2020–21 KHL season

The 2020–21 KHL season was the 13th season of the Kontinental Hockey League. There were 23 teams that competed in 60 regular season games, beginning on 2 September 2020 and finishing on 27 February 2021.^[1] The playoffs were held from 2 March, culminating in Game 6 of the Gagarin Cup Finals on 28 April. Avangard Omsk won their first Gagarin Cup title, avenging their sweep in the finals of the 2019 Gagarin Cup playoffs, defeating CSKA Moscow by 4 games to 2.^[2]

2020–21 KHL season
League	Kontinental Hockey League
Sport	Ice hockey
Duration	2 September 2020 – 27 February 2021 (regular season) 2 March – 28 April 2021 (playoffs)
Number of games	60
Number of teams	23
Regular season
Continental Cup winner	CSKA Moscow (91 points)
Top scorer	Vadim Shipachyov (Dynamo Moscow) (66 points)
Playoffs
Western champions	CSKA Moscow
Western runners-up	SKA Saint Petersburg
Eastern champions	Avangard Omsk
Eastern runners-up	Ak Bars Kazan
Finals champions	Avangard Omsk
Runners-up	CSKA Moscow

Season changes

For the 2020–21 season, the competition was reduced to 23 teams after Admiral Vladivostok took a hiatus for the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Russia affecting their financial status.^[3]

With pre-season events returning to the schedule in August as a part of preparations to start the season, Jokerit, whose ability to stage games was governed by Finland's restrictions in response to the coronavirus pandemic, announced that it expected to play before a reduced audience at the Hartwall Arena during the first month of the campaign.^[4]

Due to the on-going travel restrictions against the COVID-19 pandemic, Kunlun Red Star determined that they would be unable to play in Wukesong Arena situated in Beijing, China for this season. In August, the club signed a contract to play out of Mytishchi Arena, the second venue for the 2007 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships located on the outskirts of Moscow.^[5]

Teams

The 23 teams were split into four divisions: the Bobrov Division and the Tarasov Division as part of the Western Conference, with the Kharlamov Division and the Chernyshev Division as part of the Eastern Conference.

Following Admiral Vladivostok's hiatus from the league, and to alleviate any potential issues with teams transiting during the COVID-19 pandemic, several conference and divisional changes were announced.^[1]

Western Conference		Eastern Conference
Bobrov Division	Tarasov Division	Kharlamov Division	Chernyshev Division
Jokerit	CSKA Moscow	Ak Bars Kazan	Amur Khabarovsk
Severstal Cherepovets	Dinamo Minsk	Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg	Avangard Omsk
SKA Saint Petersburg	Dinamo Riga	Metallurg Magnitogorsk	Barys Nur-Sultan
HC Sochi	Dynamo Moscow	Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk	Kunlun Red Star
Spartak Moscow	Lokomotiv Yaroslavl	Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod	Salavat Yulaev Ufa
Vityaz Podolsk		Traktor Chelyabinsk	Sibir Novosibirsk

League standings

Each team played 60 games: playing every other team home-and-away (44 games), 8–10 games against division rivals and 6–8 games against teams in the other division in their respective conference.^[1]

Points were awarded for each game, where two points were awarded for all victories, regardless of whether it is in regulation time, in overtime or after game-winning shots. One point was awarded for losing in overtime or game-winning shots, and zero points for losing in regulation time. At the end of the regular season, the team that finished with the most points was crowned the Continental Cup winner.

Western Conference

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	CSKA Moscow (Z)	60	34	9	5	12	182	121	+61	91	Advance to Gagarin Cup Playoffs[a]
2	SKA Saint Petersburg (X)	60	33	4	8	15	178	126	+52	82
3	Dynamo Moscow	60	34	5	6	15	195	137	+58	84	Advance to Gagarin Cup Playoffs
4	Lokomotiv Yaroslavl	60	30	8	7	15	181	126	+55	83
5	Jokerit	60	26	6	9	19	174	153	+21	73
6	Severstal Cherepovets	60	23	9	4	24	149	159	−10	68
7	Dinamo Minsk	60	17	15	3	25	167	174	−7	67
8	Spartak Moscow	60	20	8	7	25	157	173	−16	63
9	Vityaz Podolsk	60	21	6	5	28	155	175	−20	59
10	HC Sochi	60	12	2	9	37	121	202	−81	37
11	Dinamo Riga	60	5	4	10	41	126	211	−85	28

Source: KHL
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) games won in regulation time; 3) games won in overtime; 4) games won in shootouts; 5) goal difference; 6) number of goals scored; 7) drawing of lots.
(X) Won division; (Z) Won Continental Cup
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	Ak Bars Kazan (Y)	60	33	8	8	11	185	131	+54	90	Advance to Gagarin Cup Playoffs[a]
2	Avangard Omsk (X)	60	33	3	12	12	180	134	+46	84
3	Metallurg Magnitogorsk	60	31	6	7	16	165	138	+27	81	Advance to Gagarin Cup Playoffs
4	Salavat Yulaev Ufa	60	28	10	5	17	181	151	+30	81
5	Traktor Chelyabinsk	60	27	7	6	20	157	143	+14	74
6	Barys Nur-Sultan	60	20	11	7	22	147	157	−10	69
7	Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg	60	24	6	8	22	152	154	−2	68
8	Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod	60	22	7	9	22	170	168	+2	67
9	Sibir Novosibirsk	60	20	7	4	29	146	155	−9	58
10	Amur Khabarovsk	60	17	7	7	29	146	171	−25	55
11	Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk	60	13	6	2	39	133	214	−81	40
12	Kunlun Red Star	60	11	2	8	39	139	213	−74	34

