The 2017-2018 KHL season will be the 10th draw in which 27 teams will take part. The geography of the tournament is very extensive - from Vladivostok, where Admiral plays, to Bratislava, the hometown of the local Slovan. The upcoming competition will not include the Croatian Medvescak, which was disbanded due to financial problems, and the Nizhnekamsk Metallurg, which did not pass the KHL certification. The leadership of the league has decided to refrain from expanding into the league for the time being, but it will probably happen as early as next year.

The regular season starts on August 21, 2017 and ends on February 17, 2018. The Gagarin Cup will be held from February to April, while only the top 16 clubs will be able to play in it according to the results of the regular championship. The roster of the 2017-2018 KHL teams is as follows:

Bobrov Division	Tarasov Division	Kharlamov Division	Chernyshev division
Dynamo (Minsk)	"Vityaz" (Moscow region)	Avtomobilist (Yekaterinburg)	Avangard (Omsk region)
Dynamo (Riga)	Dynamo (Moscow)		"Admiral" (Vladivostok)
Jokerit (Helsinki)	Lokomotiv (Yaroslavl)	"Lada" (Tolyatti)	"Amur" (Khabarovsk)
SKA (St. Petersburg)	Severstal (Cherepovets)	Metallurg (Magnitogorsk)	Barys (Astana)
Slovan (Bratislava)	"Torpedo" (Nizhny Novgorod region)	Neftekhimik (Nizhnekamsk)	Kunlun Red Star (Beijing)
"Spartak Moscow)	HC Sochi (Sochi)	"Tractor" (Chelyabinsk)
	CSKA (Moscow)	Yugra (Khanty-Mansiysk)	"Siberia" (Novosibirsk region)

The Bobrov and Tarasov divisions form the 13-member Western Conference. After the end of the championship, the first 8 clubs enter the playoff series, where they are divided into pairs according to the principle “the strongest with the weakest”. This means that the squad, which is in 1st place in the standings, will fight with the 8th team of the conference, 2 with 7, 3 with 6, and 4 with 5.

The Kharlamov and Chernyshev divisions make up the Eastern Conference, in which 14 clubs will play. After the end of the regular championship, the best 8 hockey teams will take part in the elimination series. The principle of forming pairs is similar to that in the Western Conference. The winner in the series is the team that first scored 4 victories, and there are no shootouts in the playoff matches, only extra time.

KHL development concept until 2023

At a meeting of the Board of Directors of the League, a plan for the development of the tournament for 5 years was approved. The main goals of the program included:

• reduction in the share of state funding for teams;
• improving the commercial potential of clubs;
• increasing the competitive level.

With the established frequency, a comprehensive assessment of the participants of the competition will be carried out according to the established set of criteria. Based on the study, it is planned to compile a rating of hockey teams, which will help optimize the composition and stimulate a high level of competition. Increasing the skill, competitive component, the degree of intensity of matches will contribute to spectator interest, as well as the attractiveness of the league for foreign players. Today, many talented hockey players leave for, and for many, playing in the overseas championship is a cherished dream. Structural transformations in the KHL should completely change the situation, and if not make the domestic product more attractive, then at least get as close as possible to the level of the NHL.

New clubs in the KHL

The topic of possible new teams in the KHL 2017-2018 was considered in detail. Recently, the list of clubs dreaming to test their strength in the main European hockey tournament has expanded. It included:

• HC "Volerenga" (Norway);
• HC "Donbass" (Ukraine);
• Dynamo (St. Petersburg).

In addition to Stavanger, another contender from Norway was the 26-time winner of the local championship Valerenga. Recently, there have been rumors about the team leaving the GET-ligaen and joining either the KHL or the Swedish league. To do this, the club has everything you need: a solid budget, capacious ice rentals (4500 spectators), developed infrastructure. The joining of the team to the league could have been facilitated by the approval of Oslo as the capital of the Winter Olympic Games in 2022, but this did not happen, as a result of which Voleregnga's participation in the KHL is postponed.

