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 scorerRussia 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
KHL seasons

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

Team changes

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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

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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

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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[a]
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.
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[a]
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

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Conference Quarterfinals Conference Semifinals Conference Finals Gagarin Cup Finals
            
1   Ak Bars 4
8   Amur 1
1   Ak Bars 4
5   Metallurg Mg 1
2   Salavat Yulaev 4
7   Avangard 3
1   Ak Bars 4
Eastern Conference
3   Traktor 0
3   Traktor 4
6   Neftekhimik 1
2   Salavat Yulaev 3
3   Traktor 4
4   Avtomobilist 2
5   Metallurg Mg 4
E1   Ak Bars 4
W2   CSKA 1
1   SKA 4
8   Severstal 0
1   SKA 4
4   Lokomotiv 1
2   CSKA 4
7   Spartak 0
1   SKA 2
Western Conference
2   CSKA 4
3   Jokerit 4
6   Sochi 1
2   CSKA 4
3   Jokerit 2
4   Lokomotiv 4
5   Torpedo 0

Final standings

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Rank Team
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

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Scoring leaders

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As of 1 March 2018

Player Team GP G A Pts +/– PIM
  Ilya Kovalchuk SKA Saint Petersburg 53 31 32 63 +12 26
  Nikita Gusev SKA Saint Petersburg 54 22 40 62 +25 2
  Nigel Dawes Barys Astana 46 35 21 56 +5 26
  Linus Omark Salavat Yulaev Ufa 55 16 39 55 +6 60
  Linden Vey Barys Astana 50 17 35 52 +1 64

Source: KHL

Leading goaltenders

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As of 1 March 2018

Player Team GP Min W L SOP GA SO SV% GAA
  Lars Johansson CSKA Moscow 21 1192:53 15 4 0 26 6 .938 1.31
  Mikko Koskinen SKA Saint Petersburg 29 1718:12 22 4 1 45 5 .937 1.57
  Ilya Sorokin CSKA Moscow 37 2182:35 25 8 4 58 8 .931 1.59
  Igor Shestyorkin SKA Saint Petersburg 28 1592:34 20 4 4 45 7 .933 1.70
  Ryan Zapolski Jokerit 39 2352:26 24 11 4 69 9 .931 1.76

Source: KHL

Awards

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Players of the Month

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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[3]   Ryan Zapolski (Jokerit)   Nikita Tryamkin (Avtomobilist Jekaterinburg)   Nigel Dawes (Barys Astana)   Eeli Tolvanen (Jokerit)
November[4]   Vasily Koshechkin (Metallurg Magnitogorsk)   Nikita Tryamkin (Avtomobilist Jekaterinburg)   Zach Boychuk (Slovan Bratislava)   Alexander Petunin (Dynamo Moscow)
December[5]   Ilya Sorokin (CSKA Moscow)   Oleg Piganovich (Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk)   Alexander Bergström (Sibir Novosibirsk)   Alexander Petunin (Dynamo Moscow)
January[6]   Pavel Francouz (Traktor Chelyabinsk)   Philip Larsen (Salavat Yulaev Ufa)   Alexander Khokhlachev (Spartak Moscow)   Rafael Bikmullin (Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk)
March[7]   Ilya Sorokin (CSKA Moscow)   Nick Bailen (Traktor Chelyabinsk)   Justin Azevedo (Ak Bars Kazan)   Vitali Kravtsov (Traktor Chelyabinsk)
April[8]   Lars Johansson (CSKA Moscow)   Vasili Tokranov (Ak Bars Kazan)   Justin Azevedo (Ak Bars Kazan)   Vitali Kravtsov (Traktor Chelyabinsk)

Milestones

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References

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  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. ^ "Players of the Month: Zapolski, Tryamkin, Dawes and Tolvanen". KHL.ru. 2 November 2017. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  4. ^ "Players of the Month: Koshechkin, Tryamkin, Boychuk and Petunin". KHL.ru. 2 December 2017. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  5. ^ "December's finest: Sorokin, Piganovich, Bergstrom and Petunin". KHL.ru. 2 January 2018. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  6. ^ "January's finest: Francouz, Larsen, Khokhlachyov and Bikmullin". KHL.ru. 1 February 2018. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  7. ^ "March's finest: Sorokin, Bailen, Azevedo and Kravtsov". KHL.ru. 3 April 2018. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  8. ^ "April's finest: Johansson, Tokranov, Azevedo and Kravtsov". KHL.ru. 24 April 2018. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
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