Review of the season. Ak Bars: new coach, roster’s rebuilding, and Galimov’s breakout

KHL.ru keeps on reviewing the 2024-2025 season for league clubs — Ak Bars changed their head coach, initiated a roster rebuild, and reached the second round of the playoffs, ultimately falling to Moscow’s Dynamo.

Last offseason, Anvar Gatiyatulin took over as head coach in Kazan, triggering a roster purge: Alexander Radulov, Vadim Shipachyov, Vyacheslav Voynov, Dmitry Kagarlitsky, Evgeny Svechnikov, and several other players left the team. At the same time, Ak Bars brought back Alexander Barabanov from overseas, signed their own product Albert Yarullin from Traktor, and also added Nic Petan and Yegor Korshkov, who arrived as one of the major market acquisitions.

The Tatarstan team didn’t need much time to find their rhythm — by October, they had strung together a seven-game winning streak. The squad gradually adapted to the demands of the new coach and the style of play he implemented. By the pause for the Fonbet All-Star Game, Ak Bars was in good form with five consecutive wins — at that point, many experts named Kazan a contender to win the conference and predicted a strong playoff performance. What happened during the break remains a mystery, but afterwards the team won only seven of sixteen games, dropped to fifth place in the East, and faced Avtomobilist in the first playoff round.

This matchup was a rematch of the previous playoffs for Ak Bars — back then, under Zinetula Bilyaletdinov, Kazan lost to Avtomobilist. The revenge was eventually served: although Gatiyatulin’s team trailed in the series after game five, Ak Bars won two games in a row to advance to the next stage. There, Moscow’s Dynamo awaited them, and things started incredibly well for Kazan — two road wins to open the series. But then something broke down: Dynamo won four consecutive games and knocked Ak Bars out of the Gagarin Cup race. The final game of the season was a demoralizing 1:6 home loss for Kazan.

Best players

Artyom Galimov
81 games, 66 points (37 goals + 29 assists)

This past season was truly a breakout year for Galimov — he nearly tripled his previous KHL career-high in points (23 in the 2019-2020 season). Artyom became Ak Bars’ top goal scorer, shared the team lead in total points with Barabanov, and won the KHL’s Most Valuable Player award thanks to a remarkable plus-31 rating in the regular season. He also logged the second-highest average ice time among the team’s forwards — 18 minutes and 56 seconds per game — and tied Dmitrij Jaskin for the club record in goals scored in a single regular season (35). While Ak Bars may have lacked some of his creative spark in the playoffs, Galimov still contributed a respectable 7 points (2+5) in 13 games.

Kirill Semyonov
81 games, 64 points (20 goals + 44 assists)

One of the best two-way forwards in the league, Semyonov can score, pass, play physical, and kill penalties. He also had the most productive season of his KHL career while continuing to be a key foundational player for Ak Bars. He led all team forwards in average ice time (19:15 per game), played on the second power-play unit and the first penalty-kill unit, and had the highest faceoff win rate (alongside Jaskin) at an impressive 57.3%. Early in the season, when Petan was injured, Semyonov stepped into his spot on the line with Jaskin and Barabanov — and the trio didn’t miss a beat. His OT goal against SKA was a true masterpiece of hockey skills.

Alexander Barabanov
80 games, 66 points (30 goals + 36 assists)

Returning to the KHL after four seasons away, Barabanov immediately proved he was still a top-tier player, setting a personal best in points for a KHL season. Despite playing with various linemates throughout the year, he consistently performed at a high level — both at even strength and on the power play. This signing more than paid off for Ak Bars, bringing in one of the team’s clear leaders.

Coaching

Anvar Gatiyatulin’s first season at the helm of Ak Bars can generally be considered a success. Of course, in Kazan, the Gagarin Cup is the dream every year, but building a championship team in just one season is more the exception than the rule. In an interview with KHL.ru before the season started, Gatiyatulin said, “We need to become more aggressive when pressing and in our positional attacks.”

And that style was indeed visible throughout the season — Ak Bars played more actively, applying pressure in the offensive zone and quickly regaining puck possession. Interestingly, at the post-series press conference, Gatiyatulin openly admitted to a mistake in game three against Dynamo, saying he expected a more offensive approach from the opponent — a rare moment of candid self-criticism from a coach on camera.

In terms of results, reaching the second round is a respectable outcome for a team undergoing a rebuild and in its first season with a new head coach. 

Best Game

Ak Bars had plenty of exciting games this season — two regular-season thrillers against Dynamo Moscow (5:4, 6:5), a 7:2 blowout in game three against Avtomobilist, or a dominant 8:0 win over Barys.

But one game stands out above the rest: the road clash in St. Petersburg against SKA. Kazan stunned the home crowd by scoring six goals in the first period while conceding just one. Semyon Terekhov opened the scoring in the very first minute, Artyom Galimov followed with a first-period hat trick, and Alexey Pustozyorov and Nikita Lyamkin each added a goal. SKA’s only reply in that frame came from Valentin Zykov.

In the second period, Semyon Koshelev scored short-handed for Ak Bars, while SKA responded with a goal from Zakhar Bardakov. Bardakov added another in the third to complete his brace, but Artur Brovkin sealed the final score with an empty-net goal — 8:3 in Ak Bars’ favor.

Youngsters

Over the course of the season, Gatiyatulin gave ice time to eight young players. Dmitry Katayevsky can be left out of this category — at 22, the forward has already been a solid part of Ak Bars’ main roster for several seasons. Young goalie Maxim Arefyev made a good impression — when Ak Bars had issues in goal, Arefyev stepped in against CSKA and helped secure a victory.

Special mention also goes to the Terekhov brothers. Forward Semyon Terekhov had already played in previous seasons and was contributing offensively, while defenseman Stepan Terekhov made his KHL debut this past season and recorded his first points.

Other young players worth noting include Nikita Yevseyev, Denis Komkov, Radel Zamaldinov, and Timofey Zhulin. The first two have been part of the system for a while and occasionally break into the main roster, whereas Zamaldinov and Zhulin made their KHL debuts this past season.

Summer work

Major roster overhauls are not expected at Ak Bars this summer. So far, the Kazan management has pleased fans with two key contract extensions — both Artyom Galimov and Ilya Safonov will remain with the team for the upcoming season.

There have been no incoming transfers yet, which is not unusual — the Kazan club typically takes a cautious approach to signings.

As for player departures, Yegor Korshkov and Semyon Koshelev have left the team. Ak Bars terminated Korshkov’s contract, and he has already signed with Traktor, while Koshelev was traded to Admiral.