News

This week, KHL clubs came together in support of World Cerebral Palsy Day. The event, which falls on the first Wednesday of October, saw teams incorporate the ‘dobroshrift’ typeface into their gameday publications to raise awareness of the neurological condition.

Few players enjoy the depth of respect afforded to Andrei Markov. The 41-year-old defenseman, who retired last week, is widely rated as one of the best to have played the game. He played 25 seasons at the top level, starting as a teenager with Khimik Voskresensk in the Russian Super League of 1995/96. He played the bulk of those years with the Montreal Canadiens before returning to Russia in 2017 and lifting the Gagarin Cup, his third Russian championship triumph.

Avtomobilist is no stranger to headline-grabbing summer signings – and Wednesday’s announcement that Bill Peters would be taking over as head coach for the 2020/21 season ushers in what is likely to be a compelling storyline for the coming months.

Pulkkinen, Lehtonen chase Finnish scoring records.

The regular season is on the final lap – and for most of the 24 teams in the KHL, that means a battle for position in the playoffs.

The clock is ticking! Just three more sleeps until the big day! No, not _that_ big Christmas Day, the big hockey day that’s heading for Davos, Switzerland. In a month full of special events, the latest edition of the KHL World Games is a stand-out. And this year’s festive special is a showdown between Salavat Yulaev and Ak Bars, a ‘Green Derby’ on Switzerland’s snowy slopes.

Winter is here – and that means it’s time for some old-school outdoor hockey. On both sides of the Atlantic, there’s a special magic about playing under a crisp, frosty sky in an open arena. On the one hand, it opens up grandiose venues for record-breaking crowds, on the other it’s a throwback to the innocent joys of kids’ hockey after school, dodging homework to go shoot some pucks.

It’s less than three weeks until the start of the World Junior Championship, and Russia has announced its longlist of players in contention for the tournament. As usual, there are a substantial number of KHLers among Valery Bragin’s party of U20 prospects heading to the Czech Republic later in the month. So, who do you need to know about?

For 17-year-old goalie Yaroslav Askarov, Wednesday’s game between SKA and HC Sochi will always be a huge occasion. The teenager made his KHL debut – the second youngest starting goalie in the league’s history behind Ilya Sorokin – and made 23 saves as he backstopped a 4-2 win for the Army Men.

‘Who’s the greatest?’ It’s one of sport’s most compelling debates, prompting argument and opinion that resonates down the years. From a hypothetical point of view, there’s endless entertainment to derive from comparing today’s brightest stars with the heroes of yesteryear. And, from a more practical standpoint, there’s the annual discussion about who should take part in the FONBET All-Star Game. With less than two months to go until this season’s glittering event, voting is already well underway as KHL fans choose the players they want to see in Moscow early next year. And, as usual, the supporters’ poll is generating plenty of talking points.

For the most part, it was a smooth journey to complete the record. Apart from one scare late in the first period, Ak Bars goalie Timur Bilyalov had relatively little to do in the early stages of Thursday’s game against Traktor Chelyabinsk. And, as the clock ticked through the opening minutes of the second period in Kazan, history was made. Bilyalov kept the visitor at bay and the time since he last allowed a goal went past 305 minutes.

One of the best things about the current KHL season has been the rise of the outsiders. So far, we’ve seen Vityaz on top of the table and Kunlun Red Star set a club record winning streak. Now Neftekhimik is hitting the headlines.

The 2019/20 season is turning into an encouraging one for Kunlun Red Star. The Dragons, now in their fourth KHL campaign, are setting records and looking capable of returning to the playoffs for the first time since 2017. Meanwhile, the club is unlocking more and more potential players for China’s Winter Olympic team in 2022.

Tatarstan and Bashkortostan. Two neighboring republics in the heart of Russia, sharing the fertile plains between the river Volga and the Ural Mountains. Each is fiercely proud of its language, its cuisine, its culture. And its hockey. When Kazan and Ufa, the capitals of the two republics, clash on the ice, it’s one of the biggest rivalries in Russian sport. This is the Green Derby, Ak Bars vs Salavat Yulaev.

Fresh-faced CSKA forward Kirill Kaprizov plays his hockey with all the boyish enthusiasm of a kid just let out of school. On or off the ice, he’s rarely seen without a smile on his face; whether combining with his team-mates to score yet more goals, or pausing for a quick chat with the media, the 22-year-old is something of a breath of fresh air. So it’s always a bit of a shock to go back to the stats and discover that Saturday’s game against Traktor will likely be his 298th in the KHL.

A game between Vityaz and Metallurg could easily see a top-of-the-table team playing against an opponent struggling to reach the playoff places. However, when the two face off on Saturday, the traditional roles are reversed. This time around, it’s Vityaz that leads the way while the two-time Gagarin Cup winner languishes near the foot of the Eastern Conference. Let’s take a look at the forces behind this revolution in Podolsk and meet some of the men who have put Vityaz on top of the pile.

The opening weeks of the 2019/20 season brought the KHL to two new cities. Kunlun Red Star began its campaign with six games in Shenzhen, the southernmost city ever to stage pro league action, before Barys went to Almaty, Kazakhstan’s second city.

How wide is a hockey rink? Right now, the answer is ‘it depends’. For decades, the distinction was clear. In North America, by tradition, rinks measured a skinny 26m across the ice. In Europe, by contrast, the ice would run 30m from side to side.