2017–18 KHL season

The 2017–18 KHL season was the tenth season of the Kontinental Hockey League. The season started on 21 August 2017 and ended on 22 April 2018.

2017–18 KHL season
LeagueKontinental Hockey League
SportIce hockey
Duration21 August 2017 – 22 April 2018
Number of games56
Number of teams27
Regular season
Continental Cup winnerSKA Saint Petersburg
Top scorer Ilya Kovalchuk
Western championsCSKA Moscow
  Western runners-upSKA Saint Petersburg
Eastern championsAk Bars Kazan
  Eastern runners-upTraktor Chelyabinsk
Gagarin Cup
ChampionsAk Bars Kazan
  Runners-upCSKA Moscow
Finals MVPJustin Azevedo

The league accommodated a 33 day Olympic break, to allow its players to participate in the 2018 Winter Olympics in February.

Team changes
Jokerit - SKA in Helsinki Ice Challenge with KHL record attendance (17,645).

The Croatian club Medveščak Zagreb relocated back to the Austrian Hockey League, and Russian club Metallurg Novokuznetsk was relegated to the Supreme Hockey League, to bring the total number of KHL teams to 27.

March 2018 KHL announced that two teams going to drop out after this season and next season have 25 teams. Yugra and Lada Togliatti are the teams that will not continue in KHL.

Divisions and regular season format

In this season, like in the 2016–17 season, each team will play every other team once at home and once on the road, giving a total of 52 games (26 at home, 26 on the road), plus 4 additional games (2 at home, 2 on the road) played by each team against rival clubs from its own conference. Thus, each team played a total of 56 games in the regular season.[1]

How the teams are divided into divisions and conferences is shown in the table below.[2]

Western Conference Eastern Conference
Bobrov Division Tarasov Division Kharlamov Division Chernyshev Division
Dinamo Minsk CSKA Moscow Ak Bars Kazan Admiral Vladivostok
Dinamo Riga Dynamo Moscow Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg Amur Khabarovsk
Jokerit HC Sochi Lada Togliatti Avangard Omsk
SKA Saint Petersburg Lokomotiv Yaroslavl Metallurg Magnitogorsk Barys Astana
Slovan Bratislava Severstal Cherepovets Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk HC Kunlun Red Star
Spartak Moscow Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod Traktor Chelyabinsk Salavat Yulaev Ufa
Vityaz Podolsk Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk Sibir Novosibirsk

League standings

Western Conference
Pos Team Pld W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 SKA Saint Petersburg 56 40 7 4 5 227 97 +130 138 Advance to Gagarin Cup Playoffs[lower-alpha 1]
2 CSKA Moscow 56 35 9 1 11 175 89 +86 124
3 Jokerit 56 29 4 8 15 151 108 +43 103 Advance to Gagarin Cup Playoffs
4 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 56 26 9 3 18 148 129 +19 99
5 Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 56 23 6 8 19 116 127 −11 89
6 HC Sochi 56 22 7 7 20 130 138 −8 87
7 Spartak Moscow 56 22 7 5 22 153 146 +7 85
8 Severstal Cherepovets 56 18 9 11 18 131 145 −14 83
9 Dynamo Moscow 56 19 9 5 23 134 139 −5 80
10 Dinamo Minsk 56 20 5 3 28 112 129 −17 73
11 Vityaz Podolsk 56 17 4 8 27 131 160 −29 67
12 Slovan Bratislava 56 15 3 7 31 119 187 −68 58
13 Dinamo Riga 56 9 7 9 31 105 153 −48 50
Updated to match(es) played on 1 March 2018. Source: KHL
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) a higher number of wins in the regular time; 3) a higher number of wins in overtime and shootouts; 4) goal difference; 5) number of goals scored; 6) drawing of lots.
Notes:
  1. Teams leading a division hold one of the first two places of their conference.

Eastern Conference
Pos Team Pld W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Ak Bars Kazan 56 30 2 6 18 158 126 +32 100 Advance to Gagarin Cup Playoffs[lower-alpha 1]
2 Salavat Yulaev Ufa 56 26 5 5 20 151 139 +12 93
3 Traktor Chelyabinsk 56 26 7 4 19 129 121 +8 96 Advance to Gagarin Cup Playoffs
4 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 56 25 6 8 17 165 137 +28 95
5 Metallurg Magnitogorsk 56 24 8 7 17 150 135 +15 95
6 Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 56 27 3 7 19 135 135 0 94
7 Avangard Omsk 56 22 7 8 19 146 116 +30 88
8 Amur Khabarovsk 56 21 8 9 18 132 141 −9 88
9 Sibir Novosibirsk 56 23 8 2 23 136 135 +1 87
10 Barys Astana 56 19 5 7 25 148 164 −16 74
11 Admiral Vladivostok 56 16 5 5 30 120 145 −25 63
12 Kunlun Red Star 56 15 4 8 29 103 146 −43 61
13 Lada Togliatti 56 12 4 6 34 105 149 −44 50
14 Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk 56 7 10 7 32 93 167 −74 48
Updated to match(es) played on 1 March 2018. Source: KHL
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) a higher number of wins in the regular time; 3) a higher number of wins in overtime and shootouts; 4) goal difference; 5) number of goals scored; 6) drawing of lots.
Notes:
  1. Teams leading a division hold one of the first two places of its conference.

