Continental Hockey League. Kontinental Hockey League Hockey khl season standings
On this day, the match between SKA and CSKA kicks off the 10th anniversary season of the KHL. In St. Petersburg, the current holder of the Gagarin Cup and the winner of the last regular season will meet. This will be the fourth time that the winners of the two stages of the previous championship, and not the finalists of the season, will compete for the opening cup, and for the third time in a row CSKA will compete for the trophy. In the "army" derby two years ago, Muscovites snatched victory in overtime duel in St. Petersburg, but last season they lost to Metallurg.
On August 21, a presentation of the Russian Olympic team will take place in the Northern capital, the backbone of which is the players of the "army" teams, as well as a duel of two coaches of the national team - Oleg Znarok and Igor Nikitin, and Igor Valerievich will return to independent coaching seven years after such work in " Vanguard". We are sure that there will be something to see on the ice of the St. Petersburg stadium.
On August 21, in the Northern capital, we will see the presentation of the Russian Olympic team, the backbone of which is the players of the "army" teams, as well as the duel of two coaches of the national team - Oleg Znarok and Igor Nikitin.
October 23, 2017, CSKA - SKA
The new calendar gave the next season only two "army" derbies, in which in the last two seasons you can see the most spectacular and vibrant hockey. After the Opening Cup, the teams will meet in Moscow two months later, and it is quite possible that by this time SKA and CSKA, like last season, will break away from the rest of the teams in the table.
The Moscow club did the best job on the transfer market this summer, bringing together the best Russian young players in one team, and fights with the champion from St. Petersburg will be the best test for the talented CSKA squad. For St. Petersburg, the fights with such a strong opponent will be the best test before the spring title defense, during which they will certainly have to meet with Moscow teammates in the final of the West.
Olympic hockey season. How the KHL presented the calendar
The KHL presented the final version of the calendar for the 2017/18 season, announcing the schedule for the first home games of all clubs the day before.
November 22, 2017, Salavat Yulaev - Ak Bars
If the “army” derby takes place on the first day of the new season, then the starting game of the four-match confrontation between Salavat and Ak Bars will have to wait until almost the end of November. On the 22nd, the first round of the “green derby” will take place in Ufa, and it will be a very interesting sight. Erkka Westerlund, whose coaching views are similar to Bilyaletdinov's style of play, came to work for Salavat, and we are more likely to see a confrontation between the two systems than a battle of order against anarchy, as it has been for the past two years.
In the new championship, Danis Zaripov returns to the confrontation between the two republics, in addition, the derby will be decorated with a duel between two tough defenders Stepan Zakharchuk and Grigory Panin. Finally, it is quite possible that the matches between Ak Bars and Salavat will acquire a tournament background, because both Kazan and Ufa are serious about displacing Magnitogorsk from the position of the king of the East.
Erkka Westerlund, whose coaching views are similar to Bilyaletdinov's style of play, came to work for Salavat, and we are more likely to see a confrontation between the two systems than a battle of order against anarchy, as it has been for the past two years.
December 2, 2017, Jokerit - SKA
At the very beginning of winter, Jokerit will play SKA in Helsinki, and this will be the first outdoor match in KHL history. Before that, in Russia, only matches of the Russian Classics were played on the street at the VHL level, and at the very first All-Star Game for the KHL on Red Square.
In Helsinki, a real official match will take place, which will be held in Kaisaniemi Park, the oldest public park in the capital of Finland. About 18,000 fans are expected to attend this game, which will set a new KHL game attendance record.
December 25, 2017, Metallurg - SKA
On Catholic Christmas in Magnitogorsk, the local Metallurg and SKA will meet for the second time this season, and we single out this game for a reason. The first match between these teams will take place in mid-September, when the finalists of the last Gagarin Cup will only be drawn into the season and are unlikely to show their maximum, but by the end of the calendar year, extravaganzas can be expected from Magnitogorsk and St. Petersburg.
This was the case last season, when in the September match Magnitogorsk did not have enough margin of safety to keep the victory away, but in the February game in the Urals the teams staged a real concert, which included both Evgeny Dadonov's double and Sergey Mozyakin's hat-trick , and an excellent comeback of the Manitogorsk team in the third period, and a winning shootout by Danis Zaripov. Some of the heroes of that meeting no longer play for their former teams, but we still have the right to expect one of the most beautiful matches of the season on December 25th.
Olympic Frankenstein. 20 facts about the new KHL calendar
The earliest start in history, 56 games in the regular season, a month break for the Olympics and other facts in the guide to KHL calendar.
