The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; Russian: Континентальная хоккейная лига (КХЛ), romanized: Kontinental'naya khokkeynaya liga) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs based in Russia (20), Belarus (1), Kazakhstan (1) and China (1) for a total of 23 clubs.

This article needs to be updated. (March 2024)

Quick Facts Formerly, Sport ...

Kontinental Hockey League

Current season, competition or edition: 2023–24 KHL season
Formerly	Russian Superleague (RSL)
Sport	Ice hockey
Founded	2008; 16 years ago (2008)
President	Alexei Morozov
Motto	Хоккей – наша игра! (Hockey is our game!) Хакей – наша гульня! Хоккей – біздің ойын! 冰球，就是我们的生活！[1]
No. of teams	23
Country	Russia (20 teams) Belarus (1 team) Kazakhstan (1 team) China (1 team)
Most recent champion(s)	Metallurg Magnitogorsk (3rd title)
Most titles	HC CSKA Moscow Ak Bars Kazan Metallurg Magnitogorsk (3 titles each)
TV partner(s)	KHL TV, KHL TV Prime (Russia (as part of the NTV Plus package), Russia and international through KHL's website) Match TV (Russia) Belarus 5 (Belarus) Qazsport (Kazakhstan) CCTV-5+ (China)
Related competitions	Supreme Hockey League (VHL) Junior Hockey League (MHL)
Official website	KHL.ru

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It was considered in 2015 to be the strongest professional ice hockey league in Europe and Asia, and tied for the second-strongest in the world with the American Hockey League behind North America's National Hockey League.^[2][3] The KHL had in 2017 the highest total attendance in Europe with 15.32 million spectators in the regular season^[4] and third-highest average attendance in Europe with 26,121 spectators per game in the regular season.^[5] The Gagarin Cup is awarded annually to the league's playoff champion at the end of each season. The title of Champion of Russia is given to the highest-ranked Russian team.^[6]

Since 2009, the league has been divided into East and West conferences. In the current season, both conferences include 12 teams divided into two divisions of 6 teams. Each team plays four games against each division opponent (20), three games against each non-division conference opponent (18), and two games against each non-conference opponent (24) for a total of 62 games.^[22]

The eight top-ranked teams in each conference receive playoff berths. Within each conference quarterfinals, semifinals and finals are played before the conference winners play against each other for the Gagarin Cup. The division winners are seeded first and second in their conference, based on their regular-season record. All playoff rounds are played as best-of-seven series. In each round, the top-seeded remaining team is paired with the lowest-seeded team, etc.^[23]

In the 2012–13 season, the Nadezhda Cup (Cup of Hope) was introduced, a consolation tournament for the teams who did not qualify for the playoffs. The winning team in the tournament wins the first overall pick in the KHL Junior Draft. The tournament is intended to extend the season and help maintain interest in hockey in the cities of these teams, and help players of national teams prepare for upcoming World Championships.^[24]

Though now not as restrictive in maintaining an exclusively Russian composition of players and teams, Russian teams are still not allowed to sign more than five foreign players, while non-Russian teams must have at least five players from their respective countries. Foreign goaltenders on Russian teams are subject to a limit regarding their total seasonal ice time.^[25]

Prior to the inaugural season, several KHL teams signed several players from the NHL.^[26] A dispute between the two leagues over some of these signings was supposed to have been resolved by an agreement signed on 10 July 2008, whereby each league would honor the contracts of the other, but the signing of Alexander Radulov was made public one day after the agreement (though it was actually signed two days prior to the agreement taking effect),^[27] leading to an investigation by the International Ice Hockey Federation.^[28] On 4 October 2010, the conflict between the leagues was settled when both signed a new agreement to honor one another's contracts.^[29]

The league set up rules for the NHL lockout which lasted from 16 September 2012 to 12 January 2013. According to the special regulations, each KHL team was allowed to add up to three NHL players to its roster, with only one foreign player allowed.^[30] More than 40 NHL players, the majority of them Russians, played in the KHL during the lockout.

