KHL Season 2019/20

[McDrailers]

He is not even best on his team. Yes, one could say KHL is a goalie-friendly league. Although it depends on a team you are playing for more than the league itself.

That said, Pasquale has been good. Not amazing but above average.

cool! Thanks, his stats stood out to me because of his play style. Never been the most solid technique wise

 

[SoundAndFury]

cool! Thanks, his stats stood out to me because of his play style. Never been the most solid technique wise

Yeah, I was unsure about his signing but at the time he was seen as Karlsson's backup/1B goalie. Karlsson struggled with age/injuries and at least at the start, Eddie managed to overtake him. I think it surprised a lot of people, Barys' brass included.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Only today I noticed Orebro is actually leading the SHL. I was like, "what the hell is going on there". The team is led by very familiar faces: Dominik Furch (4 seasons in the KHL), Ryan Stoa (5), Sakari Salminen (4), Rasmus Rissanen (2 seasons with Jokerit), Shane Harper (36 games in the KHL with Lada). We often discuss how good or bad signings from different European leagues are, rarely do we see the opposite - many career KHLers playing on the same team in another league. Definitely nice to see them doing so well, the confirmation of their quality, of sorts.

And I was led to believe that kind of team would barely make playoffs in the Belarussian Extraleague

Orebro are playing the "conventional" contender Frolunda today for the 1st place in the league (if Frolunda wins they will be tied in points), I would suggest those with spare time on their hands to tune in.

 

[SoundAndFury]

A somewhat fitting end to this unlikely Neftekhimik's run. This is what they call a statement game, by Loko, it seems.

 

[rohky]

Talented Finnish forward is KHL's Man of the Week. The 27-years-old from Oulu is at his second season in the league and he is doing really well - is it just me or does it feel like there are a lot of Finnish KHLers that are thriving at the moment?

Man of the Week – Sakari Manninen

 

[rohky]

Wow! What a save by Jhonas Enroth. What are people's most memorable saves from this season so far?

 

[rohky]

Now that's what hockey is about! Perfect goal by Nikita Mikhailis (Barys Nur-Sultan)

 

[SoundAndFury]

is it just me or does it feel like there are a lot of Finnish KHLers that are thriving at the moment?

A fairly usual amount?

Manninen has 3 goals on the season so he is hardly thriving... I would say the only ones who are performing well above expectations are Pulkkinen and Sibir guys.

 

[rohky]

A fairly usual amount?

Manninen has 3 goals on the season so he is hardly thriving... I would say the only ones who are performing well above expectations are Pulkkinen and Sibir guys.

Aaltonen too.

 

[rohky]

Worth a read - the Rob Klinkhammer interview about Avangard, Bilyaletdinov, leaving Ak Bars, and life in Russia.

Интервью Клинкхаммера – об «Авангарде», Билялетдинове, уходе из «Ак Барса» и жизни в России

 

[SoundAndFury]

Aaltonen too.

Well, he is at a very similar pace to his previous seasons. By no means is he struggling but much like Metsola, we just got used to them performing at that certain level.

Meanwhile, the going got very tough for Vityaz. Losing 4-0 to Riga at the moment. 10 games in and Salak is at ~92 Sv% already. It took a while but the guy is still definitely a legit starting goalie in the KHL.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Is this some kind of mistake or did Voynov seriously just play 36 minutes against Minsk?

 

[Caser]

Is this some kind of mistake or did Voynov seriously just play 36 minutes against Minsk?

Avangard have basically just 4 healthy Ds left on the roster and the game went to OT.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Well-rested CSKA are losing at home to Severstal who have lost 10 games in a row. That seems like a cause for concern.

 

[Go Donbass]

CSKA lose to Severstal, 2-1 in OT.

Last 8 games for CSKA:

2-1 Loss to Severstal
5-2 Loss to Salavat
3-2 Loss to Spartak
4-1 Loss to Neftekhimik
3-0 Win over Barys
2-1 Loss to Sibir
2-1 Win over Avangarde
3-0 Loss to Jokerit

This is what happens when your entire strategy is to win every game 2-0. All that talent and they can't score to save their lives. Looks good on them.

 

[SoundAndFury]

This is what happens when your entire strategy is to win every game 2-0. All that talent and they can't score to save their lives. Looks good on them.

Has to be mentioned they were the highest-scoring team in the league before this stretch though. It's telling how the league usually is..

Meanwhile, with the loss today, Traktor is effectively last in the league (Riga has same amount of points but have played 2 games less). Pretty shocking. 11 points away from the playoff spot already their season might be done.. Despite having what seems like an amazing group of forwards.

 

[Go Donbass]

Has to be mentioned they were the highest-scoring team in the league before this stretch though. It's telling how the league usually is..

Meanwhile, with the loss today, Traktor is effectively last in the league (Riga has same amount of points but have played 2 games less). Pretty shocking. 11 points away from the playoff spot already their season might be done.. Despite having what seems like an amazing group of forwards.

