Season preview. Ak Bars: Gatiyatulin’s second year and a quiet offseason
KHL.ru continues its club-by-club preview of the upcoming 2025-2026 season. Ak Bars strengthened its roster with strategic moves while keeping its core intact.
Last Season
The 2024 offseason became a turning point for Ak Bars — Anvar Gatiyatulin replaced Zinetula Bilyaletdinov, and the club parted ways with several big-name players, including Alexander Radulov and Vadim Shipachyov. It took Kazan about a month at the start of the championship to find their rhythm, but then they performed quite well — both in terms of quality and in results, competing for first place in the Eastern Conference. However, after the Fonbet KHL All-Star break, something inexplicable happened to the team — just seven wins in 16 games and losses to their direct rivals for the Eastern lead.
As a result, Ak Bars finished fifth in the conference and faced Avtomobilist in the first round. The series turned out to be very exciting and ended with Kazan winning in seven games. Next came Dynamo Moscow, and the start of the series surprised many — 2–0 in favor of Ak Bars. However, what followed were four straight losses, the last one at home by a score of 1:6, which brought Kazan’s 2024-2025 campaign to a close.
Recruitment
Arrivals:
Goalie: Mikhail Berdin (Avangard). Defensemen: Wyatt Kalinyuk (Pelicans, Finland), Ilya Karpukhin (SKA-VMF, VHL). Forwards: Brandon Biro (Coachella, AHL), Mikhail Fisenko (Lada).
Departures:
Goalie: Amir Miftakhov (Carolina, NHL). Defenseman: Nikita Yevseyev (Amur, loan). Forwards: Yegor Babenko, Yegor Korshkov (Traktor), Semyon Koshelev (Admiral, trade), Eric O’Dell, Nicolas Petan (Ambri-Piotta, Switzerland), Raul Yakupov (Neftekhimik, return from loan).
Top-3 Signings
Ilya Karpukhin
This defenseman is well known to Gatiyatulin — they worked together in Chelyabinsk. Karpukhin is a tough player, strong in battles and in front of his own net, and if necessary, he’s not afraid to drop the gloves. At the same time, he’s not without playmaking qualities — at SKA under Roman Rotenberg he was the second option on the blue line in the power play after Alexander Nikishin, averaging about a minute and a half per game with the man advantage.
Mikhail Berdin
An emotional goalie who had long been striving for a chance to prove himself in a top club, Berdin got such an opportunity when he joined Avangard. However, a serious injury and the presence of strong competition in the form of Nikita Serebryakov prevented him from showing his true level. Ak Bars needed another quality goaltender to pair with Timur Bilyalov, and on paper this move looks like a win-win for both sides. The only question is whether Berdin can adapt successfully to his new team.
Mikhail Fisenko
A spirited player well remembered in Kazan — Fisenko played for Ak Bars under Dmitrij Kvartalnov and was part of the shutdown line alongside Artyom Lukoyanov and Nikita Dynyak. A hardworking, physical forward who can also help with the locker room atmosphere. Who knows, maybe this was exactly the type of player Ak Bars lacked in last year’s playoff series against Dynamo Moscow?
Coaching
The upcoming season will be Anvar Gatiyatulin’s second at the helm of Ak Bars. The first one turned out fairly solid, especially considering that the team was in a rebuilding phase — in such a situation, aiming for the Cup is incredibly difficult. Gatiyatulin implements an active style of hockey with high forechecking and demands that his players win the puck back as quickly as possible after losing it. In the 2024-2025 regular season, Ak Bars ranked in the top 5 in goals scored (3.07 per game) and became the best team in the League on the penalty kill (84.7%). Looking at these statistics and the end result of a second-round finish, one can say that the Gatiyatulin era at Ak Bars has gotten off to a good start.
Goalies
Numerically, the goaltending unit has not changed — Amir Miftakhov left the club, and Berdin arrived in his place. He and Bilyalov will be sharing the workload, and it will be interesting to see in what proportions. The key question is whether both goaltenders can avoid injuries, since in recent seasons each has suffered from them, sometimes quite seriously. The third goalie will likely come from within the system — Kazan has young Maxim Arefyev, who has already played in the KHL, and Alexander Stolpechenkov.
Defense
On the blue line, Ak Bars appear to have an obvious surplus of players following the arrivals of Karpukhin and Wyatt Kalinyuk. Right now, the coaching staff has eleven defensemen at their disposal, and the top four are essentially set — the spots of Alexei Marchenko, Nikita Lyamkin, Mitchell Miller, and Albert Yarullin in the lineup look unshakable. Then there’s Stepan Falkovsky, along with Kalinyuk and Karpukhin, plus Daniil Zhuravlyov, Artemy Knyazev, and Konstantin Luchevnikov.
Forwards
The main task for Kazan’s management this offseason was to keep team leaders Artyom Galimov and Ilya Safonov, and the club successfully managed to do that. Additions include Fisenko and Brandon Biro, though it is not yet entirely clear how much of a real boost they will provide for Ak Bars’ offense. As for the departed forwards, all of them played in Kazan noticeably below their potential — Yegor Korshkov, Eric O’Dell, and Nicolas Petan alike.
Prospects
Among the young players in the Ak Bars lineup, there is someone in each position group. Goalie Arefyev was already mentioned above — last season he made his League debut, though he has yet to get consistent playing time at the KHL level. On defense, there is Stepan Terekhov, who was regularly involved with the main team during the 2024-2025 season and looked fairly solid.
In the forward group, it is worth keeping an eye on Radel Zamaldtinov and Timofei Zhulin. Both have already debuted in the League, and in the upcoming championship they will surely have the chance to make a real statement.
What to expect
Throughout last season, Ak Bars lacked consistency — both in the regular season and in the playoffs. If Kazan can improve in that area, they will have every chance to at least contend for a semifinal spot. In addition, much will depend on how well the foreign players fit into the team, and on the final roster Kazan brings into the season.
