Review of the season. Neftekhimik: Khoruzhev’s breakout and limited success
KHL.ru keeps on reviewing the 2024-2025 season for each team. For the second year in a row, Neftekhimik’s performance seemed like a carbon copy of the previous season, with only minor differences.
Since 2021, Neftekhimik’s results had been steadily declining: seventh place in the East, then eighth, then ninth. In the recently concluded season, that slow but steady regression came to a halt — but without any actual progress: once again, they finished in ninth place, and just like last year, they missed the playoff spot by only two points. Even their goal differential was nearly identical: it had been 158–201, and now it was 159–200.
As in the previous season, Nizhnekamsk delivered a strong finish to the regular season, fighting desperately for a playoff berth. But that final push couldn’t make up for earlier losses. In 2023-2024, Neftekhimik stumbled at the start of the season, and it’s clear that Oleg Leontyev learned from it and made the necessary adjustments. This time, Nizhnekamsk performed steadily throughout the fall and firmly held a spot in the top eight, but they dropped too many points in December and January. Most of their losses were by just one or two goals — including in OT and SO.
In fact, Neftekhimik went to overtime 22 times — tied with Admiral for the most in the league. But while Admiral collected 31 points in those 22 games (nine wins and thirteen losses), Neftekhimik earned only 27 (five wins and seventeen losses). The difference doesn’t seem huge, but it was exactly those two points — the gap between Neftekhimik and eighth-place Admiral — that made all the difference.
Best players
Andrei Belozyorov
18 goals + 25 assists in 68 games
Belozyorov was Neftekhimik’s top goal scorer and points leader. Much like the team as a whole, he nearly replicated his performance from the previous season — scoring just one goal fewer. However, he significantly improved his differential, going from a poor minus-20 to a more acceptable minus-9.
Filipp Dolganov
47 games, 91.4% save percentage, 2.73 goals-against average
Dolganov’s stats don’t leap off the page, but it’s important to consider that he faced the most workload of any goaltender this season — opponents fired 1,410 shots on his net.
Vladislav Leontyev
3 goals + 13 assists in 68 games
Leontyev was one of just three Neftekhimik defensemen to finish the season with a positive differential (plus-5). But unlike Yegor Yuzlenko and Timur Khayrullin, who didn’t play often, Leontyev didn’t miss a single game and regularly logged close to 20 minutes of ice time — second only to Lukas Klok, before he abruptly left the KHL. Vladislav set a personal points record, was the team’s second-highest-scoring defenseman, and ranked second among all Nizhnekamsk players in takeaways (40) and hits (107). When it came to blocked shots (171), he was in a class of his own.
Coaching
At the end of the regular season, Neftekhimik terminated its contract with Oleg Leontyev. His four-year tenure with the team was summarized at the beginning of this piece: two seasons reaching the playoffs, and two falling just two points short. In essence, it was treading water — but in this case, the word “stability” may be more appropriate, especially given the team’s limited budget and lack of standout talent. These challenges were further compounded by injuries to key players and an extremely short bench. Despite all this, within its “weight class,” Neftekhimik was arguably the most resilient team — even during the poor months of December and January. So, it’s fair to say that Leontyev got the most out of some far-from-ideal conditions.
Best Game
Among other achievements, Neftekhimik managed to win both games against the runaway regular-season champions and eventual Gagarin Cup winners, Lokomotiv (1:0 and 2:1 SO). They also took three out of a possible four points against the Western Conference’s second-best team, Dynamo Moscow. In the first meeting, Nizhnekamsk let the win slip away just over a minute before regulation ended and then lost in a shootout. In the second match, they showed their own character, rallying back from a two-goal deficit.
Youngsters
21-year-old Nikita Khoruzhev emerged as the breakout star of the season. While Ivan Demidov outpaced him in terms of points, such performance was expected from Demidov. Khoruzhev, on the other hand, was more of a dark horse—he had only played nine games in the 2023-2024 season with an average ice time of about five minutes, despite a standout campaign in the JHL as a leader of Reaktor. He quickly rose to prominence within Neftekhimik, especially after the team’s top center, Alexander Dergachyov, suffered a season-ending injury in mid-October. Khoruzhev ended up tallying 34 points (15+19), finishing as Neftekhimik’s second-leading scorer behind Belozeryov.
Other young players who made solid impressions included import Luka Profaca, Grigory Seleznev, German Tochilkin, and Mario Patalakha, who was on loan from Dynamo Moscow. A few more young players were used sporadically—much like Khoruzhev had been the previous year.
Summer work
Neftekhimik appointed Igor Grishin as the new head coach. In the 2022-2023 season, Grishin had a brief but memorable stint behind Spartak’s bench. Under his leadership, the team showed a dramatic early improvement and played several exciting games, though they eventually fell apart just as quickly. Grishin has had more sustained success in other leagues, winning the Petrov Cup in 2023 and earning bronze medals in both the JHL (2021) and the VHL (just recently).
As of now, there have been no major signings for Neftekhimik, apart from the return of Raul Yakupov from loan. Players like Patalakha and Fyodor Kroshchinsky have returned to their parent clubs, Dynamo Moscow and HC Sochi, respectively. Among those whose contracts expired, Riley Barber and Kirill Urakov have signed with new teams.
