Kontinental Hockey League < hr > " For other leagues named Continental Hockey League , please see Continental Hockey League ( disambiguation ) . " < hr > The Kontinental Hockey League ( in Russian : Континентальная хоккейная лига , Kontinentalnaya Hokkeinaya Liga ) ( KHL ) is an international professional league based in Eurasia , created in 2008 out of the Russian Superleague . The league comprises teams from eight countries : Russia , Belarus , Kazakhstan , Latvia , Ukraine , Czech Republic , Slovakia and Croatia . The vast majority of the teams ( 21 ) are based in Russia , while each of the other four countries has one team . 513 players who took part in the league activities in 2013 - 14 are of Russian ethnicity . 38 % of the players have other origins , mostly Eastern Europeans , Northern Europeans and North Americans . History . Original format . Initially , the KHL included all 20 teams of the RSL , plus Khimik Voskresensk and Barys Astana of the Vysshaya Liga , a new Dynamo Minsk and a new Dinamo Riga . The league established itself as a major one and thus aimed at becoming a major competitor to the National Hockey League . The league ' s trophy is the Gagarin Cup ; the name was chosen as a tribute to Yuri Gagarin since the league ' s calendar was set so that the Cup finals falls at the latest on April 12th , the anniversary date of Gagarin ' s historical flight . The new league was to be closed to the promotion and relegation system straight from the beginning . The league was initially divided into four divisions , named after legendary names of Russian / Soviet hockey ( Vsevolod Bobrov , Anatoli Tarasov , Valeri Kharlamov and Arkady Chernyshev ) . Teams were drawn randomly into the four divisions according to the following process : first , all 20 teams coming from the RSL had their names put in 5 ballot boxes ; depending on their performances in the league , they were put in the first box ( best teams ) and so on through the last . A sixth ballot box was added for the four newcomer teams , who were starting at zero , having no RSL record . Then , from these 6 boxes , a draw was made to decide the division members ; for each division , there was one name drawn per box . Divisions will be changed after the end of every season following the same system . The purpose of this unusual process was to make the league fair for everyone , in terms of travel costs and level . The system was hardly tested straight away , as the two most distant teams of the league , Riga and Khabarovsk were picked to play in the same division , making travel costs heavy for both teams , as teams from a same division play each other more often than they play other teams . The inaugural divisions went as follows : Each team plays four times against the other teams of its division and twice against the other teams , for a total of 56 games per season . The first 16 teams advance to the playoffs ; just like in the NHL , the league ' s top four seeds will be occupied by every division winner . The first round of the playoffs will be a best - of - five format ; further rounds will be best - of - seven . By doing so , they ensure that even in the worst case , the league ' s final will always be on April 12th , anniversary of the historical flight of Yuri Gagarin . Initially , Khimik Voskresensk was supposed to play in the Vysshaya Liga , while Avtomobilist Ekaterinburg was planned to play in the KHL , a first time in 12 years for the Ekaterinburg club to play at the top level in Russia . However , financial problems arose and the team had to be withdrawn from the upstart league ; Voskresensk , that had been crowned Vysshaya Liga champion the previous season ( beating Ekaterinburg in the finals ) replaced them , while Avtomobilist returned for one more season in the second level of Russian hockey . A salary cap 562 , 500 , 000 roubles ( roughly 23 . 5 million euros ) was adopted for a squad of 25 players , of which 162 , 500 , 000 roubles ( 6 . 8 millions ) was to be spent on four " star players " . The league resurrected the long dead NHL concept of the Waivers Draft and for a first time European hockey , a system of Entry Draft alike what is used in North America . Additionally , a system of farm team s was set up by the Russian Hockey Federation . The result was the Molodezhnaya Hokkeynaya Liga ( MHL ) . 2008 - 09 : the inauguration . All ready for its inauguration , the very North American - looking KHL held its inaugural match on September 2nd 2008 with the newly created Dinamo Riga playing some 6 , 000 kilometers away from home in the Russian Far East against Amur Khabarovsk . Aleksandrs Nizivijs earned the distinction of being the first scorer in the league ' s history 11 minutes 39 seconds into the game on a two - man advantage powerplay ; Riga defeated Khabarovsk 4 - 2 . Salavat Yulaev Ufa won the first edition of the Opening Cup by beating Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 4 - 1 . The league ' s promising debuts suddenly darkened when Alexei Cherepanov , a highly touted young player , died on the ice on October 13th 2008 during a game between his Avangard Omsk and the home team , Vityaz Chekhov . The young star collapsed on his team ' s bench following a collision on the ice with his teammate Jaromir Jagr . Medical intervention was delayed by the premature departure of the ambulance that usually stays at the arena during game time that had to be called back ; it took between 15 and 20 minutes to get Cherepanov to the hospital , according to reports . Though attempts to get his heart beating again were successful on five occasions , including one where he regained consciousness and recognized his teammates , nothing