2008-09 KHL season

The 2008-09 KHL season was the inaugural season of the Kontinental Hockey League. It started on September 2, 2008, and finished on February 26, 2009. 24 teams each played 56 games.
==Major signings from the NHL==
Wishing to establish itself as a major professional league in direct competition with the NHL, the KHL's teams were encouraged to sign NHL players. The players who have made the jump to the upstart KHL were Jaromír Jágr (Omsk), Alexander Radulov (Ufa), Ray Emery (Mytischi), Sergei Brylin (St. Petersburg), Ladislav Nagy (Cherepovets), Jozef Stümpel (Astana), Marcel Hossa (Riga), Ben Clymer (Minsk), Alexei Zhitnik (Dynamo Moscow), Bryan Berard and Chris Simon (both with Chekhov). In the case of Radulov, the signing created a dispute between the NHL and the KHL, as him signing with Salavat Yulaev Ufa meant that his contract with the Nashville Predators would not be honored; however, the day prior to the announcement of Radulov signing with Ufa (i.e. on July 10 2008), the KHL and the National Hockey League had resolved an agreement stating that both leagues would honor the contract of the other (ruling out leagues stealing the players of the other). An investigation by the International Ice Hockey Federation ruled that the signing of Radulov was made two days prior to the KHL-NHL agreement, and that Radulov's contract with Ufa was therefore not breaking the agreement.
==Financial difficulties==
In its first season only, the league already saw some of its teams, which had met the league's financial conditions to be allowed in, be bothered by financial problems. Metallurg Novokuznetsk suffered from the global financial crisis of 2008, with its sponsor, Evraz Group, allegedly cutting funding. Rumors stated the team would fold by New Year Day, but the team could finish the season.
HC MVD has experienced delays in paying players, while Khimik Voskresensk has run itself into debt. Metallurg Magnitogorsk has been forced to cut staff expenditures by 30%. Avangard Omsk owner Roman Abramovich has promised to continue financial support so long as the team maintains good results. Other teams experiencing financial limitations are Vityaz Chekhov, Atlant Moscow, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl and the legendary CSKA Moscow.
A "crisis package" has been devised by the KHL to deal with the economic troubles of the time. Cuts will be made in pre-game activities, training camps and pre-season tournaments in order to save some money. A roll-back of mid-level players may occur, and a divisional re-alignment will take place for the 2009-10 KHL season in order to cut down on travel costs (the inaugural divisions saw unlikely match ups such as Dinamo Riga and Amur Khabarovsk together in the same division, for instance).
==Alexei Cherepanov's death==
The season was tarnished on October 13 2008 during a match between Avangard Omsk and Vityaz Chekhov as young forward Alexei Cherepanov died due to a heart condition.
Two months later, on December 29, after investigation, it was found out that the promising player died from myocarditis, a condition that results in not enough blood getting to the heart; the investigators said that with that condition, Cherepanov should never have played professional hockey. The Federal Investigative Committee also announced that blood and urine samples allowed them to conclude that "for several months Alexei Cherepanov engaged in doping"http://www.tsn.ca/story/?id=261215. The substance found was stated by official sources to be kordiamin, a chemical used to treat cardiovascular diseases, but also to stimulate the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. The substance had been taken 3 hours prior to the game in which he died.
Disciplinary actions were taken against personnel of both Avangard and Vityaz. Omsk's director Mikhail Denisov has been fired and the team's doctor removed from his functions within the team; GM Anatoly Bardin and president Konstantin Potapov have been indefinitely suspended from the league. Chekhov's president was also suspended. 
==All-Star Game==
For more details, please see 2009 KHL All-Star Game
The league's inaugural all-star game was held in Moscow on january 10th 2009. It was played on the Red Square and saw Team Jágr (International All-Stars) defeating Team Yashin (Russian All-Stars) 7–6.
==Regular season final standings==
Regular season ended on February 26, 2009. Division winners rank 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th of the league. 
 	Club 	Gp	W 	OTW	OTL	L 	Goals 	Points
1. 	Salavat Yulaev Ufa 	56	38	5 	5 	8 	203:111	129
2. 	Ak Bars Kazan 	56	36	4 	6 	10	189:123	122
