2012-13 KHL season

The 2012–13 KHL season was the fifth season of the Kontinental Hockey League. The regular season began on 4 September with the Lokomotiv Cup between last year's finalists Dynamo Moscow and Avangard Omsk. For the first time, the league consisted of 26 teams from 7 different countries. Dynamo Moscow successfully defended their title after beating Traktor Chelyabinsk in the Gagarin Cup finals.
==Changes==
===Team changes===
After withdrawing from the previous season in the wake of the plane crash that killed the team's entire active roster, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl returned to the KHL with new players. 
Lev Poprad was disbanded, but a team of the same name, Lev Praha, was established in Prague, Czech Republic, while Slovan Bratislava joined the KHL and thus continues the league's presence in Slovakia. Also Donbass Donetsk from Donetsk, Ukraine joined the league. The team previously played in the VHL.http://www.hcdonbass.com/home/news/news/18261?lang=ru This brought the total number of teams to 26, representing 7 different countries.
===Salary cap===
The salary cap changed from a soft cap to a hard cap, set at 1.1 billion rubles (approx. US$36.5 million), but each club can waive the cap for one player transferred directly from the NHL, if he is eligible to play for the Russian national team.
===Season structure===
The regular season consisted of 52 games for each team — twice (home and away) against each other team in the league and two extra games against a selected "rival" opponent (typically a geographically close team). This was a change from previous seasons, where all intra-division opponents were played more frequently. The top 8 teams from each conference qualified for the play-offs, which are played as best-of-seven series in each round.
===Cup of hope===
In January 2013, a new repechage tournament known as the Cup of Hope was announced, which was held alongside the playoffs. Six teams from the Western Conference and four teams from the Eastern Conference who had not qualified for the playoffs competed in the tournament, whose prize includes the first overall pick in the next KHL Junior Draft. The new tournament is intended to extend the season, and help maintain interest in the game for fans and players in preparation for the 2014 Winter Olympics. The first Cup of Hope was won by Dinamo Riga.
==Regular season==
The regular season started on 4 September 2012 with the Lokomotiv Cup between the finalists of the previous season, Dynamo Moscow and Avangard Omsk and ended on 17 February 2013 after every team has played 52 matches.
===Notable events===
====NHL lockout====
The league set up rules for the NHL lockout which lasted 16 September 2012 to early January 2013. According to the special regulations, each KHL team was allowed to add up to 3 NHL players to their roster, among them at most one foreign player.
List of NHL players signing KHL lockout contractsSource: eliteprospect.com	List of NHL players signing KHL lockout contractsSource: eliteprospect.com	List of NHL players signing KHL lockout contractsSource: eliteprospect.com	List of NHL players signing KHL lockout contractsSource: eliteprospect.com
Date 	Player 	NHL Team 	KHL Team
09/16/2012 	Evgeni Malkin (C) 	(from) Pittsburgh Penguins 	(to) Metallurg Magnitogorsk
09/16/2012 	Sergei Gonchar (D) 	(from) Ottawa Senators 	(to) Metallurg Magnitogorsk
