Top players of the 2026 Gagarin Cup semifinals

The Kontinental Hockey League’s commission has determined the best players of the 2026 Gagarin Cup playoffs’ third round in four categories.

The League’s teams played 12 games in the first-round series, with 90 players (6 goalies, 30 defensemen, and 54 forwards) taking part in the action. The scoring was at 5.42 goals per game.

- Best goalie for the fourth time in his career was Nikita Serebryakov (Avangard), who won three games from seven against Lokomotiv. The Hawks’ netminder faced 258 shots throughout the series, or 36.9 per night, posting a 93.8% saves percentage and a goals-against average of 2.00. In Game Four against Lokomotiv, Serebryakov recorded his second shutout in this year’s playoffs.

- Best defenseman for the second time in his career was Mitchell Miller (Ak Bars), who scored 5 (0+5) points in five games against Metallurg, with a plus-3 differential. The Kazan blueliner also delivered two hits, blocked ten shots, had one takeaway and made one pass interception.

- Best forward for the first time in his career was Maxim Shalunov (Lokomotiv), who scored 6 (5+1) points in seven games against Avangard, ending the series with a plus-4 differential. He also delivered ten hits, blocked three shots, and made two pass interceptions.

- Best rookie for the second time in his career was 21-years-old defenseman Stepan Terekhov (Ak Bars), who finished the five-game series against Metallurg with a plus-3 differential. Terekhov logged an average time on ice of seventeen minutes and five seconds, and also blocked seven shots, had one takeaway, and made one pass interception.