3. 	Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 	56	32	4 	7 	13	189:110	111
4. 	CSKA Moscow 	56	27	7 	11 	11	176:141	106
5. 	Atlant Mytischi 	56	35	7 	3 	11	189:111	122
6. 	Metallurg Magnitogorsk 	56	25	13 	3 	15	174:148	104
7. 	Dynamo Moscow 	56	27	7 	5 	17	184:143	100
8. 	SKA St. Petersburg 	56	26	9 	4 	17	143:105	100
9. 	Spartak Moscow 	56	26	6 	3 	21	173:158	93
10.	Dinamo Riga 	56	24	5 	4 	23	132:156	86
11.	Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod	56	24	4 	4 	24	162:162	84
12.	Traktor Chelyabinsk 	56	24	2 	8 	22	142:166	84
13.	Lada Togliatti 	56	21	8 	5 	22	120:116	84
14.	Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk	56	22	3 	7 	24	146:140	79
15.	Barys Astana 	56	20	7 	4 	25	174:191	78
16.	Avangard Omsk 	56	19	8 	5 	24	161:164	78
17.	Severstal Cherepovets 	56	19	8 	4 	25	142:171	77
18.	HC MVD Balashikha 	56	20	6 	1 	29	142:159	73
19.	Sibir Novosibirsk 	56	15	6 	7 	28	146:172	64
20.	Amur Khabarovsk 	56	15	4 	7 	30	111:158	60
21.	Metallurg Novokuznetsk 	56	12	7 	8 	31	127:157	54
22.	Dynamo Minsk 	56	12	3 	7 	34	124:197	49
23.	Vityaz Chekhov 	56	6 	5 	12 	33	134:225	41
24.	Khimik Voskresensk 	56	8 	3 	9 	36	108:187	39
==League leaders==
Top goal scorers	Top goal scorers	Top goal scorers	Top goal scorers	Top goal scorers
Player 	Team 	Goals 	 	
Pavel Brendl 	Nizhny Novgorod 	36 	 	
Jan Marek 	Magnitogorsk 	35 	 	
Danis Zaripov 	Kazan 	34 	 	
Sergei Mozyakin 	Mytischi 	34 	 	
Alexei Morozov 	Kazan 	32 	 	
Top assists 	Top assists 	Top assists	Top assists	Top assists
Player 	Team 	Assists 	 	
Sergei Mozyakin	Mytischi 	42 	 	
Alexei Morozov 	Kazan 	39 	 	
Jan Marek 	Magnitogorsk	36 	 	
Tony Mårtensson	Kazan 	34 	 	
Dmitry Pestunov	Omsk 	3 	 	
Most penalty minutes	Most penalty minutes	Most penalty minutes	Most penalty minutes	Most penalty minutes
Player 	Team 	PIM 	 	
Chris Simon 	Chekhov 	263 	 	
Tomas Kloucek 	Astana 	222 	 	
Martin Grenier 	Chelyabinsk 	211 	 	
Jan Platil 	Chekhov 	168 	 	
Branislav Mezei 	Astana 	151 	 	
Top points 	Top points 	Top points	Top points	Top points
Player 	Team 	Points 	 	
Sergei Mozyakin 	Mytischi 	76 	 	
Jan Marek 	Magnitogorsk 	76 	 	
Alexei Morozov 	Kazan 	71 	 	
Danis Zaripov 	Kazan 	65 	 	
Kevin Dallman 	Astana 	58 	 	
Alexei Tereschenko 	Ufa 	58 	 	
Alexander Korolyuk 	Mytischi 	54 	 	
Jaromir Jagr 	Omsk 	53 	 	
Konstantin Glazachev	Astana 	52 	 	
Alexander Perezhogin	Nizhny Novgorod	52 	 	
Save percentage (min. 22 games)	Save percentage (min. 22 games)	Save percentage (min. 22 games)	Save percentage (min. 22 games)	Save percentage (min. 22 games)
Player 	Team 	PIM 	 	
Vitaly Kolesnik 	Mytischi 	94.5% 	 	
Alexander Eremenko 	Ufa 	93.7% 	 	
Vitali Koshechkin 	Togliatti 	93.4% 	 	
Georgi Gelashvili 	Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 	93.3% 	 	
Stanislav Galimov 	Kazan 	92.7% 	 	
Sergei Bobrovski 	Novokuznetsk 	92.7% 	 	
Ray Emery 	Mytischi 	92.6% 	 	
Dmitry Yachanov 	St. Petersburg 	91.8% 	 	
Maxim Sokolov 	Novokuznetsk 	91.5% 	 	
Sergei Khoroshun 	Nizhnekamsk 	91.3% 	 	
Goal against average (min. 22 games)	Goal against average (min. 22 games)	Goal against average (min. 22 games)	Goal against average (min. 22 games)	Goal against average (min. 22 games)
Player 	Team 	PIM 	 	
Dmitry Yachanov 	St. Petersburg 	1.47 	 	
Vitali Kolesnik 	Mytischi 	1.59 	 	
Vitali Koshechkin 	Togliatti 	1.65 	 	
Alexander Eremenko 	Ufa 	1.74 	 	
Stanislav Galimov 	Kazan 	1.81 	 	
Georgi Gelashvili 	Yaroslavl 	1.86 	 	
Robert Esche 	St. Petersburg 	1.87 	 	
Ray Emery 	Mytischi 	2.12 	 	
Sergei Khoroshun 	Nizhnekamsk 	2.14 	 	
Vitali Yeremeyev 	D. Moscow 	2.23 	 	
==Playoffs==
==See Also==
*2009 Gagarin Cup Finals
==Trophies and awards==
===Players of the Month===
Best KHL players of each month.KHL Best players (in Russian)
Month 	Goaltender 	Defense 	Forward 	Rookie
September	Alexandr Eremenko (Ufa) 	Magnus Johansson (Atlant) 	Sergei Mozyakin (Atlant) 	Maxim Kitsyn (Novokuznetsk)
October 	Vitaly Kolesnik (Atlant) 	Ilya Nikulin (Kazan) 	Jan Marek (Magnitogorsk) 	Andrei Kolesnikov (Chekhov)
November 	Robert Esche (S. Petersburg) 	Konstantin Korneev (CSKA) 	Andrei Tereschenko (Ufa) 	Stanislav Galimov (Kazan)
December 	Martin Prusek (Riga) 	Karel Rachůnek (Dynamo M) 	Danis Zaripov (Kazan) 	Alexander Vasilev (Chekhov)
January 	Vitaly Yeremeyev (Dynamo M) 	Vitali Proshkin (Ufa) 	Alexander Korolyuk (Atlant) 	Alexander Vasilev (Chekhov)
February 	Dmitri Kochnev (Spartak) 	Peter Podhradski (Torpedo)	Danis Zaripov (Kazan) 	Stepan Zakharchuk (Togliatti)
March 	Georgi Gelashvili (Yaroslavl)	Ilya Nikulin (Kazan) 	Mattias Weinhandl (Dynamo M)	
==Team Photos==
08-09MetMag.jpg|Metallurg Magnitogorsk
08-09SYU.jpg|Salavat Yulaev Ufa
==References==
Category:Kontinental Hockey League seasons
Category:2009 in hockey