KHL 2015-2016 General Discussion

[Jussi]

Never going to happen as long as it's under the Russian federation

And Rotenbergs holding positions in both so a snowball has a better chance in hell..

 

[Acallabeth]

KHL.ru changed their style. Fortunately, it didn't include omitting half of the information and making the page unreadable. I like the new design.

 

[ozo]

KHL.ru changed their style. Fortunately, it didn't include omitting half of the information and making the page unreadable. I like the new design.

Yep, design is quite alright. Now if only they would come up with an actual content, so we could have something interesting to read about on daily basis...

 

[SoundAndFury]

KHL.ru changed their style. Fortunately, it didn't include omitting half of the information and making the page unreadable. I like the new design.

I don't know if you are referring to the new nhl.com design and this is frankly offtopic but holy **** that things sucks.

 

[Dueling Banjos]

Yep, design is quite alright. Now if only they would come up with an actual content, so we could have something interesting to read about on daily basis...

Yeah, i like the whole darker thing going.

 

[Dueling Banjos]

I don't know if you are referring to the new nhl.com design and this is frankly offtopic but holy **** that things sucks.

Unbearable.

 

[Acallabeth]

I don't know if you are referring to the new nhl.com design and this is frankly offtopic but holy **** that things sucks.

Exactly what I was referring to. As awful as it gets, while KHL gets an intelligent looking restyling.
By the way, Mozyakin's haughty face on the front page never gets old.

 

[Dueling Banjos]

Exactly what I was referring to. As awful as it gets, while KHL gets an intelligent looking restyling.
By the way, Mozyakin's haughty face on the front page never gets old.

Reminds me of Chuck Norris.

 

[hansomreiste]

Especially asking for help from Russian friends or anyone who can understand Russian decently. I thought I understood this article... However, I can't believe it,

http://allhockey.ru/article/show/248601-Staryj_gladkij_ili_dlinnyj_s_interesnym_okonchaniem

Does it talk about abolishing play-off completely and make it similar to football championship, where the team with most points at the end of season is crowned champions?

Please tell me I misunderstood it. This is probably the most ******** idea I've ever read about. Ice hockey and basketball have play-off for a reason; they are very fast paced games where regular season is not fair enough to determine a champion. What if there was no play-off in KHL? All fun would've been ended long ago with CSKA being obvious champions. Or, it would be just a fight between CSKA and Loko nobody else cared about. Plain stupid.

 

[Acallabeth]

I think it was Krikunov who gave that idea - to abolish the playoffs and have just a regular season, because a lot of players stop playing in February, which is not very good, and having "predictable" playoffs isn't worthy of that. He suggested obligatory dragging balloons as well.

This idiotic idea was harshly rejected by fans and most hockey personalities except for a couple of old men who miss the Soviet times, so I can confidently say this will never happen.

Fun fact posted in ruNet: now 5-time KHL scoring champion Sergei Mozyakin took his last penalty on January 10th of... 2015!!! His non-penalized streak include 83 games, including last playoffs and this entire regular season.

 

[hansomreiste]

I think it was Krikunov who gave that idea - to abolish the playoffs and have just a regular season, because a lot of players stop playing in February, which is not very good, and having "predictable" playoffs isn't worthy of that. He suggested obligatory dragging balloons as well.[/B]

Having around %40 of players stop playing in February is indeed a concern; however, abolishing play-off to fix this sounds extreme, it's like setting fire a ready-to-harvest, whole productive field because of bugs in it.

I am not sure if it's suitable for a major league as KHL but maybe four more teams can be added into play-off scheme in total; like top 6 teams directly qualify for play-off, while following four teams compete for two remaining spots. I suppose the number of teams in KHL will be or even exceed 30 in near future. With this system, 20 of 30 teams would go as far as mid-March at least with much tenser play-off fights. For example, if we had this structure for this season; teams like Medvescak, Minsk, Traktor and Yugra would have a much tougher fight for play-off, which were lost long ago for them.

Though I think this what I say will never materialize, it suits better for country leagues with 16 teams at most. Nadezhda Cup was a good way to keep teams awake but it was obvious that it would not work. Maybe it can be revived with a couple of changes to make it more appetizing. Play-off spot for the winner, for example. However, in this case, all play-off schedule would have to be re-evaluated to enable Nadezhda Cup winner to start play-off in a relevant stage.

Anyway, KHL is good enough for now with its top 8 play-off & best-of-7 format.

Fun fact posted in ruNet: now 5-time KHL scoring champion Sergei Mozyakin took his last penalty on January 10th of... 2015!!! His non-penalized streak include 83 games, including last playoffs and this entire regular season.

If I was a kid in Magnitogorsk and my teacher asked me what I would like to be when I grow up, I'd probably answer Mozyakin. If not airplane. This guy is already a legend to me, probably for everyone else as well.

 

[Acallabeth]

I think 16 teams is adequate for the playoffs unless a massive expansion happens.

Nadezhda Cup would be very interesting if KHL had a working draft system. Unfortunately, KHL draft doesn't work so much the league officials will discuss getting rid of it for good.

Lengthening the regular season is often suggested too, but teams that lose chances for the POs early would just cruise until the end of the season. But if the KHL started the season in mid-September again, finished it in mid-April, changed their policy regarding EHT (made a pact with the FHR to release up to 2 players from a team to all stages, but only stop the season for the 1st Channel Cup), a 64-70 game season could easily be held.

Also, KHL posted a bunch of stats that prove that the league parity was the best in the KHL history, and at least the teams would play. Having a hard salary cap and open payrolls is an absolute must, if the league intends to continue moving in that direction.

