What’s New In The KHL?

All holidays and vacations eventually come to an end – so has mine and while I was away – a lot has changed and a lot has happened in the KHL. What’s new in the KHL you ask? Let’s go through some of the most important things.

KHL Awards:

An event that is glamourous but overrated in the KHL. Do these awards mean anything? Do they pick the right players and coaches to receive the hardware? Probably but we are here to take a look at who took home prizes.

Coach of the year – Bob Hartley
Rookie of the year – Yegor Chinakhov
Sergei Tolchinsky – Playoff MVP
Vadim Shipachyov – Golden Stick Award (best player in the regular season)
The Symbolical five was also announced -w Goalie Eddie Pasquale, Oliwer Kaski, Mat Robinson, Vadim Shipachyov, and Konstantin Okulov were all named to the squad and received their golden helmets.

KHL All-Star news:

It comes with absolutely no surprise but it has been announced that Riga, Latvia won’t be hosting the All-Star weekend. Main issue? The uncertainty that has been caused by Covid-19. There are still restrictions in place and amount of people that can attend events is very limited in Latvia. The hosts made the decision but what happens next?

A year ago we planned to stage the All-Star Week in Riga and we had an agreement to do it next year in Riga,” KHL President Alexei Morozov said after the annual meeting with club directors. “But now we’ve had an official cancellation due to that situation … We’re looking for a new place for the All-Star Week where we can do everything at the highest level. We’d prefer not to go back to Moscow because we did it here not so long ago. So Moscow is a backup option.

Latest KHL News

• KHL Names Their All-Star Picks
• Ruble Report: Olympics, Kunlun, KHL Expansion
• Dinamo Riga Goes Through Their Third Coaching Change Of The Season
• First Bunch Of KHL All-Stars Revealed
• Sources: Vitali Kravtsov Headed To The KHL

New Team:

Okay, now that I’ve gotten your attention – it’s not really a new team. Is more like an old team making a return and finally taking care of their debts. Admiral Vladivostok decided to skip a season due to the pandemic but now they are making their return. In order to receive a permission to play – the team now has to cover their debts and pay the money they owe to the players that represented the club during the 2017/2018 season. The first payments have been made with plenty of time left – they have until July 31st to make sure that the financial issues are taken care of.

Hockey card licensing deal:

Yes – KHL has trading cards and no I did not know about it until my friend – Mathew Maione handed me a signed one. Well for what it’s worth – the league and Sereal have extended their partnership that has run for 10 years already.

Viktor Radugin, general manager of the Sereal group:
“The passion for collecting hockey cards often stems from a similar family trip to a game, with fans wanting to get closer to the action and learn more about their favorite players and teams. When we create our products, we use memorabilia (elements of jerseys or sticks) and autographs of KHL players, bringing our collectors much closer to their favorite players and teams.

“In the past few years, we have also successfully launched several unique projects, such as our oversized cards, frame with player names and numbers, and the KHL All-Star Game logo.”

Transfers? Do you want to know about transfers? Well, I got you covered and I’m working on series of articles – showing notable additions and subtractions for each KHL team.