Kontinental Hockey League

[Guest Low Roller]

Just read a quick article on the team rules for the new Kontinental Hockey League, the replacement of the Russian Super League which starts up this fall. Some interesting differences between the NHL and the KHL:

Russian Revolution in the Superleague is almost complete

Starting from the next year, the Russian Superleague won’t exist anymore. But this is not a sad news as it will be replaced by the brand new KHL (Kontinentalnaya hokkeynaya liga), a necessary step forward to improve the quality and the competitiveness of Russian and European hockey. There is surely a good boost in reducing the gap from Russia and the main rival, the National Hockey League.

The new league will resemble more the current NHL setup, as it can be seen in the things that will be introduced. Yesterday was held a meeting with all current Superleague representatives and most of the rules book is set.

Twenty-four teams, four division

The new KHL will probably count twenty-four teams, the currents Superleague clubs plus four news. Two of them are already announced, Barys Astana from Kazakhstan and Avtomobilist Ekaterinburg, currently battling in Vyschaya Liga (Russian second division) playoffs.

The teams have been split in four division with six teams each. To do this, KHL board used, and will use, a rating system, based off the results in the last five seasons. Clubs that never played in the Superleague start from zero. The teams will be placed in six ballot boxes in accordance with their KHL coefficient ranking, and a draw will decide the final divisions’ composition, that will change annually because of the 5-year rating.

This is how the pots appear:

1) Metallurg Magnitogorsk, Ak Bars Kazan, Salavat Yulaev Ufa, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl

2) Avangard Omsk, CSKA Moscow, Khimik Mytischi, Dynamo Moscow

3) Lada Togliatti, SKA St.Petersburg, Severstal Cherepovets, Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk

4) Sibir Novosibirsk, Metallurg Novokuznetsk, HC MVD, Vityaz Chekhov

5) Spartak Moscow, Amur Khabarovsk, Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod, Traktor Chelyabinsk

6) Avtomobilist Ekaterinburg, Barys Astana

As said, the divisions are yet to be sorted, but they will be named after two former superstar, Bobrov and Kharlamov, and the two godfathers of Russian hockey, Tarasov and Chernyshev. The draw will be conducted probably in June.

Regular season and playoffs system

During the regular season, the teams will play four games against their division’s rivals, and two games against other division’s clubs, for a total of fifty-six games if the league will count twenty-four teams as planned. After the regular season the first sixteen will fight in the playoffs stage, with the first four seeds being the winner of each division, just like in the NHL. Playoffs’ first round will be a best-of-five series, while the latter rounds will be made up of best-of-seven battles, and the final winner will be awarded with the Gagarin Cup. This because the final match of the playoffs is supposed to be played in April 12th, the anniversary of Gagarin’s trip in the space.

Salary cap and contracts

The new league will also set rules for contracts. Like the past two years the league will have a salary cap system, but in the next season it will be different. Every team will have to spend a maximum of 562.500.000 roubles (roughly $23.5 mln), split in this way: 400.000.000 ($16.7 mln) for twenty-one players, 162.500.000 ($6.8 mln) for four “star†players. The teams must register for the competition not more than twenty-five players, and among these twenty-five every club has the right to register four “star†players. Three can be choosen freely by the club, plus another one who satisfies these requirements:

- has played not less than 40 matches (20 matches for goalkeepers) in the last NHL season

- is a junior player of Canadian or American nationality, but younger than 20 and selected in the first three rounds of the NHL entry draft

- is a player coming from European leagues that has played in the last World Championships or in the last Olympic tournament.

KHL will also use a new contract system, and three different types will be used:

- Standard “First team†contract – one-way

- Contract “First team plus farm team†– two-way

- Junior contract (agreement for studying in sport school)

Standard contracts can be signed by any player older than seventeen, but such young players must sign a four-year deal. Players locked by their team for the draft (another league’s innovation that will be described later) can sign the first contract at sixteen.

Players at first contract will earn 500.000 roubles if locked for the draft, 300.000 if selected in the first round. This sum will grow of the 20% in the second season, 30% in the third season and 50% for the fourth.

The farm teams will play in a league organized by the FHR.

KHL “Entry†Draft and “Waivers†Draft

The first KHL draft will be held in Moscow in July 2009, so it will start only from the second season of the new league. It will be held yearly and the teams will acquire the rights on European and North American players. Every team can lock up to three players from their junior team. The draft system plans compensations for the teams who pick a player from the school of another team in the process, 3.000.000 roubles for a first rounder, 2.000.000 for a second, and so on.

Additionally, before of the start of every season, a “waivers†draft will be conducted, in the fashion of the old waivers draft in the NHL. Every team will declare twenty players (two goalkeepers and eighteen skaters), the ones that aren’t declared can be chosen by other teams. Note that players with two-way contracts can’t be claimed. The order of this draft will be standings-reversed, meaning that the last placed team can select first, and so on.

