The 2014–15 KHL season was the seventh season of the Kontinental Hockey League. The season started on 3 September with the Opening Cup between defending champions Metallurg Magnitogorsk and Dynamo Moscow, replacing Lev Praha, last year's runner up who did not participate this season.[1]

2014–15 KHL season
LeagueKontinental Hockey League
SportIce hockey
Duration3 September 2014 – 19 April 2015
Number of games60
Number of teams28
Regular season
Continental Cup winnerRussia CSKA Moscow
Top scorerRussia Alexander Radulov
Playoffs
Western championsRussia SKA Saint Petersburg
  Western runners-upRussia CSKA Moscow
Eastern championsRussia Ak Bars Kazan
  Eastern runners-upRussia Sibir Novosibirsk
Gagarin Cup
ChampionsRussia SKA Saint Petersburg
  Runners-upRussia Ak Bars Kazan
KHL seasons

Team changes

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Prior to the season, the KHL added three more teams: Jokerit from Helsinki, Lada Togliatti (an earlier member of the KHL that spent the last four seasons in the VHL) and HC Sochi, an expansion team from Sochi.[2]

HC Donbass did not play in the league this season, due to Russian invasion of Ukraine which culminated in a devastating fire at their home arena. Donbass intended to rejoin KHL for the 2015–16 season,[3] but ultimately joined the new Ukrainian Hockey Extra League. HC Lev Praha didn't participate in KHL this season either, because of financial problems.[4] In addition, Spartak Moscow did not participate in the league this season, after missing the deadline for shoring up its finances.[5]

Divisions and regular season format

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New for this season, is that the teams primarily play games against teams in their own division, and secondarily against teams in their own conference, and finally against teams in the other conference. According to the new format (subject to final approval by the League management) each team will play a total of 60 games during the regular season as follows:

  • 24 games against the other teams in their division (two at home and two on the road against each opponent),
  • 14 games (one at home and one on the road against each opponent), against the teams in the other division in their conference,
  • 14 more against teams from the other conference (comprising seven home games versus teams from one division and seven road games against teams from the other),
  • 8 games where four will be against teams in their own conference (two at home, two on the road) and four against opposition from the other conference (again, two at home and two on the road). When determining the opponents and venues for these additional 8 games, the League consider practical things, including the geographical locations and the availability of the arenas.[6]

How the teams are divided into divisions and conferences[6] are shown in the table below.

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

Regular season

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The regular season began on 3 September 2014 with the Opening Cup between Metallurg Magnitogorsk and Dynamo Moscow. Metallurg won the game 6–1.[7]

Player statistics

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Scoring leaders

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GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/– = P Plus–minus; PIM = Penalty minutes

As of 24 Feb 2015
Player Team GP G A Pts +/– PIM
  Alexander Radulov CSKA Moscow 46 24 47 71 +37 143
  Jan Kovář Metallurg Magnitogorsk 60 24 44 68 +15 50
  Danis Zaripov Metallurg Magnitogorsk 60 24 40 64 +13 40
  Stéphane Da Costa CSKA Moscow 46 30 32 62 +26 12
  Artemy Panarin SKA Saint Petersburg 54 26 36 62 +18 37
  Charles Linglet Dinamo Minsk 54 22 36 58 –2 59
  Steve Moses Jokerit 60 36 21 57 +11 20
  Matt Ellison Dinamo Minsk 58 24 33 57 –2 38
  Nigel Dawes Barys Astana 60 32 24 56 +18 48
  Denis Parshin Avangard Omsk 60 25 31 56 +18 40

Leading goaltenders

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GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; SOP = Shootouts played; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average

As of 24 Feb 2015
Player Team GP Min W L SOP GA SO SV% GAA
  Kevin Lalande CSKA Moscow 23 1297:10 16 3 2 30 6 .934 1.39
  Alexander Lazushin Dynamo Moscow 21 1156:59 13 3 1 28 5 .946 1.45
  Anders Nilsson Ak Bars Kazan 38 2247:52 20 9 8 64 5 .936 1.71
  Emil Garipov Ak Bars Kazan 23 1383:26 16 5 2 41 1 .933 1.78
  Stanislav Galimov CSKA Moscow 35 2055:31 23 5 5 61 6 .919 1.78

Russian Ice Hockey Championship

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At the end of the regular season of the KHL Championship the following teams became medalists of the Russian Ice Hockey Championship:[8]

Rank Team
    CSKA Moscow
    SKA Saint Petersburg
    Dynamo Moscow

Playoffs

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Gagarin Cup

The playoffs started on February 27, 2015, with the top eight teams from each of the conferences and will end with the last game of the Gagarin Cup final.[9]

Bracket

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Conference Quarterfinals Conference Semifinals Conference Finals Gagarin Cup Finals
            