Talks that St. Petersburg needs an alternative squad in the KHL (except for SKA) have been going on over the past years. Hockey is loved in the city on the Neva, so there will be no problems with the occupancy of the Yubileiny sports complex. At the moment, Leonid Tambiev's wards are playing in the VHL, where last season they stopped at the quarterfinal stage. The main part of the club is represented by young players who could hardly fight on equal terms with experienced masters. It is quite possible that the leadership of Dynamo (St. Petersburg) will apply for participation in the KHL next year.

In May 2014, the home arena of the Donbass hockey club was looted and set on fire. Overnight, the team lost the necessary infrastructure to participate in the KHL and was excluded for the 2015-2016 season. Today, Donbass plays in the UHL, where for a long time it has not experienced serious competition. In the last draw, the wards of Sergei Viter became the champions of the country, after which rumors immediately spread about the team's entry into the ranks of the KHL. The owner of the club, Volodymyr Kolesnikov, admitted that he was not against playing in the strongest league in Europe, but the tense political situation and the unstable situation in eastern Ukraine remain the main obstacle.

Thus, the composition of the KHL for the 2017-2018 season was reduced to 27 teams. Of course, this will not affect the entertainment of the tournament, which, as always, will bring the fans a lot of positive emotions, an abundance of goals scored and unpredictable results. Don't miss the start of the KHL regular season on August 21, 2017.

Top 10 derbies in the KHL, see the following video:

The rules of hockey competitions have some features that have been formed in the homeland of the popular game. There is no need to explain what the playoffs in hockey are to the people of Canada and the United States, everyone knows it there. And during the establishment of the Continental Sports Organization, the main organizational principles of the NHL were adopted - as a proven experience in many years of practice in holding large tournament competitions.

How is the hockey tournament in the KHL

In order to answer the question "What is a playoff in hockey?", one should understand the system by which competitions for the KHL championship title are held every year. The annual championship of the Continental Hockey League consists of two parts. The game calendar is drawn up in such a way that all teams in the league have the opportunity to meet each other on their own field and on the opponent's field. This is the first part of the championship - the regular season. In the first years after the creation of the hockey organization, all teams had the opportunity to sort things out with each other. Then their number increased, and the Continental Hockey League had to be divided into two conferences - Western and Eastern. Based on the results of the regular season, a standings is compiled. And then the answer to the question of what is the playoffs in hockey becomes relevant. To put it very briefly, this is the second, final part of the KHL championship.

From the rules of the game of hockey - playoff games

Let's take a closer look at the features of the regulations of the second part of the hockey championship. Only those teams that take the first sixteen places in the standings go to the playoffs, eight in each of the two conferences. These teams are divided into pairs and continue to sort things out among themselves. Games are played separately in the Western and Eastern conferences. The team that won the first place meets with the eighth in the table, the second - with the seventh, the third - with the sixth, the fourth - with the fifth. This is the first stage - the quarterfinals.

Teams meet each other until four victories of one of them are achieved. Only the winners advance to the next stage, the semi-finals. There are only four left. This principle is the answer to the question "What is the playoffs in hockey?". This is followed by the conference finals and the superfinal, a series of games between the strongest teams in the West and East. There will be only one winner.

Features of the playoffs

To achieve the purity of the result in the playoff games, such an element of hockey as shootouts is excluded. In the regular part of the championship, they are thrown at the opponent's goal to overcome a draw, when it is not possible to sort things out in the main and extra time of the match. And in the playoffs, the game continues until the winning goal of one of the teams, no matter how many additional periods, the so-called "overtime", it may take. Often the game takes on a protracted character and lasts a very long time. This is due to the fact that everyone is afraid to make a mistake and give the enemy a chance.

Is this principle justified?

