Sad loss of KHL record breaker

Last week saw a first-time head coach appointed at Sochi, more pre-season action and a memorable farewell game for a two-time Gagarin Cup winner. But the biggest story of the week was a sad one – a record-breaking KHL goalie died at the tragically young age of 39.

Murygin passes away

Goaltender Alexei Murygin, who holds the KHL record of 13 shut-outs in a regular season, died last week at the age of just 39. The Khabarovsk native began with Amur, his hometown club, but enjoyed his greatest success with Lokomotiv. In the 2015/2016 season he had 13 shut-outs and also went 302:11 without allowing a goal, a record streak that stood until it was beaten by Timur Bilyalov. Murygin later missed two seasons while he battled against cancer, but returned to the KHL with Torpedo in 2021/2022. He stopped playing in 2023 and worked as a goaltending coach with Atlant in the JHL in 2024/2025. Alexei is survived by his wife, Ksenia, and their three daughters.

Mironov to coach Sochi

HC Sochi announced the appointment of Andrei Mironov as head coach for the coming season. The 44-year-old was part of the club’s coaching staff last term, and got his first experience as a head coach in the same campaign, working with Russia’s U17s, U18s and U20s. After ending his playing career in 2008, the Ufa-born forward mostly worked within SKA’s system, also having a spell behind the bench at Omskiye Krylia. His biggest successes came in 2022 when he was part of the coaching teams that helped SKA 1946 win the JHL and Russia U18 triumph at the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup.

Paquette joins Avangard

Canadian-born forward Cedric Paquette signed a one-year deal with Avangard. The 32-year-old, who began his KHL career at Dinamo Minsk in 2022/23, played the last three seasons with Dynamo Moscow. In total, the powerful centre has 227 KHL games and 125 points. He gained Russian citizenship during his time with Dynamo. The Blue-and-Whites also announced the departure of forward Maxim Mamin, whose contract was terminated by mutual consent, but signed Avangard’s Igor Martynov and extended goalie Maxim Motorygin. The club traded forward Semyon Der-Arguchintsev to Admiral, with Pavel Shen coming the other way.

Brennan’s a Dragon

Defenseman Brennan Menell is moving across St. Petersburg to join Shanghai Dragons. The 29-year-old ended his contract with SKA last week, and soon confirmed his arrival with the Dragons. Menell made his KHL debut in 2020 with Dinamo Minsk and went on to play 290 games for the Belarusians, Dynamo Moscow and SKA. He has 171 (29+142) points.

Andreoff leaves Sibir

Forward Andy Andreoff terminated his contract at Sibir by mutual consent. The 35-year-old played three seasons in the KHL, all in Novosibirsk, returning to Sibir last term after a short spell in Switzerland. In total the Canadian had 91 (58+33) points from 163 games in the league.

Kiselevich’s farewell game

Cherevpovets hosted a gala celebration to mark the end of Bogdan Kiselevich’s playing career. The defenseman, 36, made his KHL debut for Severstal in 2009, and played on a line with colleagues from that team Nikolai Bardin, Yury Trubachyov, Maxim Chudinov and Vadim Shipachyov in Wednesday’s exhibition game. The evening, which also involved head coach Igor Nikitin, with whom Kiselevich won Gagarin Cups with CSKA in 2022 and Lokomotiv in 2025, plus team-mates from Russia’s Olympic gold medal roster of 2018, raised more than 2 million rubles for charity after drawing a capacity crowd to the Cherepovets arena. Amid the festive atmosphere, the teams traded goals throughout: after an 8-8 tie, Kiselevich’s team took a shoot-out win.

Warm-up wins for Admiral, Neftekhimik

There were three more warm-up games last week as Admiral and Neftekhimik took a chance to look at their depth. The Sailors had two shoot-out wins over Belarusian opposition, defeating Shakhtyor Soligorsk and HC Brest. Neftekhimik began its preparations with a 4-1 win over VHLers Chelny. Both teams used rosters of players from the junior ranks, guys with two-way contracts and try-outs before the official return to action for most KHL players from Aug. 1.