KHL players are represented by the Kontinental Hockey League Players' Trade Union.^[31]

After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, some non-Russian players elected to leave their teams, at the risk of forfeiting their salaries. The departing players included former NHL players Markus Granlund, Nick Shore, Geoff Platt, Kenny Agostino, Teemu Hartikainen, Philip Larsen, Sakari Manninen, Harri Säteri, Jyrki Jokipakka, Joakim Nordström, Lucas Wallmark, and Juho Olkinuora.^[9][32]

Nationalities of players

This article needs to be updated. (August 2021)

During the 2013–2014 season, players representing 16 nations played at least one game in the KHL.^[33] A player's nationality is for various reasons sometimes ambiguous. For the table presented below, the nationality "is determined based on the last country that the player represented in international competition. If a player has never played for a national team, usually the country of birth is chosen as the player nationality, unless there is strong evidence indicating otherwise".^[34] For players born in former Soviet republics, the situation is often more complex due to dual citizenship and naturalization. Therefore, a list of players born in Ukraine gives case-by-case details for some of those players. In some cases, players can change their nationality registration with the league on a year-by-year basis, and their nationality with the league may not match that of their International Ice Hockey Federation registration. Non-Russians represented about 30–35% of the KHL players and were mostly Central European, Nordic, and North American. In 2015–16, more than 950 players played in the league (see table below). Russian teams are limited to a maximum of 5 foreign players per squad.^[35]

More information Country (current number of teams), Players active (2012–13) ...

Country (current number of teams)	Players active (2012–13)[36]	Players active (2013–14)[37]	Players active (2014–15)[38]	Players active (2015–16)[39]	Players active (2016–17)[40]	Players active (2017–18)[41]	Players active (2018–19)[42]	Players active (2019–20)[43]	Players active (2020–21)[44]
Austria	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1
Belarus (1 team)	33	43	50	41	38	39	35	49	50
Belgium	—	—	—	—	1	—	—	—	—
Canada	32	63	51	35	53	51	58	60	47
China (1 team)	—	—	—	—	3	—	2	—	—
Croatia	1	4	4	4	6	2	1	—	—
Czech Republic	45	47	29	35	35	33	28	20	23
Denmark	—	1	2	4	3	5	6	4	3
Finland	40	37	51	48	51	42	45	46	54
France	—	—	1	1	2	—	3	1	1
Germany	1	2	2	1	—	—	—	2	3
Italy	—	—	—	2	2	—	—	—	—
Israel	—	—	—	—	—	1	—	—	—
Kazakhstan (1 team)	33	37	34	40	37	38	33	38	30
Latvia	35	34	29	34	33	33	29	35	34
Lithuania	—	—	—	—	—	2	1	1	—
Norway	3	3	3	1	—	1	—	—	—
Russia (19 teams)	569	599	613	657	678	661	596	586	659
Slovakia	53	44	32	28	28	24	24	6	6
Slovenia	—	2	4	4	4	4	3	—	—
South Korea	1	1	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Sweden	24	21	27	26	23	25	24	30	33
Switzerland	—	—	—	—	1	—	—	1	—
Ukraine[lower-alpha 1]	12	17	2	2	4	2	—	—	—
United States	14	21	26	20	25	20	20	14	17
Total	896	976	960	983	1,027	983	908	893	961

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The winner of the playoff is awarded the Gagarin Cup. The highest placed Russian team is awarded the title of the Russian champion. The team ranked first in the standings after the regular season, i.e. the winner of the regular season, is awarded the Continental Cup^[45] (Russian: Кубок Континента, Kubok Kontinenta). The winners of the conference finals are awarded the Eastern Conference Champion Cup (Russian: Кубок Победителю конференции Восток, Kubok Pobeditelyu konferentsii Vostok) and the Western Conference Champion Cup (Russian: Кубок Победителю конференции Запад, Kubok Pobeditelyu konferentsii Zapad).^[46]

The KHL presents annual awards to its most successful players. The KHL also awards the Opening Cup annually to the winner of the first game between the Gagarin Cup winner and the runner-up of the previous season. On 10 September 2011, three days after the 2011 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash, the KHL head office decided to honor the deceased in the 2011 Opening Cup.^[47] The League gives the Andrey Starovoytov Award annually to its referees of the year, also called the "Golden Whistle".^[48]

Seasons overview

More information Season, Teams ...

