2012–13 KHL season

2012–13 KHL season
League	Kontinental Hockey League
Sport	Ice hockey
Duration	4 September 2012 – 17 April 2013
Number of teams	26
Total attendance	4,126,720 (Regular season)
Regular season
Continental Cup winner	SKA Saint Petersburg
Season MVP	Sergei Mozyakin
Top scorer	Sergei Mozyakin
Playoffs
Western champions	Dynamo Moscow
Western runners-up	SKA Saint Petersburg
Eastern champions	Traktor Chelyabinsk
Eastern runners-up	Ak Bars Kazan
Gagarin Cup
Champions	Dynamo Moscow
Runners-up	Traktor Chelyabinsk
Gagarin Cup MVP	Alexander Eremenko Dynamo Mosocw

The 2012–13 KHL season was the fifth season of the Kontinental Hockey League. The regular season began on 4 September with the Lokomotiv Cup between last year's finalists Dynamo Moscow and Avangard Omsk. For the first time, the league consisted of 26 teams from 7 different countries.^[1] Dynamo Moscow successfully defended their title after beating Traktor Chelyabinsk in the Gagarin Cup finals.

Changes

Team changes

After withdrawing from the previous season in the wake of the plane crash that killed the team's entire active roster, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl returned to the KHL with new players.

Lev Poprad was disbanded, but a team of the same name, Lev Prague, was established in Prague, Czech Republic, while Slovan Bratislava joined the KHL and thus continues the league's presence in Slovakia.^[2] Also HC Donbass from Donetsk, Ukraine joined the league. The team previously played in the VHL.^[3] This brought the total number of teams to 26, representing 7 different countries.

Salary cap

The salary cap changed from a soft cap to a hard cap, set at 1.1 billion rubles (approx. US$36.5 million), but each club can waive the cap for one player transferred directly from the NHL, if he is eligible to play for the Russian national team.^[4]

Season structure

The regular season consisted of 52 games for each team — twice (home and away) against each other team in the league and two extra games against a selected "rival" opponent (typically a geographically close team). This was a change from previous seasons, where all intra-division opponents were played more frequently. The top 8 teams from each conference qualified for the play-offs, which are played as best-of-seven series in each round.

Nadezhda Cup tournament

In January 2013, a new repechage tournament known as the Nadezhda Cup (Cup of Hope) was announced, which was held alongside the playoffs. Six teams from the Western Conference and four teams from the Eastern Conference who had not qualified for the playoffs competed in the tournament, whose prize includes the first overall pick in the next KHL Junior Draft. The new tournament was intended to extend the season, and help maintain interest in hockey for fans and players in preparation for the 2014 Winter Olympics.^[5] The first Cup of Hope was won by Dinamo Riga.

Regular season

The regular season started on 4 September 2012 with the Lokomotiv Cup between the finalists of the previous season, Dynamo Moscow and Avangard Omsk and ended on 17 February 2013 after every team has played 52 matches.

Notable events

NHL lockout

The league set up rules for the NHL lockout which lasted 16 September 2012 to early January 2013. According to the special regulations, each KHL team was allowed to add up to 3 NHL players to their roster, among them at most one foreign player.^[6]