09/16/2012 	Ruslan Fedotenko (LW) 	(from) Philadelphia Flyers 	(to) Donbass Donetsk
09/16/2012 	Alexei Ponikarovsky (LW) 	(from) Winnipeg Jets 	(to) Donbass Donetsk
09/16/2012 	Anton Khudobin (G) 	(from) Boston Bruins 	(to) Atlant Moscow Oblast
09/17/2012 	Ľubomír Višňovský (D) 	(from) New York Islanders 	(to) Slovan Bratislava
09/17/2012 	Kaspars Daugaviņš (LW) 	(from) Ottawa Senators 	(to) Dinamo Riga
09/17/2012 	Nikolai Kulemin (RW) 	(from) Toronto Maple Leafs 	(to) Metallurg Magnitogorsk
09/17/2012 	Ilya Kovalchuk (RW) 	(from) New Jersey Devils 	(to) SKA Saint Petersburg
09/18/2012 	Jakub Voráček (RW) 	(from) Philadelphia Flyers 	(to) Lev Praha
09/18/2012 	Niklas Bäckström (G) 	(from) Minnesota Wild 	(to) Dinamo Minsk
09/18/2012 	Semyon Varlamov (G) 	(from) Colorado Avalanche 	(to) Lokomotiv Yaroslavl
09/19/2012 	Alexander Ovechkin (LW) 	(from) Washington Capitals 	(to) Dynamo Moscow
09/19/2012 	Pavel Datsyuk (C) 	(from) Detroit Red Wings 	(to) CSKA Moscow
09/19/2012 	Ilya Bryzgalov (G) 	(from) Philadelphia Flyers 	(to) CSKA Moscow
09/20/2012 	Jiří Hudler (LW) 	(from) Calgary Flames 	(to) Lev Praha
09/20/2012 	Nik Antropov (C) 	(from) Winnipeg Jets 	(to) Barys Astana
09/20/2012 	Artem Anisimov (C) 	(from) Columbus Blue Jackets 	(to) Lokomotiv Yaroslavl
09/21/2012 	Mikhail Grabovski (C) 	(from) Toronto Maple Leafs 	(to) CSKA Moscow
09/21/2012 	Sergei Bobrovsky (G) 	(from) Columbus Blue Jackets 	(to) SKA Saint Petersburg
9/21/2012 	Vladimir Tarasenko (RW) 	(from) St. Louis Blues 	(to) SKA Saint Petersburg
09/24/2012 	Dmitri Kulikov (D) 	(from) Florida Panthers 	(to) Lokomotiv Yaroslavl
09/25/2012 	Nikita Nikitin (D) 	(from) Columbus Blue Jackets 	(to) Avangard Omsk
09/25/2012 	Pekka Rinne (G) 	(from) Nashville Predators 	(to) Dinamo Minsk
09/27/2012 	Anton Babchuk (D) 	(from) Calgary Flames 	(to) Donbass Donetsk
09/27/2012 	Andrej Sekera (D) 	(from) Buffalo Sabres 	(to) Slovan Bratislava
09/28/2012 	Victor Hedman (D) 	(from) Tampa Bay Lightning 	(to) Barys Astana
09/28/2012 	Evander Kane (LW) 	(from) Winnipeg Jets 	(to) Dinamo Minsk
10/02/2012 	Zdeno Chára (D) 	(from) Boston Bruins 	(to) Lev Praha
10/02/2012 	Tom Wandell (LW) 	(from) Dallas Stars 	(to) Severstal Cherepovets
10/03/2012 	Andrei Markov (D) 	(from) Montreal Canadiens 	(to) Vityaz Chekhov
10/04/2012 	Anton Volchenkov (D) 	(from) New Jersey Devils 	(to) Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod
10/05/2012 	Joe Pavelski (C) 	(from) San Jose Sharks 	(to) Dinamo Minsk
10/07/2012 	Sergei Kostitsyn (LW) 	(from) Nashville Predators 	(to) Avangard Omsk
10/11/2012 	Ryan McDonagh (D) 	(from) New York Rangers 	(to) Dynamo Moscow
10/19/2012 	Nicklas Bäckström (C) 	(from) Washington Capitals 	(to) Dynamo Moscow
10/30/2012 	Joffrey Lupul (RW) 	(from) Toronto Maple Leafs 	(to) Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg
11/20/2012 	Viktor Stålberg (RW) 	(from) Chicago Blackhawks 	(to) Atlant Moscow Oblast
12/07/2012 	Ryan O'Reilly (C) 	(from) Colorado Avalanche 	(to) Metallurg Magnitogorsk
01/04/2013 	Kris Letang (D) 	(from) Pittsburgh Penguins 	(to) SKA Saint Petersburg
====Proposed matches in New York====
Two regular season games between Dynamo Moscow and SKA Saint Petersburg were planned to take place in the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York in January 2013. However, the KHL reverted this decision in October 2012 and thus these matches will be played in Russia.