Transfer market and imports rules

The transfer market will not be done with money and cheques, but with exchanges, like in the National Hockey League. After every player-exchange the players will keep their contract conditions. The players-exchange deadline is set for January 15th.

Also free agents rules have been changed, now “restricted†free agents movement will seek fix compensation between teams, matching half of the contract-offer.

The rosters must be not bigger than twenty-five players, with a maximum of five foreigners. In any match the teams can declare not more than four imports. The no-foreign-goalkeepers rule seems to be gone.

Minor changes

The new league set some other minor standards too. For example, now the coaches of the team can’t wear informal jeans in Bykov’s style, but will have to wear an elegant suit. Another change is that now the teams must wear dark jersey at home, and white or light jersey away, opposite as it is right now. The games will be scheduled slightly differently, in order to have more television visibility.

[Guest Low Roller]

Right now the league includes teams from Russia (mostly), Latvia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus. However they may expand into Finland, Ukraine, and Sweden for the 2009-2010 season.

[Kanada Kev]

Interesting. Thanks for posting. Looks like they've got their shit together pretty good.

Down the road, will we see a "Super Cup" pitting the Stanley Cup Champions vs. Gagarin Cup Champioins? Or maybe we could have an All-Star game that actually meant a little more being the NHL vs. KHL.

[AD]

the coaches of the team can’t wear informal jeans in Bykov’s style, but will have to wear an elegant suit.

elegant suits!! they've thought of everything!!!

[Schwa.]

the coaches of the team can’t wear informal jeans in Bykov’s style' date=' but will have to wear an elegant suit.[/quote']

elegant suits!! they've thought of everything!!!

[Guest Low Roller]

Add Wade "Doobie" Dubielewicz to the list of players who 'defected' to the KHL. Back-up to Dipietro forever or play in Russia... hmmm...

[Guest Low Roller]

The KHL's biggest coup thus far: Jaromir Jagr.

[AD]

really? haven't seen any reports of that yet. haven't looked too hard though.

[dave-O]

I'm sure Jagr must have an out clause if he gets an NHL offer he likes. This is probably a negotiating tactic to get NHL GMs to hurry up.

[AD]

oops, The Ottawa Citizen has the report.

[Guest Low Roller]

Jagr stated right at the beginning that is was all about the Benjaminz baby! Russia must have ponied up the most cash.

[Guest Low Roller]

Marcel Hossa is off to the KHL as well, but I don't think that anyone really noticed.

[dave-O]

Apparently Alexandre Radulov has decided NOT to honour his contract with the Nashville Predators and is headed to the KHL.

Trusty Russian media source: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jveAsInkxPOdXDcBBtj1fckF9hNA

It should be very interesting to see how this plays out in light of the new agreement between the NHL and KHL.

[Northern Wish]

Wow! Remember watching that guy play in Moncton Dave? We knew then the kid was going to be awesome, I'm interested to see how this pans out....

S

[dave-O]

It's too bad Barry Trotz has put the reigns on Radulov in Nashville. This kid has incredible, incredible offensive talents. I'm talking 100 points a season potential, if he ever played any meaningful minutes.

I'll be very sad to see him leave if he in fact does go home.

[Guest Low Roller]

This Radulov situation is really going to test the new agreement between the NHL and the KHL. Eklund had a good analysis.

[Guest Low Roller]

TSN is saying that Brenden Shanahan is next to go to the KHL. Those Montreal rumours died real quick didn't they?

[dave-O]

The International Ice Hockey Federation has suspended Alexander Radulov while they investigate the details of his transfer to the newly formed Russian KHL.

As well, the transfer of five other players - Nikita Filatov, Thomas Mojzis, Jason Krog, Fedor Fedorov and Viktor Tikhonov - is also being investigated by the governing body.

"Until this investigation has come to its final conclusion and the IIHF has rendered its decisions, all concerned players will be suspended from international transfers and competitions," read a statement from the IIHF on Friday.

"We hope that this can be resolved amicably and in a timely manner," said IIHF President Rene Fasel. "It is unfortunate that we are already facing such difficulties after the progress that was made last week. I am hoping that all sides can come to a solution."

The suspensions come just one week after the IIHF, the NHL and its Players' Association agreed to respect the contracts of hockey players in their respective leagues.

Earlier this month, Radulov signed a contract to play for Ufa in the new Russian Superleague. However, he is still under contract with the Nashville Predators of the NHL. Radulov said at the time he informed the Predators that he wanted to return to play in Russia and that because there is no active transfer agreement between the leagues, he did not believe he could be forced to return to play for Nashville.

Filatov, the sixth player taken overall in last month's NHL Entry Draft, recently signed a contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets. However, Alexander Medvedev, president of Russia's Continental Hockey League, claims the player's rights still belong to CSKA Moscow.

Krog, the AHL playoff MVP, was signed by the Vancouver Canucks after he reportedly agreed to a lucrative deal to play in Russia