December 25-27, 2017, the anniversary of Traktor
It has become a good tradition in the KHL to celebrate anniversaries of clubs by holding various kinds of retro matches, and next season Traktor is going to arrange such a holiday for its fans.
The Chelyabinsk club will turn 70 in December, and, of course, the Urals cannot ignore such an event and plan to hold a number of events, including during regular season matches. By the will of the calendar, Dinamo Minsk and Lokomotiv Minsk will visit the capital of the Southern Urals for the holiday, the Chelyabinsk residents will surely play these games in a beautiful retroform, and it is also quite possible some colorful design for the television broadcast of the event.
January 10-14, 2018, Hockey Stars Week in Astana
Traditionally, in January, the KHL will host the All-Star Game, and, most likely, the event will be held in the format tested last season and received extremely positive reviews. It is assumed that the Week of Hockey Stars, which this time will be held in Astana, will include the WHL All-Star Game, the JHL Challenge Cup and the KHL All-Star Game and the Master Show itself.
In the January schedule of matches for this event, three days are planned without games of the KHL championship from January 12 to 15, most likely the main events of the Astana holiday will take place on these days - the All-Star Game and the master show. The remaining events of the star week should take place in the middle of the second week of the first month of 2018.
January 20, 2018, Dynamo (Riga) - Dynamo (Minsk)
The duel in Finland should not be the only one next season, which will be held in the open air. The KHL has reserved a date for a similar match between foreign Dynamo teams in the first month of next year, and it is assumed that such a game will take place in the capital of Latvia.
In the calendar, the meeting between Dynamo Minsk and Riga is still scheduled for January 20, but it is quite possible that, due to the nature of the event, it will be postponed to another date.
March 1, 2018, last day of the regular season
Due to the Olympics in Korea in February, the KHL regular season will end unusually late, taking the first day of spring for its final games. By this time, a lot of things in the standings will be clear, some teams will systematically prepare for the playoffs, someone will even know the opponents in the first round, while others will go on vacation and make plans for the next championship.
But all of us, of course, will wait for such an ending to the regular season, which gave us last season when before starting latest games it was impossible not only to make pairs of the first round, but also to unequivocally name the full list of participants in the elimination games.
We, of course, will wait for such an ending of the regular season, which was given to us last season, when before the start of the last games it was impossible not only to make pairs of the first round, but also to unambiguously name the full list of participants in the elimination games.
In addition, on March 1, important duels will be played in iconic Russian derbies. In Ufa, Salavat will host Ak Bars, and who knows if this meeting will be decisive in the fight for the first place in the East. And in Moscow, Spartak will fight Dynamo, and it is very likely that by the end of the regular season, the red-and-whites will be higher in the table of their eternal rivals, who have been shaken by such a crisis this summer that we even have to talk about the survival of the eminent team.
The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) is an open international league uniting clubs from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, China, Latvia and Finland. At the moment, 24 teams play in the league, which are divided into the Western and Eastern conferences and 4 geographical divisions.
During the regular season, teams play 62 games each, after which the playoffs begin. The top 8 teams from each conference qualify for the KHL playoffs. The league's main trophy is the Gagarin Cup, which is awarded to the winner of the playoffs.
The idea of creating a Euro-Asian hockey league originated in the mid-2000s. For the first time in public, Vyacheslav Fetisov voiced her in October 2005. The idea of creating a league that would be independent of national federations and become commercially successful appealed to many hockey officials from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan.
As a result, the KHL was created on the basis of the Russian Hockey Superleague. The first championship took place in the 2008/2009 season, in which 21 out of 24 clubs were Russian. In the future, the league was replenished with teams from Ukraine, Slovakia, Finland, Croatia, but in the last few years, the leadership of the KHL, on the contrary, has been reducing the number of teams.
Features of KHL betting
Clear dominance of several clubs
Western Conference clubs have more financial resources than Eastern Conference clubs. First of all, CSKA and SKA stand out, which in last years significantly outperform other KHL clubs. St. Petersburg and Moscow "soldiers" have more balanced lineups, as a result of which bookmakers rate them as favorites in almost every match.
The home match factor
This factor is especially important in the playoffs, where the value of home games matters the most. According to statistics, it is the team that plays at home that wins more often. It is worth noting that in the games of the KHL regular season, bets on home matches when playing with opponents from another region can bring significant gains, since long-distance flights do not always have a positive effect on the performance of hockey players.
Outsiders can beat the favorite
In the course of the regular season in KHL matches, surprises often occur. So, the underdog can easily beat the team that leads the conference. This happens especially often at the end of the season, when the leaders have already secured a place in the playoffs and are deprived of proper motivation.
