2016–17 KHL season

The 2016–17 KHL season was the ninth season of the Kontinental Hockey League. The season started on 22 August 2016 and ended on 16 April 2017.^[1][2] SKA Saint Petersburg defeated Metallurg Magnitogorsk four games to one to win their second Gagarin Cup Championship in three seasons.

2016–17 KHL season
League	Kontinental Hockey League
Sport	Ice hockey
Duration	22 August 2016 – 16 April 2017
Number of games	60
Number of teams	29
Regular season
Continental Cup winner	CSKA Moscow
Top scorer	Sergei Mozyakin
Playoffs
Western champions	SKA Saint Petersburg
Western runners-up	Lokomotiv Yaroslavl
Eastern champions	Metallurg Magnitogorsk
Eastern runners-up	Ak Bars Kazan
Gagarin Cup
Champions	SKA Saint Petersburg
Runners-up	Metallurg Magnitogorsk

The KHL had the third highest average attendance in Europe, averaging 6,121 spectators,^[3] and the highest total attendance in Europe with 5.32 million spectators in the regular season.

Team changes

The Chinese club HC Kunlun Red Star from Beijing, China joined the league, to become its 29th team.^[4][5]

The Russian Club Metallurg Novokuznetsk was relegated due to debt.

Divisions and regular season format

Like in the 2015–16 season, each team played every other team once at home and once on the road, giving a total of 56 games (28 at home, 28 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 60 games in the regular season.^[2][6]

How the teams are divided into divisions and conferences is shown in the table below.^{[7][8][9][10]}

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
Medveščak Zagreb	Lokomotiv Yaroslavl	Metallurg Magnitogorsk	Barys Astana
SKA Saint Petersburg	Severstal Cherepovets	Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk	HC Kunlun Red Star
Slovan Bratislava	Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod	Traktor Chelyabinsk	Metallurg Novokuznetsk
Spartak Moscow	Vityaz Podolsk	Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk	Salavat Yulaev Ufa
			Sibir Novosibirsk

League standings

Western Conference

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	CSKA Moscow	60	41	3	8	8	183	110	+73	137	Advance to Gagarin Cup Playoffs[a]
2	SKA Saint Petersburg	60	39	7	6	8	249	114	+135	137
3	Dynamo Moscow	60	29	10	5	16	164	111	+53	112	Advance to Gagarin Cup Playoffs
4	Lokomotiv Yaroslavl	60	32	4	6	18	163	130	+33	110
5	Dinamo Minsk	60	27	10	4	19	171	150	+21	105
6	Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod	60	27	8	7	18	145	124	+21	104
7	Vityaz Podolsk	60	26	7	5	22	162	158	+4	97
8	Jokerit	60	23	6	12	19	149	165	−16	93
9	HC Sochi	60	24	7	2	27	139	145	−6	88
10	Slovan Bratislava	60	22	7	5	26	144	166	−22	85
11	Severstal Cherepovets	60	18	5	10	27	133	163	−30	74
12	Medveščak Zagreb	60	19	4	4	33	138	186	−48	69
13	Spartak Moscow	60	18	3	6	33	125	168	−43	66
14	Dinamo Riga	60	11	10	5	34	116	158	−42	58

Updated to match(es) played on 18 February 2017. 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.

Eastern Conference

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Metallurg Magnitogorsk	60	36	5	6	13	197	135	+62	124	Advance to Gagarin Cup Playoffs[a]
2	Avangard Omsk	60	30	8	3	19	156	127	+29	109
3	Ak Bars Kazan	60	29	9	4	18	155	127	+28	109	Advance to Gagarin Cup Playoffs
4	Traktor Chelyabinsk	60	27	3	10	20	130	120	+10	97
5	Barys Astana	60	25	6	3	26	151	167	−16	90
6	Salavat Yulaev Ufa	60	21	6	13	20	169	174	−5	88
7	Admiral Vladivostok	60	24	3	8	25	147	153	−6	86
8	HC Kunlun Red Star	60	24	4	3	29	139	144	−5	83
9	Sibir Novosibirsk	60	20	8	7	25	133	138	−5	83
10	Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk	60	20	8	4	28	143	155	−12	80
11	Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg	60	19	6	10	25	139	165	−26	79
12	Amur Khabarovsk	60	20	5	6	29	110	130	−20	76
13	Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk	60	18	4	4	34	112	148	−36	66
14	Lada Togliatti	60	16	5	7	32	146	180	−34	65
15	Metallurg Novokuznetsk	60	8	6	4	42	97	194	−97	40

