games for the Hawks and had a goal and three assists. In total he has 446 games for 233 (88+145) points in more than seven KHL seasons for Barys, CSKA and Avangard.
Fans chose first All Stars
KHL fans voted for their first 2025 All Stars, bringing back one player after 12 years and selecting two from the host club. SKA’s Evgeny Kuznetsov was among the representatives for Team Bobrov and will be back at the showcase for the first time since 2013. Meanwhile, Sibir goalie Denis Kostin got his first All-Star call ahead of the big event at his home arena in Novosibirsk. He’s joined by D-man Trevor Murphy, who is back for a second season. Lokomotiv goalie Daniil Isayev polled the most votes in the first round of nominations, while Nikita Gusev (Dynamo Moscow) and Vadim Shipachyov (Dinamo Minsk) are coming back for the sixth time. The other imports chosen in the fan poll are Zach Fucale (Traktor), Stephane da Costa (Avtomobilist), Reid Boucher (Avangard) and Josh Leivo (Salavat Yulaev).
Journalists make their picks
After the fan poll, it was the turn of the accredited KHL media to select 12 players for the 2025 Fonbet KHL All-Star Game. Six of those players will feature for the first time, including SKA defenseman Tony DeAngelo, who only recently came to the league. The other newcomers are all forwards Dmitry Buchelnikov (Vityaz), Severstal’s rising star Danil Aimurzin, Ruslan Iskhakov (CSKA), Dmitry Silantyev (Metallurg) and Traktor veteran Alexander Kadeikin, who made his KHL debut for Atlant back in 2013.
Hat-trick winners, hat-trick loser
The wildest game of the week was surely Saturday’s goal fest between Amur and SKA. The visitor took a 7-5 verdict in Khabarovsk, with both teams having a hat-trick hero in their ranks. Marat Khairullin potted three for the Petersburg team to pace the win. However, his former SKA teammate Alex Galchenyuk also had a treble, but finished on the losing side in a crazy game. Earlier in the week, Maxim Beryozkin got his first KHL hat-trick to help Lokomotiv defeat Traktor 4-2 in the battle of the conference leaders. Beryozkin snapped a 12-game goalless run in some style to keep the Railwaymen out in front.
First KHL shut-outs
Two goalies got their first shut-outs in the league last week. Metallurg’s Alexander Smolin underscored his status as a rising star when he blanked Barys in only his 14th KHL game. The 21-year-old looks more than capable of building a big career for himself – but will face a battle for supremacy in Magnitogorsk with last season’s playoff MVP Ilya Nabokov. Dynamo’s Hunter Miska, meanwhile, hasn’t had the easiest of starts to his KHL career after coming to Russia in the summer. The experienced 29-year-old is vying for game time with Maxim Motorygin, but blanking Lokomotiv will do his cause no harm.