Gagarin Cup playoffs
Main article: 2018 Gagarin Cup playoffs

The playoffs started on March 3, 2018, with the top eight teams from each of the conferences and ended on April 22, 2018.[3]

  Conference Quarter-Finals Conference Semi-Finals Conference Finals Gagarin Cup Finals
                                     
1 Ak Bars 4     1 Ak Bars 4  
8 Amur 1     5 Metallurg Mg 1  
2 Salavat Yulaev 4 Eastern Conference
7 Avangard 3  
    1 Ak Bars 4  
  3 Traktor 0  
3 Traktor 4  
6 Neftekhimik 1  
4 Avtomobilist 2   2 Salavat Yulaev 3
5 Metallurg Mg 4     3 Traktor 4  
  E1 Ak Bars 4
(Pairings are re-seeded after the first round.)
  W2 CSKA 1
1 SKA 4     1 SKA 4
8 Severstal 0     4 Lokomotiv 1  
2 CSKA 4
7 Spartak 0  
  1 SKA 2
  2 CSKA 4  
3 Jokerit 4  
6 Sochi 1   Western Conference
4 Lokomotiv 4   2 CSKA 4
5 Torpedo 0     3 Jokerit 2  
  • During the first three rounds home ice is determined by seeding number, not position on the bracket. In the Finals the team with the better regular season record has home ice.

Final standings
RankTeam
1 Ak Bars Kazan
2 CSKA Moscow
3 SKA Saint Petersburg
4 Traktor Chelyabinsk
5 Jokerit
6 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl
7 Metallurg Magnitogorsk
8 Salavat Yulaev Ufa
9 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg
10 Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk
11 Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod
12 Avangard Omsk
13 Amur Khabarovsk
14 HC Sochi
15 Spartak Moscow
16 Severstal Cherepovets
17 Sibir Novosibirsk
18 Dynamo Moscow
19 Barys Astana
20 Dinamo Minsk
21 Vityaz Podolsk
22 Admiral Vladivostok
23 Kunlun Red Star
24 Slovan Bratislava
25 Lada Togliatti
26 Dinamo Riga
27 Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk

Player statistics

Scoring leaders

As of 1 March 2018

Player Team GP G A Pts +/– PIM
Ilya KovalchukSKA Saint Petersburg53313263+1226
Nikita GusevSKA Saint Petersburg54224062+252
Nigel DawesBarys Astana46352156+526
Linus OmarkSalavat Yulaev Ufa55163955+660
Linden VeyBarys Astana50173552+164

Source: KHL

Leading goaltenders

As of 1 March 2018

Player Team GP Min W L SOP GA SO SV% GAA
Lars JohanssonCSKA Moscow211192:531540266.9381.31
Mikko KoskinenSKA Saint Petersburg291718:122241455.9371.57
Ilya SorokinCSKA Moscow372182:352584588.9311.59
Igor ShestyorkinSKA Saint Petersburg281592:342044457.9331.70
Ryan ZapolskiJokerit392352:2624114699.9311.76

Source: KHL

Awards

Players of the Month

Best KHL players of each month.

Month Goaltender Defence Forward Rookie
September Stanislav Galimov (Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod) Patrik Hersley (SKA Saint Petersburg) Nigel Dawes (Barys Astana) Eeli Tolvanen (Jokerit)
October[4] Ryan Zapolski (Jokerit) Nikita Tryamkin (Avtomobilist Jekaterinburg) Nigel Dawes (Barys Astana) Eeli Tolvanen (Jokerit)
November[5] Vasily Koshechkin (Metallurg Magnitogorsk) Nikita Tryamkin (Avtomobilist Jekaterinburg) Zach Boychuk (Slovan Bratislava) Alexander Petunin (Dynamo Moscow)
December[6] Ilya Sorokin (CSKA Moscow) Oleg Piganovich (Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk) Alexander Bergström (Sibir Novosibirsk) Alexander Petunin (Dynamo Moscow)
January[7] Pavel Francouz (Traktor Chelyabinsk) Philip Larsen (Salavat Yulaev Ufa) Alexander Khokhlachev (Spartak Moscow) Rafael Bikmullin (Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk)
March[8] Ilya Sorokin (CSKA Moscow) Nick Bailen (Traktor Chelyabinsk) Justin Azevedo (Ak Bars Kazan) Vitali Kravtsov (Traktor Chelyabinsk)
April[9] Lars Johansson (CSKA Moscow) Vasili Tokranov (Ak Bars Kazan) Justin Azevedo (Ak Bars Kazan) Vitali Kravtsov (Traktor Chelyabinsk)

References
  1. "League confirms format for 2015–16 season". 17 June 2015. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  2. "KHL Teams, season 2017–18". 26 September 2017. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
  3. "League confirms format for Stage Two" (PDF). 8 October 2015. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  4. "Players of the Month: Zapolski, Tryamkin, Dawes and Tolvanen". KHL.ru. 2 November 2017. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  5. "Players of the Month: Koshechkin, Tryamkin, Boychuk and Petunin". KHL.ru. 2 December 2017. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  6. "December's finest: Sorokin, Piganovich, Bergstrom and Petunin". KHL.ru. 2 January 2018. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  7. "January's finest: Francouz, Larsen, Khokhlachyov and Bikmullin". KHL.ru. 1 February 2018. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  8. "March's finest: Sorokin, Bailen, Azevedo and Kravtsov". KHL.ru. 3 April 2018. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  9. "April's finest: Johansson, Tokranov, Azevedo and Kravtsov". KHL.ru. 24 April 2018. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
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