====All-star game====
The 5th KHL all-star game was played on 13 January 2013 in Chelyabinsk, with Team East, captained by Aleksey Morozov, winning 18–11 over Team West, captained by Ilya Kovalchuk.
===League standings===
Source: KHL.ru
Points are awarded as follows:
*3 Points for a win in regulation ("W")
*2 Points for a win in overtime ("OTW") or a penalty shootout ("SOW")
*1 Point for a loss in overtime ("OTL") or a penalty shootout ("SOL")
*0 Points for a loss in regulation ("L")
The conference standings determine the seedings for the play-offs. The first two places in each conference are reserved for the division winners.
====Western Conference====
R 	 	Div	GP	W 	OTW	SOW	SOL	OTL	L 	GF 	GA 	Pts
1 	c – SKA Saint Petersburg	BOB	52	36	1 	1 	2 	1 	11	182	116	115
2 	y – CSKA Moscow 	TAR	52	23	5 	8 	1 	0 	15	151	109	96
3 	Dynamo Moscow 	BOB	52	27	3 	6 	1 	1 	14	150	115	101
4 	Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 	TAR	52	24	2 	8 	0 	0 	18	131	121	92
5 	Severstal Cherepovets 	TAR	52	21	1 	6 	3 	5 	16	137	117	85
6 	Slovan Bratislava 	BOB	52	17	3 	8 	5 	0 	19	124	127	78
7 	Lev Praha 	BOB	52	23	0 	1 	2 	3 	23	132	133	76
8 	Atlant Moscow Oblast 	TAR	52	19	1 	3 	4 	4 	21	137	141	73
 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
9 	Donbass Donetsk 	BOB	52	17	2 	5 	6 	1 	21	134	142	72
10	Dinamo Minsk 	TAR	52	18	5 	1 	2 	3 	23	125	148	71
11	Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 	TAR	52	19	0 	2 	4 	4 	23	142	146	69
12	Vityaz Chekhov 	BOB	52	11	1 	6 	6 	2 	26	119	151	55
13	Spartak Moscow 	TAR	52	11	4 	2 	5 	2 	28	106	151	52
14	Dinamo Riga 	BOB	52	13	2 	2 	2 	2 	31	109	151	51
y – Won division; c – Won Continental Cup (best record in KHL);
BOB – Bobrov Division, TAR – Tarasov Division
Source: khl.ru
====Eastern Conference====
R 	 	Div	GP	W 	OTW	SOW	SOL	OTL	L 	GF 	GA 	Pts
1 	z – Ak Bars Kazan 	KHA	52	28	1 	5 	5 	3 	10	157	112	104
2 	y – Avangard Omsk 	CHE	52	26	6 	3 	4 	2 	11	149	121	102'''
3 	Traktor Chelyabinsk 	KHA	52	28	0 	3 	6 	2 	13	152	120	98
4 	Metallurg Magnitogorsk 	KHA	52	27	0 	0 	7 	5 	13	167	121	93
5 	Salavat Yulaev Ufa 	CHE	52	24	2 	3 	6 	0 	17	148	140	88
6 	Barys Astana 	CHE	52	23	3 	2 	2 	4 	18	175	161	85
7 	Sibir Novosibirsk 	CHE	52	21	1 	5 	4 	3 	17	124	119	84
8 	Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 	KHA	52	17	5 	5 	4 	2 	19	144	150	77
 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
9 	Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk 	KHA	52	19	4 	3 	3 	0 	23	153	163	74
10	Metallurg Novokuznetsk 	CHE	52	15	3 	1 	3 	2 	28	132	177	58
11	Amur Khabarovsk 	CHE	52	11	1 	4 	1 	0 	35	115	167	44
12	Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg	KHA	52	7 	0 	1 	7 	5 	32	104	180	35
y – Won division; z – Won conference (and division); 
CHE – Chernyshev Division, KHA – Kharlamov Division
Source: khl.ru
===Player statistics===
====Scoring leaders====
Updated on 17 February 2013. Source: khl.ru
 
GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/– = Plus-minus; PIM = Penalty minutes
Player 	Team 	GP	G 	A 	Pts	+/–	PIM
Sergei Mozyakin 	Metallurg Magnitogorsk 	48	35	41	76 	+21	6
Alexander Radulov 	CSKA Moscow 	48	22	46	68 	+12	86
Evgeni Malkin 	Metallurg Magnitogorsk 	37	23	42	65 	+23	58
Patrick Thoresen 	SKA Saint Petersburg 	52	21	30	51 	+17	49
Jori Lehterä 	Sibir Novosibirsk 	52	17	31	48 	+18	48
Evgeny Kuznetsov 	Traktor Chelyabinsk 	51	19	25	44 	–1 	42
Dmitri Kagarlitsky	Donbass Donetsk 	51	14	30	44 	–5 	12