During the playoffs, attention to hockey increases dramatically. The result begins to interest everyone, even people who are indifferent to big-time sports. Both news releases and the pages of newspapers begin to dazzle with headlines: "Big hockey, KHL, playoffs ...". But hockey in Soviet times was played for decades, and somehow managed to do without the American word "playoffs". Some even now doubt about whether it was necessary to adopt this principle of the game from the NHL. But knockout games, or playoffs, give hockey a special dynamism, sharpness and entertainment. And that is the only reason why the answer to the question of the expediency of such competitions can be given an unambiguously positive one.

The Kontinental Hockey League is an international league created to develop hockey in Russia and other European and Asian countries. The decision to create the League was made in February 2008.

After negotiations and preparatory work, on March 27, 2008, the Russian Ice Hockey Federation (FHR) officially transferred the rights to host the national championship to the KHL for three years. There is currently a 4-year agreement between the FHR and the KHL (dated April 29, 2017).

Based on the results of the regular KHL Championship, the winner of the Viktor Tikhonov Continental Cup is determined. According to the results of the playoffs, the champion of Russia is determined, which becomes the best Russian club, and the champion of the KHL - the owner of the Gagarin Cup.

The league is divided into two conferences - West and East - and into four divisions named after famous coaches and players: Vsevolod Bobrov, Anatoly Tarasov, Valery Kharlamov and Arkady Chernyshev.

24 clubs from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, China, Latvia and Finland will take part in the 12th KHL Championship (2019/2020). The tournament will begin on September 1, 2019 and end no later than April 30, 2020 with the final playoff series, which will determine all the winners of the championship.

The KHL championship is divided into two stages: the regular season and the playoffs.

First round of the championship

Structure of the First Stage of the Championship

At the First Stage, each team plays two matches with each opponent (46 in total) and 16 additional games. Thus, in total, at the first stage, the teams will conduct 62 match, defining:

• winner of the Regular Championship of the Continental Hockey League - the owner of the Continental Cup. V.V. Tikhonov;
• division winners;
• the order of places occupied by the clubs in the Conferences to determine the pairs of teams participating in the play-off series matches at the Second Stage of the Championship.

Determining the results and places of teams at the First Stage of the Championship

• 1.

  Places of teams in Divisions, Conferences and the General Table of the Championship are determined by the sum of points scored in all matches of the First Stage of the Championship.

• 2.

  To determine the current and final distribution of places between teams in Divisions, Conferences and the General Championship table, in the event of a tie in points between two or more teams, the advantage is given to the team:

  • having more wins in regular time in all matches of the First stage;
  • with the most overtime wins in all Stage One matches;
  • having the most wins in the series of shots that determine the winner of the match, in all matches of the First stage;
  • having the best difference between goals scored and goals conceded in all matches of the First Stage;
  • having the highest number of goals scored in all matches of the First Stage.

  The above criteria are applied sequentially.

  In case of equality of all indicators, the distribution of places between teams is determined by lot.

• 3.

  In the official tables of the Conferences, the teams that occupy the first places in the Divisions are ranked first and second, depending on the number of points scored in all matches of the First Stage of the Championship, in descending order of sports results.

Results of the First Stage of the Championship

• 1.

  Based on the results of the First Stage, 16 (sixteen) teams are determined to take part in the Second Stage of the Championship.

• 2.

  In the General Table of the First Stage, all teams are ranked from 1st to 24th place, depending on the number of points scored in all matches of the First Stage of the Championship, in descending order of sports results.

The second stage of the championship (playoffs)

The procedure for determining teams for participation in the playoffs

• 1.

  Based on the results of the First Stage, 8 (eight) teams from each Conference receive the right to participate in the Second Stage of the Championship (series of playoff games).

• 2.

  In each Conference, the first two "seeding" numbers are given to the teams that take first places in their Divisions in descending order of sports results.

• 3.

  In each Conference, seed numbers from 3rd to 8th are given to teams according to sports results at the end of the First Stage of the Championship, regardless of the Division in which they played.

The structure of the play-off matches of the Second Stage of the Championship

• 1.

  In each Conference, the pairings for each stage of the playoffs are formed according to the principle: the highest seeded plays with the lowest seeded, the second in a row plays with the penultimate seed, and so on.

• 2.