could ultimately be done to save Cherepanov ' s life . The young forward , who was suffering of a myocarditis , a disease that results in not enough blood flowing to the heart , was found to have consumed nikethamide 3 hours prior to the game ; investigating experts said that he had been engaged in doping for months . The incident cast a serious shadow over the KHL and the sheer amount of negligence that built up to Cherepanov ' s death triggered several punitive moves . Omsk club director Mikhail Denisov has been fired , whereas the league Disciplinary Committee has since removed Omsk ' s doctors from that role with the club , and suspended Avangard general manager Anatoly Bardin and team president Konstantin Potapov . Chekhov ' s team president was also suspended . On January 10th 2009 , the league held its first All - Star Game . The format opposed Team Yashin , made up of the best Russian players of the league , to Team Jágr , made up of the best foreign players . The match was played outside , on a rink built on the Red Square , in Moscow . The game was , however , unsuccesful at the gates , due to the cold weather and the very small capacity of the purposely built facilities . Team Jágr defeated Team Yashin 7 - 6 . The league however finished its inaugural season on an excellent note , as the playoffs proved incredible . Avangard , a team that has been plagued all season long with poor results and the aforementioned death , only narrowly qualified for the playoffs with a weak 16th place overall , despite having an excellent team on paper . And this is in good part what made the playoffs so exciting , as Avangard turned into some sort of a " giant - killer " that wreaked much havoc . They first eliminated the defending champions , Salavat Yulaev Ufa , in four games and seriously menaced the future champions Ak Bars Kazan , leading the series 2 - 1 after three games , forcing the Tatar club to come out strong or fall . And very strong did they come out : Ak Bars hammered Avangard 11 - 1 in the fourth match to make the series even again . And in an epic fifth match , Kazan defeated Omsk 3 - 2 after trailing 1 - 2 with 16 seconds to go in the third period . The league ' s inaugural Gagarin Cup was won on April 12th 2009 by Ak Bars Kazan , who defeated Lokomotiv Yaroslavl four games against three in the finals . At the KHL ' s inaugural Entry Draft , Mikhail Pashnin of Vysshaya Liga ' s Mechel Chelyabinsk was selected first overall by CSKA Moscow . 2009 - 10 : the sophomore season . Much changes were to be expected for the second season of the league . With the 2008 Financial Crisis raging and seriously hitting Russia , adjustments had to be made to ensure its teams can hold on . First , Avtomobilist Ekaterinburg had a sweet revenge on Khimik Voskresensk by taking its place in the KHL . Voskresensk had been accepted very late as a replacement for Ekaterinburg within the KHL , but definitely didn ' t have the finances nor the skills to compete with the other teams in the league , as its roster was initially ready for a season in the Vysshaya Liga . Khimik had finished dead last , and had to drop its best players to save money . Not financially viable for the KHL , it was replaced back by Avtomobilist . Khimik nevertheless maintained its KHL membership , making it possible for it to come back at a later time , when the finances of the team have improved . Second , the controversial divisions of the inaugural season ( which had put Riga and Khabarovsk together in the same division ) were replaced by a more intuitive geographical conferences and divisions system . The league also decided to innovate in the fight against the voluntary - tanking of teams in order to get the first pick overall . The league will now implement a little tournament to be played by the teams who failed to qualify for the playoffs . The winner of the tournament will get the coveted first pick , the runner - up the second , and so on . With the Molodezhnaya Hokkeynaya Liga ready for its first season , each club now has to set as many as 25 players to fill its roster . Clubs are also allowed to loan players to Vysshaya Liga teams , but no more than 5 players can go out on loan , and a team is forbidden to loan to more than two different Vysshaya Liga teams . Additionally , the league is expected to become even more North American , as it is set to adopt North American goal crease size and continuous 20 minutes playoffs overtime periods , replacing the shoot out s . The new season went under way on September 10th 2009 with the Opening Cup , featuring last season ' s two Gagarin Cup finalists . Ak Bars Kazan , last year ' s champion , defeated Lokomotiv Yaroslavl by the score of 3 - 2 . The league earned much publicity on December 11th when hockey legend Vyacheslav Fetisov laced up skates to play in a one - game comeback with his former team , CSKA Moscow . Fetisov , then aged 51 , played 8 minutes and did not register a point , nor even a shot on goal ; he actually finished the game with a - 1 . But his brief comeback created a large mediatic buzz in Russia and abroad . CSKA lost the game 3 - 2 to SKA Saint Petersburg , but the game was a success at the gates , with 5 , 600 spectators filling CSKA ' s arena . CSKA ' s full house on that night contrasted much with the hockey elsewhere in the league . Attendance figures in Saint Petersburg sharply rose , climbing from 6 , 614 to 9 , 400 . Avangard Omsk , Torpedo Yaroslavl and Salavat Yulaev Ufa also ranked among the top ten European clubs drawing the highest attendance figures , with Dinamo Riga and Amur Khabarovsk not trailing far behind . The season was once again somewhat tarnished by an incident between Avangard and Vityaz in Chekhov . This time , it ' s a bench - clearing brawl that broke out on January 9th 2010 , a mere four minutes into the first period ; 39 seconds later , a bench - and penalty - box clearing brawl broke out . The game was quickly getting out of hands and the officials decided it was better to cancel the whole game . Little else could be done , as a whopping total of 707 penalty minutes had been incurred - a new world record - and a total of 33 players on both teams have been ejected from the game , as well as both head coaches . Only four players avoided being ejected . The KHL imposed a total of 5 . 