List of NHL players signing KHL lockout contracts Source: eliteprospect.com[7]
Date	Player	NHL Team	KHL Team
09/16/2012	Evgeni Malkin (C)	(from) Pittsburgh Penguins	(to) Metallurg Magnitogorsk
09/16/2012	Sergei Gonchar (D)	(from) Ottawa Senators	(to) Metallurg Magnitogorsk
09/16/2012	Ruslan Fedotenko (LW)	(from) Philadelphia Flyers	(to) HC Donbass
09/16/2012	Alexei Ponikarovsky (LW)	(from) Winnipeg Jets	(to) HC Donbass
09/16/2012	Anton Khudobin (G)	(from) Boston Bruins	(to) Atlant Moscow Oblast
09/17/2012	Ľubomír Višňovský (D)	(from) New York Islanders	(to) Slovan Bratislava
09/17/2012	Kaspars Daugaviņš (LW)	(from) Ottawa Senators	(to) Dinamo Riga
09/17/2012	Nikolai Kulemin (RW)	(from) Toronto Maple Leafs	(to) Metallurg Magnitogorsk
09/17/2012	Ilya Kovalchuk (RW)	(from) New Jersey Devils	(to) SKA Saint Petersburg
09/18/2012	Jakub Voráček (RW)	(from) Philadelphia Flyers	(to) Lev Prague
09/18/2012	Niklas Bäckström (G)	(from) Minnesota Wild	(to) Dinamo Minsk
09/18/2012	Semyon Varlamov (G)	(from) Colorado Avalanche	(to) Lokomotiv Yaroslavl
09/19/2012	Alexander Ovechkin (LW)	(from) Washington Capitals	(to) Dynamo Moscow
09/19/2012	Pavel Datsyuk (C)	(from) Detroit Red Wings	(to) CSKA Moscow
09/19/2012	Ilya Bryzgalov (G)	(from) Philadelphia Flyers	(to) CSKA Moscow
09/20/2012	Jiří Hudler (LW)	(from) Calgary Flames	(to) Lev Prague
09/20/2012	Nik Antropov (C)	(from) Winnipeg Jets	(to) Barys Astana
09/20/2012	Artem Anisimov (C)	(from) Columbus Blue Jackets	(to) Lokomotiv Yaroslavl
09/21/2012	Mikhail Grabovski (C)	(from) Toronto Maple Leafs	(to) CSKA Moscow
09/21/2012	Sergei Bobrovsky (G)	(from) Columbus Blue Jackets	(to) SKA Saint Petersburg
9/21/2012	Vladimir Tarasenko (RW)	(from) St. Louis Blues	(to) SKA Saint Petersburg
09/24/2012	Dmitri Kulikov (D)	(from) Florida Panthers	(to) Lokomotiv Yaroslavl
09/25/2012	Nikita Nikitin (D)	(from) Columbus Blue Jackets	(to) Avangard Omsk
09/25/2012	Pekka Rinne (G)	(from) Nashville Predators	(to) Dinamo Minsk
09/27/2012	Anton Babchuk (D)	(from) Calgary Flames	(to) HC Donbass
09/27/2012	Andrej Sekera (D)	(from) Buffalo Sabres	(to) Slovan Bratislava
09/28/2012	Victor Hedman (D)	(from) Tampa Bay Lightning	(to) Barys Astana
09/28/2012	Evander Kane (LW)	(from) Winnipeg Jets	(to) Dinamo Minsk
10/02/2012	Zdeno Chára (D)	(from) Boston Bruins	(to) Lev Prague
10/02/2012	Tom Wandell (LW)	(from) Dallas Stars	(to) Severstal Cherepovets
10/03/2012	Andrei Markov (D)	(from) Montreal Canadiens	(to) Vityaz Chekhov
10/04/2012	Anton Volchenkov (D)	(from) New Jersey Devils	(to) Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod
10/05/2012	Joe Pavelski (C)	(from) San Jose Sharks	(to) Dinamo Minsk
10/07/2012	Sergei Kostitsyn (LW)	(from) Nashville Predators	(to) Avangard Omsk
10/11/2012	Ryan McDonagh (D)	(from) New York Rangers	(to) Dynamo Moscow
10/19/2012	Nicklas Bäckström (C)	(from) Washington Capitals	(to) Dynamo Moscow
10/30/2012	Joffrey Lupul (RW)	(from) Toronto Maple Leafs	(to) Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg
11/20/2012	Viktor Stålberg (RW)	(from) Chicago Blackhawks	(to) Atlant Moscow Oblast
12/07/2012	Ryan O'Reilly (C)	(from) Colorado Avalanche	(to) Metallurg Magnitogorsk
01/04/2013	Kris Letang (D)	(from) Pittsburgh Penguins	(to) SKA Saint Petersburg

Proposed matches in New York

Two regular season games between Dynamo Moscow and SKA Saint Petersburg were planned to take place in the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York in January 2013. However, the KHL reverted this decision in October 2012 and thus these matches will be played in Russia.^[8]

All-star game

The 5th KHL all-star game was played on 13 January 2013 in Chelyabinsk, with Team East, captained by Aleksey Morozov, winning 18–11 over Team West, captained by Ilya Kovalchuk.