Season	Teams	Gagarin Cup Winner	Gagarin Cup finalist	Final score	Continental Cup Winner	Top scorer
2008–09	24	Ak Bars Kazan	Lokomotiv Yaroslavl	4–3	Salavat Yulaev Ufa[lower-alpha 2] (129 points)	Sergei Mozyakin (76 points: 34 G, 42 A)
2009–10	24	Ak Bars Kazan	HC MVD	4–3	Salavat Yulaev Ufa (129 points)	Sergei Mozyakin (66 points: 27 G, 39 A)
2010–11	23	Salavat Yulaev Ufa	Atlant Moscow Oblast	4–1	Avangard Omsk (118 points)	Alexander Radulov (80 points: 20 G, 60 A)
2011–12	23	Dynamo Moscow	Avangard Omsk	4–3	Traktor Chelyabinsk (114 points)	Alexander Radulov (63 points: 25 G, 38 A)
2012–13	26	Dynamo Moscow	Traktor Chelyabinsk	4–2	SKA Saint Petersburg (115 points)	Sergei Mozyakin (76 points: 35 G, 41 A)
2013–14	28	Metallurg Magnitogorsk	HC Lev Praha	4–3	Dynamo Moscow (115 points)	Sergei Mozyakin (73 points: 34 G, 39 A)
2014–15	28	SKA Saint Petersburg	Ak Bars Kazan	4–1	CSKA Moscow (139 points)	Alexander Radulov (71 points: 24 G, 47 A)
2015–16	28	Metallurg Magnitogorsk	CSKA Moscow	4–3	CSKA Moscow (127 points)	Sergei Mozyakin (67 points: 32 G, 35 A)
2016–17	29	SKA Saint Petersburg	Metallurg Magnitogorsk	4–1	CSKA Moscow (137 points)	Sergei Mozyakin (85 points: 48 G, 37 A)
2017–18	27	Ak Bars Kazan	CSKA Moscow	4–1	SKA Saint Petersburg (138 points)	Ilya Kovalchuk (63 points: 31 G, 32 A)
2018–19	25	CSKA Moscow	Avangard Omsk	4–0	CSKA Moscow (106 points)	Nikita Gusev (82 points: 17 G, 65 A)
2019–20	24	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic			CSKA Moscow (94 points)	Vadim Shipachyov (65 points: 17 G, 48 A)
2020–21	23	Avangard Omsk	CSKA Moscow	4–2	CSKA Moscow (91 points)	Vadim Shipachyov (66 points; 20 G, 46 A)
2021–22	24	CSKA Moscow	Metallurg Magnitogorsk	4–3	Not determined	Vadim Shipachyov (67 points: 24 G, 43 A)
2022–23	22	CSKA Moscow	Ak Bars Kazan	4–3	SKA Saint Petersburg (105 points)	Dmitrij Jaškin (62 points: 40 G, 22 A)

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More information Season, Opening Cup Winner ...

Season	Opening Cup Winner	Nadezhda Cup Winner	Priceless Player (MVP)
2008–09	Salavat Yulaev Ufa	Nadezhda Cup not yet introduced	Danis Zaripov
2009–10	Ak Bars Kazan		Alexander Radulov
2010–11	Dynamo Moscow		Alexander Radulov
2011–12	Salavat Yulaev Ufa		Alexander Radulov
2012–13	Dynamo Moscow	Dinamo Riga	Sergei Mozyakin
2013–14	Dynamo Moscow	Avangard Omsk	Sergei Mozyakin
2014–15	Metallurg Magnitogorsk	Cancelled due to economic reasons	Alexander Radulov
2015–16	CSKA Moscow	Not contested	Sergei Mozyakin
2016–17	Metallurg Magnitogorsk		Sergei Mozyakin
2017–18	SKA Saint Petersburg		Nikita Gusev
2018–19	SKA Saint Petersburg		Kirill Kaprizov
2019–20	Avangard Omsk		none

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The Kontinental Hockey League All-Star Game is an exhibition game held annually at the midway point (usually January or February) of the season, with the league's star players playing against each other. Previously played in a "Russian players versus the rest of the world" format, now it is Eastern versus Western Conference.

• Ice Hockey Federation of Russia
• List of Soviet and Russian ice hockey champions
• List of Soviet and Russian ice hockey scoring champions
• List of Soviet and Russian ice hockey goal scoring champions
• List of current KHL team rosters
• Beijing International Ice Hockey League
• Asia League Ice Hockey
• Supreme Hockey League