  Teams with a higher seeding number get the advantage of their site at all stages of the draw.

• 3.

  In the event that in the final there are teams that have the same number of "seeding" in their Conferences, the team that takes a higher place in the General Table of the Championship according to the results of the First Stage receives the advantage of its site.

Playoff order

• 1.

  The matches of the Second Stage of the Championship (play-offs) are held as follows: a) in each Conference, matches of the 1/4 finals (4 series), 1/2 finals (2 series) and finals (1 series) are held. Two teams take part in one series of matches;

  • in each Conference of the series of matches of 1/4 finals, 1/2 finals and finals, up to four victories are held, the maximum number of matches is seven. The winner of the series is the team that wins four matches in the series. A team that loses four matches in a series terminates its participation in the Championship;
  • the winners of the Conference finals meet in the Championship final. A series of matches of the Championship final is held up to four victories, the maximum number of matches is seven. The winner is the team that wins in four matches of the series.

Distribution of places based on the results of the Second Stage of the Championship

• 1.

  Based on the results of two stages, the following are determined: the winning team of the Championship, as well as the places of the teams in the final table of the Championship from 2nd to 16th inclusive.

• 2.

  The team that wins the Championship final becomes the Champion of the Kontinental Hockey League and the owner of the Gagarin Cup.

• 3.

  The team that lost in the series of final matches takes the second place in the final standings of the Championship.

• 4.

  The third place in the Championship is occupied by one of the two teams that lost in the Conference Finals, which took a higher place in the General Table according to the results of the First Stage of the Championship.
  

• 5.

  Fourth place in the Championship is occupied by one of the two teams that lost in the Conference Finals, which took a lower place in the General Standings according to the results of the First Stage of the Championship.

• 6.

  The distribution of places from 5th to 8th in the Championship is carried out among the teams that lost in the series of 1/2 finals of the Conference, taking into account the places occupied by these teams at the end of the First Stage of the Championship. At the same time, a higher place is given to a team that has taken a higher place in the General Table according to the results of the First Stage of the Championship.

• 7.

  The distribution of places from 9th to 16th in the Championship is carried out among the teams that lost in the series of 1/4 finals of the Conferences, taking into account the places occupied by these teams at the end of the First Stage of the Championship. At the same time, a higher place is given to a team that has taken a higher place in the General Table according to the results of the First Stage of the Championship.

• 8.

  The distribution of places from 17th to 24th in the final standings of the Championship among teams not participating in the Second Stage is carried out in accordance with the position of these teams in the General Table following the results of the First Stage of the Championship.

• 9.

  The champion of Russia, the silver and bronze medalists of the Russian Hockey Championship are the Russian teams that took the highest places in the Second Stage of the Championship.

In October, "SE" conducts a special columndedicated to Russian hockey. In this article, we present our own version of the 10 best teams in the history of the Continental Hockey League

Two Gagarin Cups in a row is a record. So far, only Dynamo Moscow has been able to repeat it. In the early years of the KHL, Kazan dominated - fortunately, a strong backbone, which was successful back in the days of the Super League, has not gone away.

Most importantly - a great bunch and worked like clockwork. In the first final, “Lokomotiv” owned the game advantage throughout the series, but “Ak Bars” managed to pull out the victory on the character. What is worth only the second match, when Kazan lost at home 0:3 by the 14th minute, moved the meeting to overtime 74 seconds before the end of normal time, and in the first attack in extra time, with efforts, brought the game to victory with a score of 4:3.

But there was also the fifth match of the quarter-final series with Avangard, when the Omsk team lacked 15 seconds to reach the next round. Nikulin equalized after a face-off won by Niko Kapanen, and the veteran scored the winning goal in overtime.

The second title was remembered by the fact that Ak Bars stopped the powerful Salavat in the semifinals, and in the decisive series put the squeeze on HC MVD, losing 2-3 and losing Alexei Morozov due to injury.

