Season review: Severstal. Impressive regular season, then another 1st round loss
KHL.ru continues its club-by-club review of the 2025/2026 season. Severstal claimed a top-four finish in the west for the first time ever, but that wasn’t enough to avoid yet another exit in the first round of the playoffs.
Under head coach Andrei Kozyrev, we’ve grown accustomed to seeing attractive, fast-paced hockey from Severstal. In 2025/2026, Kozyrev continued with his philosophy, albeit with some tweaks – over the course of the campaign, analysts highlighted changes in the defensive strategy. That helped the Lynx secure their best ever finish in the regular season.
By the New Year, Severstal was fighting for the top of the West alongside Lokomotiv and Dinamo Minsk. A playoff spot was secure as early as Feb. 15, and within a month a top-four finish – and home ice advantage at the start of the playoffs – was also assured for the first time in the club’s history. The stats were impressive: 40 wins in regulation, 86 points and third place in the West. But …
But in the playoffs, Severstal again crashed and burned in round one.
For six years running, Severstal has failed to clear the first round of the playoffs. Under Kozyrev, despite strong showings in the regular championship, the Lynx have never managed more than one playoff win. This time Torpedo was the opponent. Defeat in the home opener was followed by a solid shut-out win to tie the series. But then came three straight losses and an early exit. Game four was probably the key: Severstal was up 2-0 after goals in the 51st and 54th minutes, but Torpedo managed a spectacular fightback to win the game.
Clearly, Severstal is ready to make a step forward. A good regular season campaign is worth celebrating, especially when it comes with entertaining hockey. But Cherepovets is waiting progress, at least to the second round. Surely ahead of the new season, Kozyrev will be spending plenty of time working out how to refine his team’s set-up.
Best players
The forward enjoyed a phenomenal season. For three years running, Abrosimov had just under 30 points in the regular season, and now he leapt up to 48 (24+24) before adding another assist in the playoffs. Ruslan led Severstal in goals and was the most effective component of the team’s power play (9 goals).
A year ago, when his line with Danil Aimurzin and Kiril Pilipenko was the best in the KHL, Ilyin was the junior partner in terms of scoring. Aimurzin and Pilipenko were close to 60 points apiece, while Ilyin had 31 (7+24). In 2025/2026, Pilipenko lost his place but that did not hinder Ilyin. He continued to form an effective partnership with Aimurzin and others on the team. Over the whole season, he had 48 (17+31) points, of which 4 (3+1) came in the playoffs. He also potted six game-winning goals.
The defenseman was among Severstal’s top five scorers with 44 (11+33) points and a +12 rating. One of this year’s All-Stars, Kaldis led the league in successful passes (2,594) and puck battle wins (577).
Coaching
Andrei Kozyrev became only the second coach to take charge of 200 KHL games with Severstal. In total, he has 118 wins from 216 games behind the bench, with only Andrei Razin (280 and 133) ahead of him. And his 54.6% win ratio is the best in the club’s history. At the end of the 2025/2026 season, the club management extended the contracts for Kozyrev and his staff to the end of the 2027/2028 campaign.
Best game
Severstal’s battle with Dinamo Minsk for a top-three finish in the Western Conference was one of the more entertaining chapters of the regular season. One of their head-to-head battles came on Jan. 15 in Cherepovets – and turned into a 10-goal thriller! Severstal’s Adam Liska opened the scoring with a short-handed goal, but the same power play saw Dinamo tie it up. Liska then scored at equal strength but the Belarusians responded once more. Within a minute, Dinamo got up for the first time but Severstal tied it at 3-3 inside the first period.
Then in the second Severstal opened a two-goal lead thanks to power play goals from Abrosimov and Liska, the latter completing his hat-trick. Dinamo pulled one back, but in the third period Alexander Skorenov found the net and Konstantin Shostak was flawless in the home net despite regular Dinamo pressure. It finished 6-4 to the Steelmen.
Young players
In 2025/2026 Severstal was the youngest team in the KHL based on the average age of its players. At the end of the first round of the playoffs, the squad’s average was 25 years, 62 days.
We’ve already talked about Mikhail Ilyin’s contribution – by the age of 21 he had 114 points in the KHL, joining just three players – Vladimir Tarasenko, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Kirill Kaprizov – in reaching 100 by that age. Ilya Ivantsov, who turned 23 in January, also made an impact. He might lack some consistency at KHL level, but he had 23 (6+17) points in 52 games.
Vladimir Grudinin again saw plenty of action on defense. He’s still only 22 but has more than 200 games in the league. In 2025/2026 he play 58 times, collected 13 (5+7) points and was the fifth most productive blue liner.
Other U23 players to feature at least once for Severstal included: defensemen Makar Fomin (43 games), Artyom Shchuchinov (10), Ivan Yershov (2) and Vitaly Pesterev (1); forwards Ilya Kvochko (44), Ilya Reyngardt (41), Timur Mukhanov (27), Daniil Kazulayev (18), Yegor Smirnov, Oleg Sadovin (13 each), Ivan Okunev (9), Emil Pyanov (6), Vyacheslav Ulyanov (2).
Offseason work
With one arrival against five departures so far, Severstal’s summer has yet to get its fans excited. Leaving aside rumours, the facts show a roster down three forwards and two defensemen. Ilyin is off to North America, Kirill Tankov returned to Avangard after his loan, Nikolai Chebykin signed with SKA, Grigory Vaschenko is Admiral-bound and Nikita Kamalov is joining Torpedo. While losing that quintet, Severstal has added just one forward: Denis Yan, who did well at Torpedo when Kozyrev was working in Nizhny Novgorod.
