At some point in the quite-near future, two major individual records are going to fall in Russia’s KHL, and they’re going to fall to the same man. Vadim Shipachyov (or Shipachev) is 37 now, and his last couple of seasons at Ak Bars have seen a fairly significant drop-off in his once-prodigious point totals. This […]
Vadim Shipachyov Closes in on Some Major KHL Records Read More »
Ivan Demidov who was the Montreal Canadiens’ 2024 NHL 1st round pick this past June, made his KHL debut for SKA Saint Petersburg on September 5, 2024. Lots of talk has been built around Demidov following up one year behind phenom Michkov who starts his 1st NHL season this year with the Philadelphia Flyers. Many
The RISE of DEMIDOV Read More »
In the interests of full disclosure, this piece is largely copied, pasted, and updated for 2023-24 from an article I wrote at my old blog about four years ago (Good Lord, has it really been that long?). The goal of that piece was to explain the phenomenon of young Russian NHL draft picks getting very
Revisiting the KHL’s “Designated Junior” Rules Read More »
Any new hockey season anywhere in the world, as it gets underway, will almost immediately produce any number of “I wonder how this is going to end” storylines – those players, or teams, or situations that catch our interest, and keep us checking back in with the results, standings, and news stories. The 2023-24 campaign
Early KHL Storylines, 2023-24 Edition Read More »
Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League began its 16th season on Friday, and along with it came the usual collection of storylines for interested fans to follow. But there was one KHL storyline that quickly pushed all the others to one side, and it did so the moment that 26-year-old Ivan Dmitrievich Fedotov skated out to guard
A New Twist in the Fedotov Saga Read More »
And so the Ivan Fedotov saga has a new twist. To recap: the 26-year-old goaltender, Finnish-born but of Russian nationality, was largely an after-thought when the Philadelphia Flyers drafted him in the 7th round of the 2015 NHL draft. However, he put himself on the radar in a big way with his 2021-22 campaign, which saw
Ivan Fedotov, the KHL, and the NHL Read More »
Was it just last week that hockey fans were watching the final few games of the 2022-23 NHL season wrap up? Well, it was two weeks ago, but still – it seems like one hockey season has barely ended and here comes the next one already. The KHL this week released its 2023-24 schedule and
2023-24 Comes Into Focus in the KHL Read More »