1   Ak Bars 4
8   Avtomobilist 1
1   Ak Bars 4
4   Avangard 1
2   Sibir 4
7   Traktor 2
1   Ak Bars 4
Eastern Conference
2   Sibir 1
3   Metallurg Mg 4
6   Salavat Yulaev 1
2   Sibir 4
3   Metallurg Mg 1
4   Avangard 4
5   Barys 3
1   Ak Bars 1
2   SKA 4
1   CSKA 4
8   HC Sochi 0
1   CSKA 4
4   Jokerit 1
2   SKA 4
7   Torpedo 1
1   CSKA 3
Western Conference
2   SKA 4
3   Dynamo Msk 4
6   Lokomotiv 2
2   SKA 4
3   Dynamo Msk 1
4   Jokerit 4
5   Dinamo Mn 1

Final standings

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

Awards

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Players of the Month

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Best KHL players of each month.

Month Goaltender Defense Forward Rookie
September[10]   Stanislav Galimov (CSKA Moscow)   Anton Belov (SKA St. Petersburg)   Sergei Shirokov (Avangard Omsk)   Vladislav Kamenev (Metallurg Magnitogorsk)
October[11]   Ivan Kasutin (Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod)   Maxim Chudinov (SKA St. Petersburg)   Artemy Panarin (SKA St. Petersburg)   Ivan Nalimov (Admiral Vladivostok)
November[12]   Mikko Koskinen (Sibir Novosibirsk)   Georgi Misharin (CSKA Moscow)   Igor Grigorenko (CSKA Moscow)   Pavel Koledov (HC Sochi)
December[13]   Michael Garnett (Traktor Chelyabinsk)   Nick Bailen (Dinamo Minsk)   Dmitri Kugryshev (Sibir Novosibirsk)   Damir Musin (Ak Bars Kazan)
January[14]   Alexander Lazushin (Dynamo Moscow)   Alexei Semenov (Vityaz Podolsk)   Mikhail Varnakov (Ak Bars Kazan)   Vyacheslav Leshchenko (Atlant Moscow Oblast)
February[15]   Anders Nilsson (Ak Bars Kazan)   Deron Quint (Traktor Chelyabinsk)     Charles Linglet (Dinamo Minsk)   Maxim Mamin (CSKA Moscow)
March[16]   Anders Nilsson (Ak Bars Kazan)   Denis Denisov (CSKA Moscow)   Alexander Radulov (CSKA Moscow)   Kirill Semyonov (Avangard Omsk)
April[17]   Mikko Koskinen (SKA St. Petersburg)   Maxim Chudinov (SKA St. Petersburg)   Evgenii Dadonov (SKA St. Petersburg) Not awarded

Milestones

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References

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  1. ^ "КАЛЕНДАРЬ МАТЧЕЙ КХЛ СЕЗОНА 2014-15" (PDF). 2014-07-17. Retrieved 2014-07-18.
  2. ^ "Welcome, Jokerit and Sochi; welcome back, Lada". 2014-04-30. Retrieved 2014-05-03.
  3. ^ "Donbass to miss 2014-15 season". 2014-06-19. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
  4. ^ "Smutné očekávání potvrzeno! Pražský Lev nepřežil klinickou smrt, v příští sezoně KHL bude chybět". 2014-07-01. Archived from the original on 2014-07-14. Retrieved 2014-07-01.
  5. ^ "У министра конструктивная позиция по легионерам". 2014-04-22. Retrieved 2014-05-10.
  6. ^ a b "Regular Season Format Unveiled". 2014-07-09. Retrieved 2014-07-11.
  7. ^ "Game resume, khl.ru". 3 September 2014. Retrieved 4 September 2014.
  8. ^ KHL Sports Regulations. Seasons 2014-2015, 2015-2016, 2016-2017(in Russian)
  9. ^ "All Set for Quarter-Finals". khl.ru. 2015-02-25.
  10. ^ "September's finest: Galimov, Belov, Shirokov & Kamenev". khl.ru. 2014-10-02.
  11. ^ "October's finest: Kasutin, Chudinov, Panarin and Nalimov". khl.ru. 2014-11-05.
  12. ^ "November's finest: Koskinen, Misharin, Grigorenko & Koledov". khl.ru. 2014-12-02.
  13. ^ "December's finest: Garnett, Bailen, Kugryshev & Musin". khl.ru. 2015-01-01.
  14. ^ "January's finest: Lazushin, Semenov, Varnakov & Leshchenko". khl.ru. 2015-02-03.
  15. ^ "February's finest: Nilsson, Quint, Linglet & Mamin". khl.ru. 2015-03-02.
  16. ^ "March's finest: Nilsson, Denisov, Radulov & Semyonov". khl.ru. 2015-04-01.
  17. ^ "April's finest: Koskinen, Chudinov and Dadonov". khl.ru. 2015-04-22.