I think what you are trying to say is that the league as a whole is low scoring, as it would have to be for CSKA to be the leading scoring team in the league. I counted it up, and in 28 games, CSKA have scored more than 3 goals exactly 8 times. I'm sorry, but that's pretty pathetic for a team that stockpiles talent like they do. And they had one game where they popped 9 against Spartak and another where they scored 6 against Riga. 2 games account for 17% of their scoring on the year. My point is, that CSKA are dull as dirt, and no-one is smiling more than me about this current 4 game losing streak.

 

[SoundAndFury]

I think what you are trying to say is that the league as a whole is low scoring, as it would have to be for CSKA to be the leading scoring team in the league. I counted it up, and in 28 games, CSKA have scored more than 3 goals exactly 8 times. I'm sorry, but that's pretty pathetic for a team that stockpiles talent like they do. And they had one game where they popped 9 against Spartak and another where they scored 6 against Riga. 2 games account for 17% of their scoring on the year. My point is, that CSKA are dull as dirt, and no-one is smiling more than me about this current 4 game losing streak.

Yes, my point was there are very few teams in the league that aren't trying to win every game 2-0. SKA has 10 regulation wins in 30 games. Barys are 3rd in the East scoring 2,07 goals per game. Over half of starting goalies in the league have Sv% above .93. CSKA is just the mirror of the rest of the league, albeit they have better players (and even then one could wager SKA has much more offensively-suited roster). And the majority of the league, as you said, wants to win 2-0.

 

[Go Donbass]

Yes, my point was there are very few teams in the league that aren't trying to win every game 2-0. SKA has 10 regulation wins in 30 games. Barys are 3rd in the East scoring 2,07 goals per game. Over half of starting goalies in the league have Sv% above .93. CSKA is just the mirror of the rest of the league, albeit they have better players (and even then one could wager SKA has much more offensively-suited roster). And the majority of the league, as you said, wants to win 2-0.

I disagree that the other teams in the league "want" to win every game 2-0. I would suggest they have no other option. Since CSKA and SKA have sucked up every decently offensively skilled player in the league, only to have 90% of them healthy scratches every game, that doesn't leave a lot of other offensive talent left for everyone else. So when you have only enough offensive players for 1.5 lines, you have to employ other strategies to win, hence the Minnesota Wild strategy. However, teams like CSKA and SKA have no excuse to employ that strategy, they just do, and of course it results in boring hockey and a lot more losses piling up than would otherwise be necessary.

 

[SoundAndFury]

I disagree that the other teams in the league "want" to win every game 2-0. I would suggest they have no other option. Since CSKA and SKA have sucked up every decently offensively skilled player in the league, only to have 90% of them healthy scratches every game, that doesn't leave a lot of other offensive talent left for everyone else. So when you have only enough offensive players for 1.5 lines, you have to employ other strategies to win, hence the Minnesota Wild strategy. However, teams like CSKA and SKA have no excuse to employ that strategy, they just do, and of course it results in boring hockey and a lot more losses piling up than would otherwise be necessary.

Teams like Torpedo or Dinamo Minsk show you can score with the players you have, you can even achieve moderate success while doing it and you don't have to resort to 2-0 tactics. While Traktor proved yet again defensive tactics don't guarantee anything either.

Teams like Traktor or Barys, with well above-average personnel scoring a pathetic number of goals is a choice, not a necessity. Hell, Barys even has one of the best PPs in the league so it's utterly ridiculous how bad their 5 on 5 scoring is. But none of it is the first time. The same happened that infamous season Skabelka coached Avangard out of the playoffs. The same happened to Skudra in his last season with Torpedo. There are very, very few coaches in the KHL that don't just copy-paste their system no matter what team they are coaching and sooner or later it leads to the same results.

Teams like Severstal, Riga or Amur - sure, let them do whatever works. But there are plenty of mid or even upper tier teams that do it by design. Even with rosters that don't particularly fit the style.

 

[Go Donbass]

Mario Kempe released by the Los Angeles Kings today. Which army team signs him?

 

[Section Netherlands]

Mario Kempe released by the Los Angeles Kings today. Which army team signs him?

Didn't Avangard say they were open to sign Kovalchuk? Maybe they could give Kempe a shot. He did well in Vityas in his last KHL tenure.

 

[SoundAndFury]

I don't think any of the big clubs would be interested in him. He is not that good of the player for big clubs to go that extra mile to make room for him.

 

[rohky]

A poor start of the seaon by Pavel Datsky, but is he back on track after Sunday's game?

 

[SoundAndFury]

He doesn't get much press but Dmitrij Jaskin is on the most impressive point streak I can remember in the KHL and has probably broken some records along the way. Since it lasts for an entire month now I thought it deserves a mention. His point streak is 11 games (nothing we haven't seen before) but over those games, he has scored 23 points. The guy is above 2 PPG for more than a month now. Pretty amazing.