Mikhail Varnakov 	Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod	51	22	21	43 	+9 	62
Nikolay Zherdev 	Atlant Moscow Oblast 	50	15	28	43 	–7 	29
Dmitri Makarov 	Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod	52	13	30	43 	–2 	14
====Leading goaltenders====
Updated on 17 February 2013. Source: khl.ru</small>
GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; SOP = Shootouts played; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average
Player 	Team 	GP	Min 	W 	L	SOP	GA	SO	SV% 	GAA
Rastislav Staňa 	CSKA Moscow 	34	1944:58	18	6	2 	57	4 	.934	1.76
Lars Haugen 	Dinamo Minsk 	22	1289:29	13	7	1 	39	2 	.933	1.81
Alexander Eremenko	Dynamo Moscow 	30	1783:44	17	7	6 	55	5 	.931	1.85
Stanislav Galimov 	Atlant Moscow Oblast	25	1389:58	14	6	3 	45	4 	.943	1.94
Sergei Bobrovsky 	SKA Saint Petersburg	24	1419:36	18	3	2 	46	4 	.932	1.94
==Playoffs==
The playoffs started on 20 February 2013 with the top eight teams from both conferences and ended on 17 April with the last game of the Gagarin Cup final.
During the first three rounds home ice was determined by seeding number within the Conference, not position on the bracket. In the Finals the team with better seeding number had home ice advantage. If the seeding numbers were equal, the regular season record was taken into account.KHL Sports Regulations 2011-2014, revised
===Player statistics===
====Playoff scoring leaders====
Updated on 17 April 2013. Source: khl.ru
 
GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/– = Plus-minus; PIM = Penalty minutes
Player 	Team 	GP	G 	A 	Pts	+/–	PIM
Viktor Tikhonov 	SKA Saint Petersburg	15	10	9 	19 	+11	20
Petri Kontiola 	Traktor Chelyabinsk 	25	10	9 	19 	+10	12
Jakub Petružálek	Dynamo Moscow 	19	9 	7 	16 	+4 	4
Tony Mårtensson 	SKA Saint Petersburg	15	6 	10	16 	+8 	8
Denis Kokarev 	Dynamo Moscow 	18	1 	15	16 	+11	0
====Playoff leading goaltenders====
Updated on 17 April 2013. Source: khl.ru
GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; SOL = Shootout losses; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average
Player 	Team 	GP	Min 	W 	L	SOP	GA	SO	SV% 	GAA
Alexander Eremenko	Dynamo Moscow 	21	1309:24	16	5	0 	38	3 	93.4	1.74
Rastislav Staňa 	CSKA Moscow 	9 	551:12 	5 	4	0 	16	0 	93.9	1.74
Konstantin Barulin	Ak Bars Kazan 	18	1233:41	11	7	0 	36	2 	94.1	1.75
Ilya Ezhov 	SKA Saint Petersburg	11	645:27 	6 	4	0 	19	2 	93.3	1.77
Jeff Glass 	Sibir Novosibirsk 	7 	406:47 	3 	4	0 	12	2 	94.1	1.77
== Nadezhda Cup ==
=== Qualification ===
====(W14) Dinamo Riga - (W9) Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod====
==== (W13) Spartak Moscow - (W12) Vityaz Chekhov ====
=== Tournament ===
== Final standings ==
Rank	Team
1 	Dynamo Moscow
2 	Traktor Chelyabinsk
3 	SKA Saint Petersburg
4 	Ak Bars Kazan
5 	Avangard Omsk
6 	CSKA Moscow
7 	Salavat Yulaev Ufa
8 	Severstal Cherepovets
9 	Metallurg Magnitogorsk
10 	Lokomotiv Yaroslavl
11 	Barys Astana
12 	Sibir Novosibirsk
13 	Slovan Bratislava
14 	Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk
15 	Lev Praha
16 	Atlant Moscow Oblast
17 	Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk
18 	Donbass Donetsk
19 	Dinamo Minsk
20 	Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod
21 	Metallurg Novokuznetsk
22 	Vityaz Chekhov
23 	Spartak Moscow
24 	Dinamo Riga
25 	Amur Khabarovsk
26 	Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg
==Awards==
===Players of the Month===
Best KHL players of each month.