League standings

Source: KHL.ru^[9]

Points are awarded as follows:

• 3 Points for a win in regulation ("W")
• 2 Points for a win in overtime ("OTW") or a penalty shootout ("SOW")
• 1 Point for a loss in overtime ("OTL") or a penalty shootout ("SOL")
• 0 Points for a loss in regulation ("L")

The conference standings determine the seedings for the play-offs. The first two places in each conference are reserved for the division winners.

Western Conference

R		Div	GP	W	OTW	SOW	SOL	OTL	L	GF	GA	Pts
1	c – SKA Saint Petersburg	BOB	52	36	1	1	2	1	11	182	116	115
2	y – CSKA Moscow	TAR	52	23	5	8	1	0	15	151	109	96
3	Dynamo Moscow	BOB	52	27	3	6	1	1	14	150	115	101
4	Lokomotiv Yaroslavl	TAR	52	24	2	8	0	0	18	131	121	92
5	Severstal Cherepovets	TAR	52	21	1	6	3	5	16	137	117	85
6	Slovan Bratislava	BOB	52	17	3	8	5	0	19	124	127	78
7	Lev Prague	BOB	52	23	0	1	2	3	23	132	133	76
8	Atlant Moscow Oblast	TAR	52	19	1	3	4	4	21	137	141	73
9	HC Donbass	BOB	52	17	2	5	6	1	21	134	142	72
10	Dinamo Minsk	TAR	52	18	5	1	2	3	23	125	148	71
11	Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod	TAR	52	19	0	2	4	4	23	142	146	69
12	Vityaz Chekhov	BOB	52	11	1	6	6	2	26	119	151	55
13	Spartak Moscow	TAR	52	11	4	2	5	2	28	106	151	52
14	Dinamo Riga	BOB	52	13	2	2	2	2	31	109	151	51

y – Won division; c – Won Continental Cup (best record in KHL);
BOB – Bobrov Division, TAR – Tarasov Division

Source: khl.ru^[10]

Eastern Conference

R		Div	GP	W	OTW	SOW	SOL	OTL	L	GF	GA	Pts
1	z – Ak Bars Kazan	KHA	52	28	1	5	5	3	10	157	112	104
2	y – Avangard Omsk	CHE	52	26	6	3	4	2	11	149	121	102
3	Traktor Chelyabinsk	KHA	52	28	0	3	6	2	13	152	120	98
4	Metallurg Magnitogorsk	KHA	52	27	0	0	7	5	13	167	121	93
5	Salavat Yulaev Ufa	CHE	52	24	2	3	6	0	17	148	140	88
6	Barys Astana	CHE	52	23	3	2	2	4	18	175	161	85
7	Sibir Novosibirsk	CHE	52	21	1	5	4	3	17	124	119	84
8	Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk	KHA	52	17	5	5	4	2	19	144	150	77
9	Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk	KHA	52	19	4	3	3	0	23	153	163	74
10	Metallurg Novokuznetsk	CHE	52	15	3	1	3	2	28	132	177	58
11	Amur Khabarovsk	CHE	52	11	1	4	1	0	35	115	167	44
12	Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg	KHA	52	7	0	1	7	5	32	104	180	35

y – Won division; z – Won conference (and division);
CHE – Chernyshev Division, KHA – Kharlamov Division

Source: khl.ru^[10]

Player statistics

Scoring leaders

Updated on 17 February 2013. Source: khl.ru^[11]

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

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	+/–	PIM
Sergei Mozyakin	Metallurg Magnitogorsk	48	35	41	76	+21	6
Alexander Radulov	CSKA Moscow	48	22	46	68	+12	86
Evgeni Malkin	Metallurg Magnitogorsk	37	23	42	65	+23	58
Patrick Thoresen	SKA Saint Petersburg	52	21	30	51	+17	49
Jori Lehterä	Sibir Novosibirsk	52	17	31	48	+18	48
Evgeny Kuznetsov	Traktor Chelyabinsk	51	19	25	44	–1	42
Dmitri Kagarlitsky	HC Donbass	51	14	30	44	–5	12
Mikhail Varnakov	Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod	51	22	21	43	+9	62
Nikolay Zherdev	Atlant Moscow Oblast	50	15	28	43	–7	29
Dmitri Makarov	Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod	52	13	30	43	–2	14