7 million rubles ( about US $ 191 , 000 ) and suspended seven players . Additionally , this game became the first in the league history where both teams lost the game , as the league declared it would be a 5 - 0 loss for both Avangard and Vityaz . No team earned points for this match . On January 30th , the KHL held its 2nd KHL All - Star Game , this time in Minsk , Belarus . Unlike the previous season , where the game was played outside , this one was held inside the brand new Minsk - Arena . For the second straight season , Team Jágr won against Team Yashin , this time with a score of 11 – 8 . Salavat Yulaev Ufa became KHL champion for a second straight season with 37 wins and 129 points , five better than Western Conference champions SKA Saint Petersburg , thus earning them the first ever Continental Cup awarded by the league . The playoffs began on March 10th . Ak Bars Kazan reached the finals for the second straight year and met HC MVD , the Cinderella team of the season . Kazan won the first two games 3 - 2 and 4 - 1 , but young MVD managed to come back in the third game and walk out with a tight 3 - 2 win . 2010 - 11 : crazy offseason . 2010 - 11 saw several changes in its member teams . Financially suffering Lada Tolyatti has experienced the same fate as Khimik Voskresensk two years ago and was demoted to the Vysshaya Liga , until it can rebuild healthy finances . The league also witnessed the merger of two teams : HC MVD , after coming close to winning the Gagarin Cup , was forced to merge with Dynamo Moscow , a team with a long and glorious history , to form a new team , UHC Dynamo , to be based at the Megasport Arena in Moscow . It was said that the team would play some games in Balashikha as well . With one team gone in the Eastern Conference and one spot now open in the Western Conference , the league welcomed two new teams to fill the gaps and keep its 24 - teams format . The Eastern Conference will see Yugra Khanty - Mansiysk , originally from the Vysshaya Liga , take part in the 2010 - 11 activities , while the Western Conference will be completed with HC Budivelnyk , based in Kyiv , Ukraine . The club was created purposedly to join the KHL and will become the first Ukrainian team since Sokil Kyiv to play at the elite level of Russian / Soviet hockey ; a gap of 14 years separates Sokil ' s last participation and Budivelnyk ' s arrival . Budivelnyk ' s arrival was supposed to mean the KHL would be experimenting , as the Kiev Palace of Sports , would have seen its rink size decreased to match NHL standards . New twists however occured during the summer . It was announced that due to problems with the reconstruction of the Kiev Palace of Sports , Budivelnyk would be excluded from the league for 2010 - 11 , thus leaving the league with 23 teams . In replacement , it was announced that long - time applicant Lev Poprad would replace Budivelnyk in the league . The team was initially known as Lev Hradec Králové , and hails from the Czech Republic . They had been wanting to join the league for a while , but never had their chance , especially with the Czech Ice Hockey Federation refusing to allow the team to play abroad . Lev countered the problem by moving the team to Poprad , Slovakia , where the federation did not oppose the club to have one team in the KHL and another one in the Slovak Extraliga . With this move , Lev became the first team based outside of the former U . S . S . R . to join the KHL . But this situation was even shorter lived , as it was announced on July 28th that Lev wouldn ' t be admitted into the league after all . Further administrative duties ( namely paying a compensation to Prohokej and HK Poprad , applying for membership in the Russian Hockey Federation and waiting for said federation to ask the Slovak Hockey Federation the permission for Lev to play in the KHL ) compelled the team to make a decision as late as August 18th ; the KHL decided to refuse this situation and cancelled Lev ' s admission to the league . The KHL announced it would play the 2010 - 11 season with 23 teams rather than 24 and would shorten the regular season by two games ( from 54 to 52 ) to adjust to the new format . 2011 - 12 : Tragedy . On September 7 , 2011 , the opening day of the 2011 - 12 KHL season , the members of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl entered an airplane in their hometown to fly to Minsk . Shortly after takeoff , the airplane struggled to gain altitude , struck a tower , and crashed into the Volga River . Forty - three of forty - five passengers died , survivors included a flight engineer and veteran player Alexander Galimov . The season opener in Ufa had already begun between Ufa and Moscow and was cancelled mid - first period after league president Alexander Medvedev came on to the ice and addressed the players and fans . The game was suspended and the season is to be restarted September 12 . Medvedev is requesting each team of the league donate three players to Lokomotiv to allow them to ice a team in 2011 - 12 and keep the spirit of its deceased alive .