Season preview. Dynamo Moscow: A serious roster – with a serious caveat
KHL.ru continues its club-by-club preview of the upcoming 2025/2026 season in Moscow. Dynamo Moscow has a roster that is capable of improving on last year’s run to the semifinals, but a lack of depth may undermine those hopes.
Last season
Dynamo made a sluggish start to the season, losing five of its first seven games without even getting to overtime. But by the end of September things settled down and the remainder of the regulation season brought just one poor run in late December. They faced a tough schedule in the final weeks, but still managed to clinch second place in the Western Conference. Yet it transpired that a high seeding didn’t offer a much easier bracket in the playoffs, with Dynamo facing SKA, then Ak Bars and Traktor. As in the previous playoffs, Traktor ended the Muscovites’ hopes, albeit this time in the semifinal. That left mixed feelings: a bronze medal is no mean feat, but there was a sense that this team could – should? – have won more. Part of the explanation lay in injuries to key players Max Comtois and Vladislav Podyapolsky.
Recruitment
At the end of the season, the situation was alarming, with several key players planning to leave. However, many of them were persuaded to stay, and the newcomers might even be an upgrade.
Departures
Goalie: Evgeny Yaroslavlev. Defensemen: Artyom Kudashov (Neftekhimik, loan), Brennan Menell (SKA), Ruslan Petrishchev, Anton Sizov (Torpedo). Forwards: Alexander Burmistrov (Shanghai Dragons), Nikita Buruyanov (Spartak), Pavel Kudryavtsev (Sochi), Dmitry Rashevsky (Avangard)
Arrivals
Goalie: Dmitry Kulikov (Spartak). Defensemen: Nikita Baklashyov (Sochi, return from loan), Fredrik Claesson (CSKA), Mario Patalakha (Neftekhimik, return from loan), Magomed Sharakanov (Lada, return from loan). Forwards: Devin Brosseau (Amur), Daniil Davydov (Severstal, return from loan), Maxim Mamin (CSKA)
Top 3 signings
Maxim Mamin has spent his entire career to date with CSKA. He made his debut under Dmitry Kvartalnov, scored the golden goal to win the championship under Igor Nikitin and collected more hardware with Sergei Fedorov. Ilya Vorobyov used him more as a destroyer, giving him fewer outings on the power play, and far more on the penalty kill. Only Pavel Karnaukhov played more on the PK, and that by an insignificant six seconds a game on average. With Mamin on the ice, CSKA allowed just 12 goals, compared with 24 in his absence. As they say, feel the difference (and add on his three short-handed goals). Maxim’s overall production declined, but he proved that he is a top-class forward on both sides of the puck, capable of contributing to the offense or working on defensive lines according to the coach’s instructions.
Devin Brosseau is a prolific goalscorer, who looks like a direct replacement for Omsk-bound Dmitry Rashevsky. Two years ago he was Kunlun’s leading scorer and, by some margin, its leading goalscorer. He might have repeated those achievements at Amur until injury slowed his progress: in 33 games he had 13+9, on pace with Alex Galchenyuk (59 games, 20+18 points). It’s notable that while Brosseau usually plays on the wing, he can do a job at center where Dynamo currently has few options.
On defense, Fredrik Claesson is viewed as a replacement for Anton Sizov. Sizov didn’t always make the team, whereas Claesson, as an import, should play whenever available. Like Mamin, Claesson was a big part of the CSKA penalty kill. He’s not the most eye-catching of players, but he offers plenty of reliability – arguably the most important factor for a defenseman.
Coaching
Apart from his first season, Alexei Kudashov’s Dynamo has calmly navigated around in-house politicking, even when there’s an ever-present threat of change. The club’s management was smart enough not to carry out its threats, although the constant stress is hardly conducive to normal working conditions. In the last three years, the Blue-and-Whites have been impressive in regular season but tended to come out of the playoffs prematurely, reaching just one semifinal in four attempts – a satisfactory result, but nothing more.
One distinguishing features of today’s Dynamo is unpredictability. This team seems equally likely to recover from a losing situation in a game (or series, as we saw after dropping the two home openers against Ak Bars in the spring) as it is to throw away a winning lead. But the first outcome is far more common: in the past two seasons, Dynamo won 12 games after trailing by two or more goals and lost nine in which it had a similar advantage. The second figure is average, but the first is bettered only by Spartak on 13. And, in percentage terms, Dynamo has the edge – 24% against Spartak’s 22%.
Goaltending
The goaltending at Dynamo is strong, but with a caveat. Vladislav Podyapolsky is one of the best in the league, but in recent times has struggled with fitness, while Maxim Motorygin is improving but is not yet consistent enough. That’s why Dmitry Kulikov, who is a proven success in the VHL, has joined from Spartak’s system. He comes at a high price, with forward Nikita Buruyanov moving in the other direction, but clearly the need for another goalie was greater.
Defense
On defense it’s a similar story: all is in order, but with a proviso. A year ago, the departure of Brennan Menell would have seemed catastrophic, but now it’s not so significant. That’s partly because Menell’s own performance dipped last season, and partly because of the progress of Daniil Pylenkov (in terms of raw results, that progress isn’t so apparent, but watching him on the ice makes a different impression).
The proviso is that the eight-strong D-core seems finely balanced, but any injury could lead to serious problems with lack of depth. But this might not be an issue. Last season, Alexei Kudashov found that a group of eight was enough: three more made fleeting appearances in seven games, and one of them was later sent out on loan. This season, Artyom Kudashov is on loan, but could be recalled in an emergency.
Forwards
The forward options are more solid and seem to have greater depth. Yet here too there is a question mark: the team may be overloaded with creative players. Some of them will be deprived of power play time, some may have to sit on the bench. And it’s possible that someone will be traded, if not right away then if and when Artyom Mikheyev returns to full fitness after a serious injury. At first there were fears that he might miss the whole season, but later the prognosis was more encouraging. Whoever is pushed out by Mikheyev’s recovery would surely be coveted by many other teams.
At first glance it might seem that there is a shortage of natural centers. However, there are enough players with experience of that role, even if more recently they have played on the wings.
Prospects
To the eight core defensemen, we can add Mario Patalakha and Magomed Sharakanov, both returned from successful loan spells. Sharakanov was the leading scorer among defensemen at Lada, almost twice as productive as his closest rival. Nikita Baklashyov’s time at Sochi was less impressive: his role and game time was too unpredictable, with 17 minutes in one game and two on others. The talented Kurban Limatov, one of the brightest prospects born in 2007, can hope to build on his first taste of KHL action in a couple of shifts against Kunlun.
On offense, we’re already familiar with 20-year-old Yegor Rimashevsky and he is likely to be the only junior on the Dynamo offense for now. That’s not because there are no worthy candidates, but because there are no spots for them to fill even while Mikheyev is injured. Of course, from time to time young forwards will be called up to the seniors, but without seeing much game time.
What to expect from the season
Clearly, injuries will always have an impact on results, but the extent of that influence is always varied. But today’s Dynamo is more reliant than most on key players staying fit, so the range of expectation is wider than elsewhere. If healthy, this roster is more than capable of making the final, but injuries could see it struggle to clear the first round. However, in the second case, injuries would not be an acceptable reason for a disappointing result. Strictly speaking, even a repeat of last year’s run to the semifinals wouldn’t be seen as a success. This line-up is objectively stronger, so expectations are greater and there’s less tolerance for excuses.