Month 	Goaltender 	Defense 	Forward 	Rookie
September	Konstantin Barulin (Ak Bars) 	Yevgeny Medvedev (Ak Bars) 	Jori Lehterä (Sibir) 	Daniil Apalkov (Lokomotiv)
October 	Alexander Eremenko (Dynamo Moscow)	Anton Belov (Avangard) 	Ilya Kovalchuk (SKA) 	Nail Yakupov (Neftekhimik)
November 	Rastislav Staňa (CSKA) 	Victor Hedman (Barys) 	Artem Anisimov (Lokomotiv) 	Viktor Antipin (Magnitogorsk)
December 	Karri Rämö (Avangard) 	Sergei Gonchar (Magnitogorsk) 	Evgeni Malkin (Magnitogorsk)	Alexander Sharychenkov (Dynamo Moscow)
January 	Vasiliy Koshechkin (Severstal) 	Dmitri Kalinin (SKA) 	Igor Skorokhodov (Yugra) 	Valeri Nichushkin (Traktor)
February 	Vasiliy Koshechkin (Severstal) 	Yakov Rylov (CSKA) 	Mikhail Varnakov (SKA) 	Valeri Nichushkin (Traktor)
March 	Michael Garnett (Traktor) 	Dominik Graňák (Dynamo Moscow)	Viktor Tikhonov (SKA) 	Valeri Nichushkin (Traktor)
===KHL Awards===
On 22 May 2011, the KHL held their annual award ceremony. A total of 23 different awards were handed out to teams, players, officials and media. The most important trophies are listed in the table below.
Golden Stick Award (regular season MVP)	Sergei Mozyakin (Magintogorsk)
Best coach 	Oļegs Znaroks (Dynamo Msc)
Alexei Cherepanov Award (best rookie) 	Valeri Nichushkin (Traktor)
The league also awarded six "Golden Helmets" for the members of the all-star team:
Forwards	Alexander RadulovSKA Saint Petersburg	Alexander RadulovSKA Saint Petersburg	Viktor TikhonovSKA Saint Petersburg	Viktor TikhonovSKA Saint Petersburg	Sergei MozyakinMetallurg Magnitogorsk	Sergei MozyakinMetallurg Magnitogorsk
Defense 	Ilya NikulinAk Bars Kazan 	Ilya NikulinAk Bars Kazan 	Ilya NikulinAk Bars Kazan 	Ilya GorokhovDynamo Moscow 	Ilya GorokhovDynamo Moscow 	Ilya GorokhovDynamo Moscow
Goalie 	Alexander EremenkoDynamo Moscow 	Alexander EremenkoDynamo Moscow 	Alexander EremenkoDynamo Moscow 	Alexander EremenkoDynamo Moscow 	Alexander EremenkoDynamo Moscow 	Alexander EremenkoDynamo Moscow
==References==
Category:Kontinental Hockey League seasons
Category:2013 in hockey