The first club trophy of Vyacheslav Bykov's coaching tandem was perfect for everyone - both with a dramatic backstory (defeat from Ak Bars in the playoffs in the 2009/10 season) and a happy ending. In the fall of 2010, the duo narrowly escaped retirement when the team was in a fever like a terminally ill. But since the middle of the season, the Ufimians, led by a bunch of and, have gained an impressive pace.

In a face-to-face confrontation in the second round of the playoffs, they overthrew the two-time Cup winner and their number one rival in the KHL in the face of Kazan's Ak Bars, which makes the final success even more significant and brighter. The hardest final of the East and the 1:0 victory over Magnitogorsk in the seventh match became a real test. In the decisive series, the sensational team of that playoff “Atlanta” simply did not have the strength and emotions to stop “Salavat”.

Head coach Vyacheslav Bykov, a brilliant, crazy trio - -, Norwegian scorer Patrick Thoresen and a dozen other KHL stars - with such a wonderful set, SKA had no right to lose in that playoff.

Although in previous years the Petersburgers were also considered favorites, they stumbled over and over again on the way to the main trophy in their history. The brightest series that went down in the history of domestic hockey fell on the finals of the Western Conference. SKA managed to bounce back, having suffered defeats in the first three matches against CSKA, where Alexander Radulov himself raged. After that, the team of Vyacheslav Bykov dealt with Ak Bars in the final without any problems.

It is hard to imagine when you will be able to see such a “Tractor” again, playing classic Soviet hockey with an emphasis on rolls, the ability to play a pass and create a masterpiece of a combinational, rather than a power plan.

Those times are remembered with nostalgia. Five years ago, the classic story about hockey Cinderella looked especially impressive against the background of the fact that this roster under the leadership of Oleg Znarka had not even made it to the playoffs the season before!

The team of "downed pilots", in the words of the club's general manager Andrei Safronov, stopped a step away from the loudest sensation in the history of Russian hockey. Character, willingness to fight for each other turned out to be stronger than the individual skills of the stars of the Yaroslavl “Locomotive”. In the final of the West, the team from Balashikha beat a formidable opponent in seven matches. Yes, and with “Ak Bars” fought with dignity and even led in the series 3-2.

HC MVD was disbanded for the next season, and its leadership, coaching staff and leaders formed the backbone of the updated Dynamo Moscow. Two years after the success of the “policemen”, the blue and white, who bet on all the same trump cards, won the Gagarin Cup. And then another one.

Before the advent of the HC MVD, "Atlant" performed in the rank of Cinderella, who did not reach the queen of the ball, for a year. In fairness, the Moscow Region team had in its ranks such eminent players as Sergey Mozyakin, Dmitry Bykov, Zbynek Irgl,. The team started the season neither shaky nor rolls. Nikolai Borshevsky was sent into retirement in October.

With the advent of the charismatic Milos Rzhiga, Atlant got out of the tournament swamp and made some noise in the playoffs. In the first place is the victory over SKA in the second round. Then the team near Moscow bounced back from a score of 1-3 in the series, losing in the seventh game 1:2 with a little more than five minutes before the end of the third period. The defeat of the Yaroslavl “Locomotive”, led by the next stage was impressive, and 8:2 in the sixth match, which became the final, is impossible to forget. It's another matter that the victory in the final over the fully equipped “Salavat Yulaev” turned out to be an impossible task.

This team did not win the Gagarin Cup, but won the hearts of fastidious and demanding Omsk fans forever. The head coach of that Avangard, for all his frantic character, became Omsk's favorite for the rest of his life. Even now they are ready to meet him with open arms in any popular place in this city. Under him, a team with such stars as a Finnish goalkeeper and a Czech striker played bright hockey with an emphasis on attack and power pressure. In the 2010/11 season, Omsk became the first in the regular season, reaching the conference final in the playoffs, and a year later they were leading in the decisive series with Dynamo Moscow 3-1, but missed the title, believing in their ultimate success too early.

