Review of the Season. Dinamo Minsk: best-ever result and Shipachyov’s records
KHL.ru continues its club-by-club review of the 2024/2025 season in Minsk. Dinamo finished fourth in the West and, for the first time in its history, got through the first round of the playoffs.
Ahead of the 2024/2025 campaign, Dinamo Minsk did some great work on the transfer market. The Bison roster was augmented by a clutch of imports, Ilya Usov returned from North America and – best of all – Vadim Shipachyov came to Minsk as he continued his pursuit of two big KHL records.
At the start of the season, the spotlight was on Shipachyov as his closed in on two major achievements. In October, the forward played his 1,002nd game in the league to set a new KHL appearance record. Then, a few days later, he collected his 929th point to overtake Sergei Mozyakin’s record.
Shipachyov’s Dinamo was also fun to watch. In the regular season it scored a club record 206 goals and matched the best-ever winning streak of nine games in February and March. Fourth place in the west was the best regular season placing.
And the achievements kept coming. A 4-2 win over CSKA in the first round of the playoffs sent Dinamo to round two for the first time ever. Traktor, on its way to the Gagarin Cup final, proved too strong, but the Belarusians still showed some good hockey before falling 1-4.
Best players
Vadim Shipachyov
75 games, 60 (16+44) points
Shipachyov didn’t just break individual records, he also contributed a huge amount to Dinamo. He finished as the team’s leading scorer with 60 points in 75 games.
Vitaly Pinchuk
77 games, 54 (30+24) points
One of the top Belarusian players continues to progress at an incredible rate. In 2024/2025 Pinchuk had 54 (30+24) points and was his team’s leading scoring in the playoffs. With 11 (5+6) points in 11 post-season appearances, he went at exactly one point per game.
Alexander Volkov
74 games, 53 (21+32) points
In the regular season, Volkov had 48 (18+30) points, achieving his best ever before adding another 5 (3+2) in seven playoff games. Injury prevented him from helping the team in round two – he was forced out of the game in the opening encounter with Traktor. “We missed this guy,” lamented head coach Dmitry Kvartalnov after the end of the season.
Coaching
Dmitry Kvartalnov is the most experienced coach in the KHL. On Oct. 21, he became the first man to coach 900 games in the league. This was Kvartalnov’s second season at Dinamo and there was measurable progress – more wins, more goals scored and progress to the second round of the playoffs. And Dmitry believes everything is in place to continue that development.
“We want to be a big team, and we’re already becoming one. We need to build on that work. We’ve built the core, the guys bought into our philosophy. And, about the development of young players, I can say that the letter “D” means a lot to the local kids. They are born under that symbol, and they want to play for this team,” the head coach season after the 2024/2025 season.
Dmitry Kvartalnov is currently second in games (158) and wins (78) for Dinamo in the KHL. And his 50.9% win ratio is the best in the club’s history.
Best game
On April 16, Dinamo thrashed Traktor 8-0 in the playoffs. That’s Minsk’s biggest ever win in the KHL, and the club’s first in a second-round playoff series.
Young Players
Yegor Borikov was Dinamo’s leading U23 player last season: he had 78 games for 33 (19+14) points. In the playoffs he scored seven times to lead the team in goals. Alongside him, Vadim Moroz played one game less and had 49 (29+20) points, and Vitaly Pinchuk compiled 30+24 to lead the team in goals for the season. Other young forwards to feature include Daniil Lipsky (63 games, 6+9), Sergei Kuznetsov (52, 5+5) and Daniil Sotishvili (51, 5+6).
Defenseman Timofei Kovgorenya played 20 games last season and contributed one assist. He also demonstrated his versatility, playing as a forward at times. Finally, goalie Yegor Velmakin, who turned 22 in April, played 12 games. He stopped 91.6% of shots for a GAA of 2.09.
Summer activity
The Belarusians made a big move to sign Traktor’s goalie Zach Fucale to a two-year deal. Another significant arrival is two-time Gagarin Cup winner Darren Dietz. Forward Stepan Zvyagin returns to Minsk after a season on loan at Kunlun Red Star (27 games, 2+1 points).
But there are also some notable departures. For example, Jordan Gross moved to Traktor. Dietz seems a ready-made replacement for the two-way defenseman, but on offense there are more replacements needed. Roman Gorbunov joined Avtomobilist and Alexander Volkov accepted an offer from Avangard. Replacing those two won’t be easy