Updated to match(es) played on 18 February 2017. 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

Main article: 2017 Gagarin Cup playoffs

Gagarin Cup

The playoffs started on 21 February 2017, with the top eight teams from each of the conferences and end with the last game of the Gagarin Cup final on 16 April 2017.^[2]

Bracket

	Conference Quarterfinals					Conference Semifinals					Conference Finals					Gagarin Cup Finals
	1	Metallurg Mg	4
	8	Kunlun Red Star	1
						1	Metallurg Mg	4
						5	Barys	0
	2	Avangard	4
	7	Admiral	2
											1	Metallurg Mg	4
	Eastern Conference
											3	Ak Bars	0
	3	Ak Bars	4
	6	Salavat Yulaev	1
						2	Avangard	2
						3	Ak Bars	4
	4	Traktor	2
	5	Barys	4
																E1	Metallurg Mg	1
																W2	SKA	4
	1	CSKA	4
	8	Jokerit	0
						1	CSKA	2
						4	Lokomotiv	4
	2	SKA	4
	7	Vityaz	0
											4	Lokomotiv	0
	Western Conference
											2	SKA	4
	3	Dynamo Msk	4
	6	Torpedo	1
						2	SKA	4
						3	Dynamo Msk	1
	4	Lokomotiv	4
	5	Dinamo Mn	1

Final standings

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

Player statistics

Scoring leaders

As of 18 February 2017

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	+/–	PIM
Sergei Mozyakin	Metallurg Magnitogorsk	60	48	37	85	+10	4
Ilya Kovalchuk	SKA Saint Petersburg	60	32	46	78	+28	47
Vadim Shipachyov	SKA Saint Petersburg	50	26	50	76	+33	22
Nikita Gusev	SKA Saint Petersburg	57	24	47	71	+33	8
Evgenii Dadonov	SKA Saint Petersburg	53	30	36	66	+33	39

Source: KHL

Leading goaltenders

As of 18 February 2017

Player	Team	GP	Min	W	L	SOP	GA	SO	SV%	GAA
Alexander Yeryomenko	Dynamo Moscow	37	2092:48	24	4	5	45	9	.950	1.29
Pavel Francouz	Traktor Chelyabinsk	30	1718:50	14	9	3	41	5	.953	1.43
Ilya Sorokin	CSKA Moscow	39	2276:14	25	7	6	61	5	.929	1.61
Igor Shestyorkin	SKA Saint Petersburg	39	2190:49	27	4	6	60	8	.937	1.64
Viktor Fasth	CSKA Moscow	21	1169:05	15	2	2	33	4	.929	1.69

Source: KHL

Awards

Players of the Month

Best KHL players of each month.

Month	Goaltender	Defense	Forward	Rookie
September[11]	Ilya Proskuryakov (Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod)	Mat Robinson (Dynamo Moscow)	Sergei Mozyakin (Metallurg Magnitogorsk)	Vladimir Tkachev (Admiral Vladivostok)
October[12]	Igor Shestyorkin (SKA Saint Petersburg)	Chris Lee (Metallurg Magnitogorsk)	Ilya Kovalchuk (SKA Saint Petersburg)	Artyom Zagidulin (Kunlun Red Star)
November[13]	Vasily Demchenko (Traktor Chelyabinsk)	Zakhar Arzamastsev (Salavat Yulaev Ufa)	Sergei Mozyakin (Metallurg Magnitogorsk)	Dmitry Shulenin (Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod)
December[14]	Alexander Yeryomenko (Dynamo Moscow)	Yegor Martynov (Avangard Omsk)	Richard Gynge (Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk)	Vladimir Tkachev (Admiral Vladivostok)
January[15]	Alexander Yeryomenko (Dynamo Moscow)	Juuso Hietanen (Dynamo Moscow)	Sergei Mozyakin (Metallurg Magnitogorsk)	Artyom Ilenko (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl)
February[16]	Alexander Yeryomenko (Dynamo Moscow)	Jakub Nakládal (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl)	Sergei Mozyakin (Metallurg Magnitogorsk)	Denis Alexeyev (Admiral Vladivostok)
March[17]	Vasily Koshechkin (Metallurg Magnitogorsk)	Vladislav Gavrikov (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl)	Danis Zaripov (Metallurg Magnitogorsk)	Grigori Dronov (Metallurg Magnitogorsk)
April

Milestones