Leading goaltenders

Updated on 17 February 2013. Source: khl.ru^[12]

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

Player	Team	GP	Min	W	L	SOP	GA	SO	SV%	GAA
Rastislav Staňa	CSKA Moscow	34	1944:58	18	6	2	57	4	.934	1.76
Lars Haugen	Dinamo Minsk	22	1289:29	13	7	1	39	2	.933	1.81
Alexander Eremenko	Dynamo Moscow	30	1783:44	17	7	6	55	5	.931	1.85
Stanislav Galimov	Atlant Moscow Oblast	25	1389:58	14	6	3	45	4	.943	1.94
Sergei Bobrovsky	SKA Saint Petersburg	24	1419:36	18	3	2	46	4	.932	1.94

Playoffs

The playoffs started on 20 February 2013 with the top eight teams from both conferences and ended on 17 April with the last game of the Gagarin Cup final.

During the first three rounds home ice was determined by seeding number within the Conference, not position on the bracket. In the Finals the team with better seeding number had home ice advantage. If the seeding numbers were equal, the regular season record was taken into account.^[13]

	Conference Quarter-Finals					Conference Semi-Finals					Conference Finals					Gagarin Cup Finals
	1	Ak Bars	4			1	Ak Bars	4
	8	Neftekhimik	0			5	Salavat Yulaev	3
	2	Avangard	4							Eastern Conference
	7	Sibir	3
											1	Ak Bars	3
										3	Traktor	4
	3	Traktor	4
	6	Barys	3
	4	Metallurg Mg	3			2	Avangard	1
	5	Salavat Yulaev	4			3	Traktor	4
																3	Traktor	2
		(Pairings are re-seeded after the first round.)
																3	Dynamo Msk	4
	1	SKA	4			1	SKA	4
	8	Atlant	1			5	Severstal	0
	2	CSKA	4
	7	Lev	0
											1	SKA	2
										3	Dynamo Msk	4
	3	Dynamo Msk	4
	6	Slovan	0								Western Conference
	4	Lokomotiv	2			2	CSKA	1
	5	Severstal	4			3	Dynamo Msk	4

• During the first three rounds home ice is determined by seeding number, not position on the bracket. In the Finals the team with the better regular season record has home ice.

Player statistics

Playoff scoring leaders

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

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	+/–	PIM
Petri Kontiola	Traktor Chelyabinsk	25	10	9	19	+10	12
Viktor Tikhonov	SKA Saint Petersburg	15	10	8	18	+11	20
Jakub Petružálek	Dynamo Moscow	19	9	7	16	+4	4
Tony Mårtensson	SKA Saint Petersburg	15	6	10	16	+8	8
Denis Kokarev	Dynamo Moscow	18	1	15	16	+11	0

Playoff leading goaltenders

Updated on 17 April 2013. Source: khl.ru^[14]

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

Player	Team	GP	Min	W	L	SOP	GA	SO	SV%	GAA
Alexander Eremenko	Dynamo Moscow	21	1309:24	16	5	0	38	3	93.4	1.74
Rastislav Staňa	CSKA Moscow	9	551:12	5	4	0	16	0	93.9	1.74
Konstantin Barulin	Ak Bars Kazan	18	1233:41	11	7	0	36	2	94.1	1.75
Ilya Ezhov	SKA Saint Petersburg	11	645:27	6	4	0	19	2	93.3	1.77
Jeff Glass	Sibir Novosibirsk	7	406:47	3	4	0	12	2	94.1	1.77

Nadezhda Cup

Preliminary round

• Dinamo Riga vs Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod(4–1, 3–4, Riga wins extra overtime)
• Spartak Moscow vs Vityaz Chekhov (2–2, 1–0)

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Final

W14

Dinamo Riga

2

W9

HC Donbass

2

W14

Dinamo Riga

3

W10

Dinamo Minsk

0

W13

Spartak Moscow

0

W10

Dinamo Minsk

3

W14

Dinamo Riga

3

E11

Amur Khabarovsk

1

E12

Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg

2

E9

Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk

2

E12

Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg

2

E11

Amur Khabarovsk

2

E11

Amur Khabarovsk

3

E10

Metallurg Novokuznetsk

1

Final standings

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

Awards

Players of the Month

Best KHL players of each month.