If I was a kid in Magnitogorsk and my teacher asked me what I would like to be when I grow up, I'd probably answer Mozyakin. If not airplane.

Umm... airplane??

 

[Boltsppy]

**** guys you really can't finally play fair? What happened to Slovan with their locked locker room was enough by itself, refs are just a bonus. And you're talking about expanding KHL etc. You're really appealing to non-soviet teams!

 

[Salavat Yulaev]

**** guys you really can't finally play fair? What happened to Slovan with their locked locker room was enough by itself, refs are just a bonus. And you're talking about expanding KHL etc. You're really appealing to non-soviet teams!

?
it's about almost 25 years I've seen a soviet team last time

 

[hansomreiste]

Why does CSKA have such few supporters? Their arena is old and it doesn't look good. The fans are not that many. In basketball, CSKA is by far the best team. In football, they were and arguably they still are alongside Zenit. Why do they have such a "modest" arena and crowd in ice hockey when the team is just awesome?

 

[Atas2000]

Why does CSKA have such few supporters? Their arena is old and it doesn't look good. The fans are not that many. In basketball, CSKA is by far the best team. In football, they were and arguably they still are alongside Zenit. Why do they have such a "modest" arena and crowd in ice hockey when the team is just awesome?

Because they only have an awesome owner/sponsor in Rosneft for only a couple of years. It was enough to build a formidable team. Building arenas and getting the fans back(especially in Moscow) takes much more time. But they have the funds now. I do not follow the arena situation closely, but I remeber Fedorov speaking a lot about whether building a new arena or making one of the modern arenas in Moscow their home. It will be an even tougher task to get the fans back. They will need to create a new fanbase basically.

P.S. The "old barns" of the Moscow teams are monuments of hockey history too. I enjoy watching hockey there for the utter rememberance of what games took place there.

 

[cska78]

Cska has a horrid following, our forum is hardly alive at all, its sad.

 

[Dueling Banjos]

Cska has a horrid following, our forum is hardly alive at all, its sad.

That's a shame, such historical and iconic club. How was in the past, when and what did go wrong?

 

[cska78]

That's a shame, such historical and iconic club. How was in the past, when and what did go wrong?

I am not from Moscow, but in the past early - mid 80's when CSKA played NHL teams you wouldn't find anybody in the streets and I come from a non-hockey city.
When the SU fell apart, so did the appeal of rooting for CSKA. I lived through all these (club splitting up, poverty, loosing best players etc) and still support the team.
However, I don't think the likes of Radulov should be the face of CSKA in spite of him being a great (KHL-level) player.
The majority of the following are the soccer guys, who just need to keep practicing their chants in off-season.

 

[malkinfan]

Great goal scored by Okulov today, a great talent who is emerging this playoffs. Was dominant back at the SS, was shocked when he was cut from the WJC. His speed and skill are both high end.

 

[cska78]

He is undersized, that team had a lot of those. TOrpedo is raising some nice projects.

 

[Wien]

Was there a KHL draft last summer? I haven't seen any information about one taking place..

How about this coming summer? Is one planned?

 

[Salavat Yulaev]

Was there a KHL draft last summer? I haven't seen any information about one taking place..

How about this coming summer? Is one planned?

Now it is called "Junior Fair" and those who has no contract with a home club are only ones who can be drafted.
I think it is good decision cause before clubs were demotivated to invest into hockey schools

 

[hansomreiste]

I believe this does not deserve another thread so wanted to ask here: How many derbies are there in KHL now and what are their types as well as magnitude? Traditional, geographical; not of significance, very fierce etc... First ones to come to my mind, please do not hesitate to add/correct,

SKA vs CSKA: Well, for obvious reasons... Two biggest and most important cities of Russia and their most prolific teams. I guess this would find itself a place in "traditional" part.

Ak Bars vs Salavat Yulaev: Both from Turkic republics in Russia. Proximity and success are the major parts in my opinion. And there is this, "We are the kings of this region!" thing.

Avangard vs Sibir: Novokuznetsk could also be added here but at the moment they are more like "little brother" for those two teams due to the lack of competitiveness. This one is a great Siberian derby.

Amur vs Admiral: I am not sure if we can take this one as a derby... Do Khabarovsk and Vladivostok people see each other as fierce rivals, or is it more like "Thanks for not leaving us alone here in Far East!" brotherhood? They are from major cities of their region, however, I think there is still time for this one to grow as Admiral is a relatively young and mediocre team - this is my opinion in general, not specific for this season where Admiral was obviously much better than Amur.

Metallurg Mg vs Traktor: Close cities with similar features. I guess people in these cities are definitely interested in games against the other one but I am not sure how fiercely competed this derby is.

Aside from that, there are Moscow derbies of course. CSKA-Dynamo, CSKA-Spartak, Dynamo-Spartak... Though I guess the ones including CSKA are not that fierce; because CSKA (and also even Spartak) doesn't have a passionate fanbase when it comes to hockey. What are your thoughts?

I am not sure if Vityaz-Avangard also counts as a derby...

 

[Salavat Yulaev]

Ak Bars vs Salavat Yulaev: Both from Turkic republics in Russia. Proximity and success are the major parts in my opinion. And there is this, "We are the kings of this region!" thing.

There is one psychological component in Green Derby that motivates players of both teams to fight till the very end.
No matter how far SYu or Ak Bars will get after this. Even if they loose in the next series their fans will be satisfied cause they beat the MAIN opponent.
That's why both Ufa and Kazan were happy that they met in the first round.