How to choose a bet on the KHL
Everyone is betting on KHL matches. The page above contains all the information you need to bet on the KHL: standings, schedule of games and the best odds for the upcoming matches. Also, free predictions from Legalbet experts and cappers are available to everyone.
The page of each match contains the current line-ups, match results, statistics of past games and more.
The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) is an international hockey league that unites hockey clubs from eight European countries. The league was created on the basis of the Russian Hockey Superleague. The KHL has been successfully held and developed since 2008, with each season increasing the number of participants, the level of teams, the fan audience and international prestige. Each season the teams fight for the main trophy of the league - the Gagarin Cup, which is awarded to the league champion.
Teams in the KHL
In the debut season of 2008/2009, 24 clubs took part in the Continental Hockey League. Gradually, every year the number of participating teams increased, and at the moment 29 clubs from eight European countries (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, China, Finland, Croatia, Slovakia, Latvia) play in the KHL. In the future, it is planned to expand the number of participants to 32 teams.
The structure of the season in the KHL
All teams in the Kontinental Hockey League are geographically divided into the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference. Each conference, in turn, is divided into two divisions: in the east - the Bobrov Division and the Tarasov Division, in the west - the Kharlamov Division and the Chernyshev Division.
| Eastern Conference1 | Western conference | ||
| Kharlamov division | Chernyshev Division | Bobrov Division | Tarasov Division |
KHL regular season
The first phase of the KHL is a regular season, in which each team plays 4 matches with opponents from its own division, 2 matches with teams from another division of its conference, as well as one meeting with clubs from another conference. Also, each team holds four more meetings with rivals from its division, and the matches are compiled in order to maximize the intrigue in the championship. In total, during the Regular Season, the teams play 60 matches each, determining the winners of divisions and conferences, as well as forming pairs for the next stage of the season - the playoffs.
KHL playoffs
The top 8 teams from each conference continue to fight for the Gagarin Cup, playing a series of knockouts up to four wins. Each conference determines the best team by duels according to the playoff system (1/4 finals, 1/2 finals and finals), after which two best teams leagues play the final series also up to four victories, in which the Gagarin Cup is played.
KHL winners
For eight seasons in the Continental Hockey League, 5 teams became the owners of the Gagarin Cup. Two victories each have: Ak Bars (2009, 2010) Dynamo Moscow (2012, 2013), Metallurg Magnitogorsk (2014, 2016), and won once more: Salavat Yulaev (2011) and SKA ( 2015).
Starts on August 21, 2017 in St. Petersburg with a match for the Opening Cup between the winner of the Gagarin Cup SKA and the winner of the regular season of the 2016/2017 season CSKA. The first stage of the championship will end on March 1, 2018 and will last 193 calendar days (of which 145 are gaming days).
The second stage of the championship will begin on March 3 for the West conference teams and on March 4 for the East clubs.
Each of the 27 participating teams will play 56 matches in the first stage. The schedule includes breaks scheduled, according to the IIHF international calendar, for the stages of the Eurotour in Finland (November 7-11) and Russia (December 13-17), as well as winter Olympic Games 2018 (February 9-25). The calendar provides for a break related to the preparation of the Russian team for the Olympics (January 24 - February 8).
Pauses are planned for the Week of Hockey Stars 2018 in Astana (January 12-15), as well as a break for new year holidays(December 31 - January 2). Traditionally, there will be no games on September 7 on Lokomotiv's memorial day.
The calendar for the 2017/18 season has a number of advantages over the schedules of other KHL "Olympic" seasons. The number of days without matches will be minimal - 48 (in the 2009/10 season - 56, in the 2013/2014 season - 61). The minimum (8) will be the number of days without matches for reasons not related to the official international breaks of the IIHF (in the seasons 2009/2010 and 2013/2014 - 16 each). On average, there will be 5.21 matches per game day (in the 2009/2010 season - 5.46, in the 2013/2014 season - 6.25).
The rhythm of the calendar will allow broadcasters to show and viewers to see more matches live.
Georgy Kobylyansky, KHL Vice President for Hockey Operations:
Our specialists have done a great and fruitful work. This season is very intense, it will include several major international hockey competitions, the main of which is the Olympics. Create a calendar that would take into account the interests of the Russian national team and KHL clubs, was a very difficult task. However, I think it succeeded. The calendar turned out to be rhythmic and balanced, as far as the conditions that we had to comply with allowed it. The work was carried out in close cooperation with the Russian Hockey Federation, we held several consultations and eventually came to the version of the calendar that was presented today. I am sure that the tenth anniversary season of the KHL will be interesting and will give pleasure to all hockey fans.