Month	Goaltender	Defense	Forward	Rookie
September[15]	Konstantin Barulin (Ak Bars)	Yevgeny Medvedev (Ak Bars)	Jori Lehterä (Sibir)	Daniil Apalkov (Lokomotiv)
October[16]	Alexander Eremenko (Dynamo Moscow)	Anton Belov (Avangard)	Ilya Kovalchuk (SKA)	Nail Yakupov (Neftekhimik)
November[17]	Rastislav Staňa (CSKA)	Victor Hedman (Barys)	Artem Anisimov (Lokomotiv)	Viktor Antipin (Magnitogorsk)
December[18]	Karri Rämö (Avangard)	Sergei Gonchar (Magnitogorsk)	Evgeni Malkin (Magnitogorsk)	Alexander Sharychenkov (Dynamo Moscow)
January[19]	Vasiliy Koshechkin (Severstal)	Dmitri Kalinin (SKA)	Igor Skorokhodov (Yugra)	Valeri Nichushkin (Traktor)
February[20]	Vasiliy Koshechkin (Severstal)	Yakov Rylov (CSKA)	Mikhail Varnakov (SKA)	Valeri Nichushkin (Traktor)
March[21]	Michael Garnett (Traktor)	Dominik Graňák (Dynamo Moscow)	Viktor Tikhonov (SKA)	Valeri Nichushkin (Traktor)

KHL Awards

On 22 May 2013, the KHL held their annual award ceremony. A total of 23 different awards were handed out to teams, players, officials and media. The most important trophies are listed in the table below.^[22]

Golden Stick Award (regular season MVP)	Sergei Mozyakin (Magintogorsk)
Best coach	Oļegs Znaroks (Dynamo Msc)
Alexei Cherepanov Award (best rookie)	Valeri Nichushkin (Traktor)

The league also awarded six "Golden Helmets" for the members of the all-star team:

Forwards	Alexander Radulov SKA Saint Petersburg		Viktor Tikhonov SKA Saint Petersburg		Sergei Mozyakin Metallurg Magnitogorsk
Defense	Ilya Nikulin Ak Bars Kazan			Ilya Gorokhov Dynamo Moscow
Goalie	Alexander Eremenko Dynamo Moscow

References

1. "D-Day, 4th of September!". khl.ru. 2012-06-27.
2. "Lev from Slovakia to Prague". IIHF.com. 2012-03-30.
3. http://www.hcdonbass.com/home/news/news/18261?lang=ru
4. "Improvements for new season". khl.ru. 2012-07-28.
5. "Cup of Hope". khl.ru. 22 January 2013.
6. "Door opens for NHL men". khl.ru. 2012-09-17.
7. "Lockout NHL Realated Transfers". eliteprospects.com. 2012-09-21.
8. "Динамо" и СКА сыграют в Москве и Санкт-Петербурге (in Russian). khl.ru. 2012-10-26.
9. "KHL Regular season standings". KHL.ru.
10. "2012–13 KHL Standings". KHL.ru.
11. "Player Stats: 2012–2013 Regular season: All Skaters – Total Points". Kontinental Hockey League.
12. "Player Stats: 2012–2013 Regular season: Goalie – Goals Against Average". Kontinental Hockey League.
13. KHL Sports Regulations 2011-2014, revised
14. "Player Stats: 2012–2013 Playoffs: Goalie – Goals Against Average". Kontinental Hockey League.
15. "September's finest". KHL.ru. 2012-10-03.
16. "October's finest". KHL.ru. 2012-11-06.
17. "Novembers's finest". KHL.ru. 2012-12-06.
18. "Decembers's finest". KHL.ru. 2013-01-01.
19. "January's finest". KHL.ru. 2013-02-01.
20. "February's finest". KHL.ru. 2013-03-04.
21. "March's finest". KHL.ru. 2013-03-04.
22. "High Five. Season closing ceremony". KHL.ru. 2013-05-22.