2018–19 KHL season

The 2018–19 KHL season was the eleventh season of the Kontinental Hockey League. The season started on 1 September 2018 and ended on 19 April 2019. Continental Cup winners CSKA Moscow became the first team to win the Gagarin Cup finals in a series sweep, defeating Avangard Omsk in four games to win their first Gagarin Cup, after two previous Finals defeats.
==Season changes==
For the 2018–19 season, 25 teams competed in the KHL – down from 27 in 2017–18. The two teams that were excluded from the league were HC Lada Togliatti and HC Yugra, with both teams moving to the Supreme Hockey League. As well as this, Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod were moved from the Western Conference, to the Eastern Conference; as a result, the Western Conference consisted of 12 teams and the Eastern Conference consisted of 13 teams.
The 2018–19 season featured the most games of any KHL season to date, with each team scheduled to play 62 games, up from 56 in 2017–18.
===KHL World Games===
This season witnessed the first time that KHL games were played in Austria and Switzerland, as part of the KHL World Games. Slovan Bratislava played in both Austrian games (on 26 and 28 October) at the Albert Schultz Eishalle in Vienna – home to the Vienna Capitals of the Austrian Hockey League – losing 9–0 to CSKA Moscow, and 7–0 to SKA Saint Petersburg. The Swiss games were played at the Hallenstadion in Zürich – home to the ZSC Lions of the Swiss National League – with Dinamo Riga playing in both games (on 26 and 28 November), losing 3–1 to SKA Saint Petersburg, and 5–0 to CSKA Moscow.
==Teams==
The 25 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. On 24 April 2018, the KHL announced re-alignment after both Lada Togliatti and Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk left the league.
Western Conference	Eastern Conference
Bobrov Division 	Tarasov Division 	Kharlamov Division 	Chernyshev Division
Dinamo Riga 	CSKA Moscow 	Admiral Vladivostok	Ak Bars Kazan
Dynamo Moscow 	Dinamo Minsk 	Amur Khabarovsk 	Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg
Jokerit 	HC Sochi 	Avangard Omsk 	Metallurg Magnitogorsk
Severstal Cherepovets	Lokomotiv Yaroslavl	Barys Astana 	Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk
SKA Saint Petersburg 	Slovan Bratislava 	Kunlun Red Star 	Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod
Spartak Moscow 	Vityaz Podolsk 	Salavat Yulaev Ufa 	Traktor Chelyabinsk
 	 	Sibir Novosibirsk 	
==League standings==
Each team played 62 games, playing each of the other twenty-four teams twice: once on home ice, and once away from home. As well as this, each team played a further two games against each of their divisional rivals, and four games total against non-divisional teams.
Points were awarded for each game, where two points were awarded for all victories, regardless of whether it was in regulation time, in overtime or after a shootout. One point was awarded for losing in overtime or a shootout, 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===
===Eastern Conference===
==Gagarin Cup playoffs==
==Final standings==
Rank	Team
1 	CSKA Moscow
2 	Avangard Omsk
3 	SKA Saint Petersburg
4 	Salavat Yulaev Ufa
5 	Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg
6 	Lokomotiv Yaroslavl
7 	Barys Astana
8 	Dynamo Moscow
9 	Metallurg Magnitogorsk
10 	Ak Bars Kazan
11 	Jokerit
12 	HC Sochi
13 	Spartak Moscow
14 	Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod
15 	Vityaz Podolsk
16 	Traktor Chelyabinsk
17 	Dinamo Riga
18 	Sibir Novosibirsk
19 	Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk
20 	Kunlun Red Star
21 	Admiral Vladivostok
22 	Severstal Cherepovets
23 	Amur Khabarovsk
24 	Dinamo Minsk
25 	Slovan Bratislava
==Player statistics==
===Scoring leaders===
The following players led the league in points, at the conclusion of the regular season. 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 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	SKA Saint Petersburg 	62	17	65	82	+39	10
 	Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg	60	28	41	69	+20	12
 	Dynamo Moscow 	61	20	48	68	+22	30
 	Dynamo Moscow 	61	24	37	61	+22	40
 	Jokerit 	62	13	45	58	+7 	30
 	Metallurg Magnitogorsk 	61	23	32	55	+14	10
 	Metallurg Magnitogorsk 	62	20	35	55	+12	34
 	Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg	61	25	28	53	+22	6
 	Barys Astana 	62	15	38	53	+30	59
 	CSKA Moscow 	55	17	35	52	+33	10
===Leading goaltenders===
The following goaltenders led the league in goals against average, at the conclusion of the regular season.