Source: KHL
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) games won in regulation time; 3) games won in overtime; 4) games won in shootouts; 5) goal difference; 6) number of goals scored; 7) drawing of lots.
(X) Won division; (Y) Won conference
Notes:

1. Teams leading a division hold one of the first two places of their conference.

Gagarin Cup playoffs

Ak Bars Kazan were the Eastern Conference regular season winners with 90 points. It was determined despite a 2–3 overtime loss at home to Spartak Moscow.^[6] CSKA Moscow were the Western Conference regular season winners with 91 points. It was determined following a 1–3 defeat suffered by closest challengers SKA Saint Petersburg, at home to Dynamo Moscow, leaving CSKA Moscow with an unassailable points lead.^[7] CSKA Moscow won the Continental Cup for the third season in succession and sixth time overall, defeating Ak Bars Kazan 1–0 on the final day of the regular season.^[8]

The 2021 Gagarin Cup playoffs started on 2 March 2021, and finished on 28 April 2021.^[9] The top eight teams from each of the conferences qualified for the playoffs.

	Conference Quarterfinals					Conference Semifinals					Conference Finals					Gagarin Cup Finals
	1	Ak Bars	4
	8	Torpedo	0
						1	Ak Bars	4
						4	Salavat Yulaev	0
	2	Avangard	4
	7	Avtomobilist	1
											1	Ak Bars	3
	Eastern Conference
											2	Avangard	4
	3	Metallurg	4
	6	Barys	2
						2	Avangard	4
						3	Metallurg	2
	4	Salavat Yulaev	4
	5	Traktor	1
																E2	Avangard	4
																W1	CSKA	2
	1	CSKA	4
	8	Spartak	0
						1	CSKA	4
						4	Lokomotiv	3
	2	SKA	4
	7	Dinamo	1
											1	CSKA	4
	Western Conference
											2	SKA	2
	3	Dynamo	4
	6	Severstal	1
						2	SKA	4
						3	Dynamo	1
	4	Lokomotiv	4
	5	Jokerit	0

Statistics

Scoring leaders

The following players led the league in points, at the conclusion of the regular season.^[10] If two or more skaters are tied (i.e. same number of points, goals and played games), all of the tied skaters are shown.

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	+/–	PIM
Vadim Shipachyov	Dynamo Moscow	57	20	46	66	+28	22
Teemu Hartikainen	Salavat Yulaev Ufa	53	28	36	64	+17	18
Damir Zhafyarov	Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod	58	21	40	61	+6	26
Dmitrij Jaškin	Dynamo Moscow	59	38	22	60	+25	52
Stéphane Da Costa	Ak Bars Kazan	52	27	30	57	+12	24
Justin Danforth	Vityaz Podolsk	58	23	32	55	+3	50
Brian O'Neill	Jokerit	53	12	42	54	+30	12
Markus Granlund	Salavat Yulaev Ufa	50	23	30	53	+22	26
Sakari Manninen	Salavat Yulaev Ufa	55	19	33	52	+18	10
Shane Prince	Dinamo Minsk	52	25	24	49	+14	45

Leading goaltenders

The following goaltenders led the league in goals against average, at the conclusion of the regular season.^[11]

Player	Team	GP	TOI	W	L	GA	SO	SV%	GAA
Lars Johansson	CSKA Moscow	24	1394:56	19	3	37	4	93.24%	1.59
Alexander Yeryomenko	Dynamo Moscow	26	1371:21	16	6	40	4	93.58%	1.75
Adam Reideborn	Ak Bars Kazan	29	1712:59	16	9	52	3	93.11%	1.82
Magnus Hellberg	SKA Saint Petersburg	21	1171:57	14	4	37	2	93.05%	1.89
Juho Olkinuora	Metallurg Magnitogorsk	30	1702:18	17	7	54	2	93.49%	1.90
Edward Pasquale	Lokomotiv Yaroslavl	41	2393:26	25	11	76	5	92.46%	1.91
Igor Bobkov	Avangard Omsk	30	1669:18	18	7	56	1	92.79%	2.01
Alexander Samonov	SKA Saint Petersburg	22	1160:07	10	8	39	2	92.46%	2.02
Alexander Sharychenkov	CSKA Moscow	36	2020:42	18	10	70	2	91.53%	2.08
Ivan Fedotov	Traktor Chelyabinsk	26	1496:07	14	7	55	1	92.52%	2.21

Awards

Players of the Month

The following players were recognised as the best KHL players of each month.

Month	Goaltender	Defence	Forward	Rookie
September[12]	Emil Garipov (Avangard Omsk)	Chay Genoway (Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg)	Alexei Makeyev (Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg)	Yegor Chinakhov (Avangard Omsk)
October[13]	Edward Pasquale (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl)	Daniil Miromanov (HC Sochi)	Justin Danforth (Vityaz Podolsk)	Yegor Chinakhov (Avangard Omsk)
November[14]	Dominik Furch (Dinamo Minsk)	Alexei Emelin (Avangard Omsk)	Dmitrij Jaškin (Dynamo Moscow)	Ivan Chekhovich (Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod)
December[15]	Alexander Yeryomenko (Dynamo Moscow)	Stepan Falkovsky (Dinamo Minsk)	Stéphane Da Costa (Ak Bars Kazan)	Ivan Chekhovich (Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod)
January[16]	Edward Pasquale (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl)	Philip Holm (Metallurg Magnitogorsk)	Shane Prince (Dinamo Minsk)	Alexander Alexeyev (Salavat Yulaev Ufa)
February[17]	Lars Johansson (CSKA Moscow)	Nick Bailen (Traktor Chelyabinsk)	Dmitrij Jaškin (Dynamo Moscow)	Klim Kostin (Avangard Omsk)