The first full week of trading in the KHL brought plenty of intrigue as clubs begin shaping their personnel for the 2025/2026 campaign. From a big coaching change to the first new imports, here’s a look at the key moves so far.
Rotenberg leaves SKA
The week’s big story was the change of head coach at SKA. The Petersburg club was far from impressed with last season’s seventh-place finish in the Western Conference. At the end of May, the board of directors was replaced, and the new management acted quickly to terminate Roman Rotenberg’s contract as head coach. Previously, Rotenberg himself had been on the board, initially as vice-president since the 2011/2012 season. He moved into coaching in 2021/2022 as assistant to Valery Bragin, replacing his boss during that season. While his time behind the bench was always colorful and outspoken, it did not bring a third Gagarin Cup to St. Petersburg – and the new directors decided the wait had gone on long enough.
Larionov comes in
Rotenberg’s replacement is Igor Larionov. The contrast could hardly be greater. While Rotenberg never played professionally, Larionov won everything on offer as player on both sides of the Atlantic, completing his Triple Gold Club membership by helping the Red Wings to the 1997 Stanley Cup. As a coach, the 64-year-old had three seasons in charge at Torpedo, where he favored an offense-minded style and produced a team capable of upsetting better-resourced opponents. In his first press conference in Petersburg, he promised to deliver entertaining hockey with SKA – and also admitted he had been thinking of a move to the NHL after leaving Torpedo. “In Nizhny Novgorod, our task was to get people excited about hockey again,” he said. “I think we did that. To be honest, I saw the NHL as my next target. But, looking at how hockey is evolving, both in the KHL and the NHL, I began to realize that there isn’t much time to bring what I learn back to our guys.”
Grishin to Neftekhimik, Kozlov to Sochi
Larionov’s move to SKA wasn’t the only big news behind KHL benches last week. Neftekhimik announced Igor Grishin as head coach, while Vyacheslav Kozlov takes charge in Sochi. Grishin, 59, had a spell as head coach at Spartak in 2022/2023 and still found time to win the VHL’s Petrov Cup with Khimik Voskresensk during that campaign. Kozlov, 53, is taking on his first head coaching role after assisting Alexei Kudashov at Dynamo Moscow for the past four seasons. Meanwhile, Torpedo promoted Alexei Isakov from the organization’s farm club to replace Larionov.
Two out at Traktor, Gross in
It isn’t just coaches on the move. With the trade window open from June 1, teams are already refreshing their playing staff. Traktor, last season’s runner-up, has seen two big names move on. Captain Vladimir Tkachyov, a Gagarin Cup winner with Ak Bars in 2018, is on his way to Sibir. Last season he had 25 (12+13) points in the regular season and another 10 (3+7) in the playoffs. His KHL total is now 766 games for 381 (160+221) points. Reports suggest that he’s looking forward to relinquishing the responsibilities of captaincy in Novosibirsk and wants to get back to simply playing and scoring. Goalie Zach Fucale is also on the move, joining Dinamo Minsk. The 30-year-old Canadian spent two seasons in the Urals, stopping 92.5% of shots through 127 games for a GAA of 2.25.
As Fucale heads to Belarus, Jordan Gross is coming in the opposite direction. Last season the 30-year-old defenseman had 42 (7+35) points from 77 games with a +17 rating. He should be a ready-made replacement for Steven Kampfer, who retired at the end of the season.
Deitz takes on Dinamo challenge
Darren Deitz, the fifth most productive import defenseman in KHL history, is on the move again. After finishing last season at Avtomobilist, he’s off to Dinamo Minsk. The 31-year-old fits Dmitry Kvartalnov’s apparent preference for North American defensemen and a one-year deal in Belarus could help get him back on track after a frustrating time divided between Omsk and Yekaterinburg brought just 14 (1+13) points last season. Deitz came to the KHL with Barys in 2017, acquired Kazakh citizenship and a taste for Pushkin’s poetry, and remained there until 2021. During the 2021/2022 campaign he joined CSKA and went on to win two Gagarin Cups in Moscow. He has 243 (88+155) points from 484 KHL games.
Boucher to Avto, Blacker to Omsk
Two more big trades saw Avtomobilist and Avangard swap imports. Reid Boucher, the Hawks’ top scorer in the KHL era, is heading to Yekaterinburg on a one-year deal. In 2021, he helped Bob Hartley’s team win the Gagarin Cup then in 2024 he finished the regular season with 44 goals (only Sergei Mozyakin and Josh Leivo have scored more in one season). Jesse Blacker, who played for Kunlun and Barys before joining Avto in 2021, is on his way to Omsk. Last season he had 18 (3+15) points from 53 games with a +12 rating. The Canadian-born Kazakh dual national has 441 KHL appearances for 134 points.
Sochi snaps up Josephs, Beaudin
HC Sochi, a regular struggler in the Western conference, has moved early to bring in imports this summer. Forward Troy Josephs needs little introduction: he was a big part of Lada’s run to the playoffs in 2023/2024 but found life tougher last season after moving from Togliatti to Magnitogorsk. Another Canadian forward, Jean-Christophe Beaudin, has signed a one-deal beside the Black Sea. The 28-year-old center had 22 NHL games for Ottawa in 2019/2020 but headed to Europe a couple of seasons later. Last year he played for TPS in Finland, getting 42 (15+27) points in 55 regular season games.
New imports
Beaudin is not the only new import on his way to the KHL. Torpedo signed American defenseman Bobby Nardella to a one-year contract. The 29-year-old played in Switzerland last season with Rapperswill-Jona and earlier in his career was on the same Calder Cup-winning team as Dinamo Minsk’s Sam Anas and Zach Fucale. Severstal also looked to the Swiss league to recruit Canadian blue-liner Thomas Gregoire from Kloten Flyers. The 26-year-old spent time with San Jose but never cracked the NHL team, and has since played for Lukka (FIN), Rogle (SWE) and two Swiss teams. Finally, Lada picked up 24-year-old two-way D-man Alex Cotton from Slovakia’s HK Nitra. The Canadian won the Slovak championship in 2023/2024 and was a productive figure as his team got to the playoff final once again this year.
Morozov joins Hall of Fame
KHL President Alexei Morozov was among the latest inductees to take their places in the Russian Hockey Hall of Fame. At a ceremony last week in Sochi, Morozov was formally added to the list alongside fellow players Pavel Datysuk, Vyacheslav Anisin, Dmitry Kvartalnov (currently head coach of Dinamo Minsk) and Yury Fedorov. This year also saw Zhanna Shchelchkova, long-time captain of Russia’s national women’s team, become the first female player to be recognized. After the ceremony, Morozov hoped he would be joined by his line-mates from the Ak Bars team that won the first Gagarin Cup. “I’d like to see all three of us, Danis Zaripov and Sergei Zinoviev as well. Especially Danis, who won many more cups than me and deserves his place in the Hall of Fame. He only recently stopped playing so we’ll need to wait a bit, but I hope they’ll select him in a couple of years. If it happens, I’d be delighted to come and congratulate him.”