Player	Team 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	SKA Saint Petersburg 	28	1680:51	24	4 	31	10	95.27%	1.11
 	CSKA Moscow 	24	1406:51	20	3 	27	9 	94.50%	1.15
 	CSKA Moscow 	40	2327:53	28	6 	45	11	94.04%	1.16
 	SKA Saint Petersburg 	34	2048:13	24	7 	45	8 	93.98%	1.32
 	Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg	50	2958:08	38	9 	88	8 	93.90%	1.78
 	Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 	45	2416:58	25	15	76	10	92.96%	1.89
 	Dynamo Moscow 	38	2113:41	19	16	68	3 	93.27%	1.93
 	Metallurg Magnitogorsk 	25	1102:49	12	7 	36	4 	92.44%	1.96
 	Avangard Omsk 	49	2682:16	25	17	89	8 	91.44%	1.99
 	Salavat Yulaev Ufa 	48	2761:22	25	20	93	4 	93.44%	2.02
==Awards==
===Season awards===
The KHL's end-of-season awards ceremony was held on 28 May 2019 in Barvikha.
Award 	Recipient(s) 	Team
Best Sniper Award (most goals) 	Kirill Kaprizov 	CSKA Moscow
Coach of the Year 	Igor Nikitin 	CSKA Moscow
General Manager of the Year 	Igor Yesmantovich 	CSKA Moscow
Gimayev Prize (for loyalty to hockey) 	Alexander Popov 	CSKA Moscow
Golden Helmet 	Juha Metsola 	Salavat Yulaev Ufa
Golden Helmet 	Darren Dietz 	Barys Astana
Golden Helmet 	Nikita Nesterov 	CSKA Moscow
Golden Helmet 	Mikhail Grigorenko 	CSKA Moscow
Golden Helmet 	Teemu Hartikainen 	Salavat Yulaev Ufa
Golden Helmet 	Ilya Mikheyev 	Avangard Omsk
Playoffs Most Valuable Player 	Ilya Sorokin 	CSKA Moscow
Rookie of the Year 	Ilya Konovalov 	Lokomotiv Yaroslavl
Top Scorer Award (most points) 	Nikita Gusev 	SKA Saint Petersburg
Continental Cup 	CSKA Moscow 	CSKA Moscow
Eastern Conference winner 	Avangard Omsk 	Avangard Omsk
Vsevolod Bobrov Prize (most team goals)	SKA Saint Petersburg	SKA Saint Petersburg
Western Conference winner 	CSKA Moscow 	CSKA Moscow
===Players of the Month===
Best KHL players of each month.
Month 	Goaltender 	Defence 	Forward 	Rookie
September	Jakub Kovář (Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg)	Darren Dietz (Barys Astana) 	Anatoly Golyshev (Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg)	Nikita Mikhailov (Sibir Novosibirsk)
October 	Juha Metsola (Salavat Yulaev Ufa) 	Paul Postma (Ak Bars Kazan) 	Nigel Dawes (Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg) 	Ilya Konovalov (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl)
November 	Ilya Sorokin (CSKA Moscow) 	Darren Dietz (Barys Astana) 	Nigel Dawes (Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg) 	Nikita Mikhailov (Sibir Novosibirsk)
December 	Henrik Karlsson (Barys Astana) 	Vojtěch Mozík (Vityaz) 	Vadim Shipachyov (Dynamo Moscow) 	Kristian Vesalainen (Jokerit)
January 	Ilya Konovalov (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl) 	Viktor Svedberg (Barys Astana) 	Nikita Gusev (SKA Saint Petersburg) 	Mārtiņš Dzierkals (Dinamo Riga)
February 	Anton Krasotkin (Admiral Vladivostok) 	Staffan Kronwall (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl)	André Petersson (Barys Astana) 	Ilya Konovalov (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl)
March 	Ilya Sorokin (CSKA Moscow) 	Mat Robinson (CSKA Moscow) 	Nikita Gusev (SKA Saint Petersburg) 	Daniil Misyul (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl)
April 	Juha Metsola (Salavat Yulaev Ufa) 	Mat Robinson (CSKA Moscow) 	Mikhail Grigorenko (CSKA Moscow) 	Not awarded
==References==
==External links==
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Category:Kontinental Hockey League seasons
KHL
KHL