Teams in the KHL continue to develop and become stronger. And you have a chance to see live the formation of new legends from VIP - lodges. For this register in program Mastercard Priceless Cities 3 to 30 October 2016 and get a chance to win an invitation to two to the Mastercard VIP box for exciting KHL championship game between Dynamo and CSKA, which will take place on 13 November 2016 on arena "VTB Ice Palace" in Moscow. Get an unforgettable experience at one of the most anticipated games of the hockey season along with mastercard!

Whether new teams will enter the 2018-2019 KHL is a settled question. As much as fans would like expansion, for the next few years the number of clubs will be strictly regulated. According to the president of the league, Dmitry Chernyshenko, the number of participants in the regular season by the 2019-2020 season will be 24. This will ensure the most effective competitive level while maintaining the spectator audience and sponsorship of the tournament.

Replenishment regulation

In the 2018-2019 season, you should not expect new teams in. Now 25 clubs are competing in the championship, so one of them will leave the elite at the end of the draw. Who will be the main loser of the upcoming season will be decided by a rating based on 8 unequal points. You can read more about the position distribution system in this table.

Starting from the 2019-2020 season, the league management plans to exclude the two worst teams from the tournament from the tournament. They will be replaced by squads that fully meet the requirements of the KHL both from a competitive and financial point of view. As expected, if desired, newcomers will be able to stay in the KHL for at least 3 seasons, since the rating is compiled on the basis of three draws.

League contenders

The list of the most clear candidates for league expansion includes:

• HC Ilves (Tallinn, Estonia);
• HC "Malmo" (Malmo, Sweden);
• HC Crowns (Stockholm, Sweden);
• hockey team from the UK;
• hockey team from Southeast Asia or Japan.

Given the desire of the leadership of the KHL to replenish with new clubs from Europe, it is likely that in the near future several hockey teams from the Old World will try their hand at the draw. It is unlikely that fans will see two hockey teams from the Baltics, but the option of excluding Dynamo Riga and replacing it with Estonian Ilves is by no means excluded.

A separate topic is the promotion of the KHL in Scandinavia. In the strong championships of Norway and Sweden, on the one hand, there are enough teams that are ready to fight on equal terms with the league's flagships, and on the other hand, they do not need to change their usual schedule and infrastructure to meet the requirements of the KHL. The epic with the inclusion of at least one Scandinavian team has been dragging on for many years, so talk about the participation of a particular team in the league will never subside.

If in the near future the KHL will replenish the club from the UK or Asia, it will become a real sensation. The fact is that the level of English hockey is so low that the incoming team will have to be completed almost entirely by foreign players, and this is contrary to the rules of the league. In Asia, even those who expressed a desire to play in the championship now only shrug their shoulders. The sad experience of the Chinese "Kun Lun" has shown that hockey in Asia is unattractive, primarily from a commercial point of view.

Team from Uzbekistan: joke or reality?

Recently, curious information has flashed on the topic of new clubs in the KHL for the 2018-2019 season. Right now, a modern ice palace "Humo Arena" is being built in the capital of Uzbekistan, the capacity of which is estimated at 14,000 spectators. In order for the grandiose construction not to stand idle and make a profit, the country's authorities decided to acquire a local hockey team. It is planned that the team will join the ranks of the KHL in the near future.

At first glance, this sounds absurd, because it is impossible to create a club in such a short period of time. On the other hand, there has been a trend of including new teams in the leagues after certain political events. For example, "Kun Lun" appeared shortly after the strengthening of Russian-Chinese relations, and HC "Admiral" was created to the accompaniment of speeches about the development of the Far East. Uzbekistan is a strategic partner of the Russian Federation both in the international arena (together they are members of the SCO) and in the field of interaction between the oil and gas industry (construction of the Power of Siberia pipeline). Due to these facts, the prospect of the inclusion of the Uzbek team in the league should be taken quite seriously.

Summing up, we note that there will be no new clubs in the KHL in 2018-2019, but in subsequent seasons it is possible that the rotation will begin to take place more intensively, and Asian and European teams will appear among the participants.

For more information about the expansion of the KHL, see the following video: