Top players of the Gagarin Cup’s first round

The Kontinental Hockey League’s commission has determined the best players of the Gagarin Cup playoffs’ first round in four categories.

- Best goalie for the third time in his career was Nikita Serebryakov (Avangard), who won four games from six against Metallurg. The Hawks’ netminder faced 195 shots throughout the series, or 32.5 per night, posting a 94.87% saves percentage and a goals-against average of 1.57. Serebryakov was awarded best goalies in two consecutive rounds in the 2023 playoffs with Admiral.

- Best defenseman for the first time in his career was Grigory Dronov (Traktor), who scored 7 (2+5) points in six games against Admiral, with an even differential. The Chelyabinsk d-man also made six hits, blocked nine shots, made six pass interceptions and had two takeaways.

- Best forward for the first time in his career was Sheldon Rempal (Salavat Yulaev), who scored 10 (6+4) points in seven games against Sibir, ending the series with a plus-4 differential. Rempal also made three hits, blocked two shots, made two pass interceptions, and had five takeaways. In the fifth game of the series, Rempal scored a hat-trick, including netting the game-winning goal.

- Best rookie for the first time in his career was forward Ivan Demidov (SKA), who scored 5 (2+3) points in six games against Dynamo Moscow, ending the series with a minus-1 differential. Demidov also made five hits, blocked six shots, made two pass interceptions, and had three takeaways.