2014–15 KHL season

Prior to the season, the KHL added three more teams: Jokerit from Helsinki, Lada Togliatti (an earlier member of the KHL that spent the last four seasons in the VHL) and HC Sochi, an expansion team from Sochi.[2]

HC Donbass did not play in the league this season, due to Russian invasion of Ukraine which culminated in a devastating fire at their home arena. Donbass intended to rejoin KHL for the 2015–16 season,[3] but ultimately joined the new Ukrainian Hockey Extra League. HC Lev Praha didn't participate in KHL this season either, because of financial problems.[4] In addition, Spartak Moscow did not participate in the league this season, after missing the deadline for shoring up its finances.[5]

New for this season, is that the teams primarily play games against teams in their own division, and secondarily against teams in their own conference, and finally against teams in the other conference. According to the new format (subject to final approval by the League management) each team will play a total of 60 games during the regular season as follows:

• 24 games against the other teams in their division (two at home and two on the road against each opponent),
• 14 games (one at home and one on the road against each opponent), against the teams in the other division in their conference,
• 14 more against teams from the other conference (comprising seven home games versus teams from one division and seven road games against teams from the other),
• 8 games where four will be against teams in their own conference (two at home, two on the road) and four against opposition from the other conference (again, two at home and two on the road). When determining the opponents and venues for these additional 8 games, the League consider practical things, including the geographical locations and the availability of the arenas.[6]

How the teams are divided into divisions and conferences[6] are shown in the table below.

Bobrov Division	Tarasov Division	Kharlamov Division	Chernyshev Division
Jokerit	Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod	Ak Bars Kazan	Admiral Vladivostok
Dinamo Minsk	CSKA Moscow	Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg	Amur Khabarovsk
Dinamo Riga	Dynamo Moscow	Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk	Avangard Omsk
Atlant Moscow Oblast	Lokomotiv Yaroslavl	Metallurg Magnitogorsk	Barys Astana
Medveščak Zagreb	Severstal Cherepovets	Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk	Metallurg Novokuznetsk
SKA Saint Petersburg	HC Sochi	Lada Togliatti	Salavat Yulaev Ufa
Slovan Bratislava	Vityaz Podolsk	Traktor Chelyabinsk	Sibir Novosibirsk

The regular season began on 3 September 2014 with the Opening Cup between Metallurg Magnitogorsk and Dynamo Moscow. Metallurg won the game 6–1.[7]

Scoring leaders

GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/– = Plus-minus; PIM = Penalty minutes

As of 24 Feb 2015

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	+/–	PIM
Alexander Radulov	CSKA Moscow	46	24	47	71	+37	143
Jan Kovář	Metallurg Magnitogorsk	60	24	44	68	+15	50
Danis Zaripov	Metallurg Magnitogorsk	60	24	40	64	+13	40
Stéphane Da Costa	CSKA Moscow	46	30	32	62	+26	12
Artemy Panarin	SKA Saint Petersburg	54	26	36	62	+18	37
Charles Linglet	Dinamo Minsk	54	22	36	58	–2	59
Steve Moses	Jokerit	60	36	21	57	+11	20
Matt Ellison	Dinamo Minsk	58	24	33	57	–2	38
Nigel Dawes	Barys Astana	60	32	24	56	+18	48
Denis Parshin	Avangard Omsk	60	25	31	56	+18	40

Leading goaltenders

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

As of 24 Feb 2015

Player	Team	GP	Min	W	L	SOP	GA	SO	SV%	GAA
Kevin Lalande	CSKA Moscow	23	1297:10	16	3	2	30	6	.934	1.39
Alexander Lazushin	Dynamo Moscow	21	1156:59	13	3	1	28	5	.946	1.45
Anders Nilsson	Ak Bars Kazan	38	2247:52	20	9	8	64	5	.936	1.71
Emil Garipov	Ak Bars Kazan	23	1383:26	16	5	2	41	1	.933	1.78
Stanislav Galimov	CSKA Moscow	35	2055:31	23	5	5	61	6	.919	1.78

At the end of the regular season of the KHL Championship the following teams became medalists of the Russian Ice Hockey Championship:[8]

Rank	Team
	CSKA Moscow
	SKA Saint Petersburg
	Dynamo Moscow

Gagarin Cup

The playoffs started on February 27, 2015, with the top eight teams from each of the conferences and will end with the last game of the Gagarin Cup final.[9]

	Conference Quarter-Finals					Conference Semi-Finals					Conference Finals					Gagarin Cup Finals
	1	Ak Bars	4			1	Ak Bars	4
	8	Avtomobilist	1			4	Avangard	1
	2	Sibir	4							Eastern Conference
	7	Traktor	2
											1	Ak Bars	4
										2	Sibir	1
	3	Metallurg Mg	4
	6	Salavat Yulaev	1
	4	Avangard	4			2	Sibir	4
	5	Barys	3			3	Metallurg Mg	1
																1	Ak Bars	1
		(Pairings are re-seeded after the first round.)
																2	SKA	4
	1	CSKA	4			1	CSKA	4
	8	HC Sochi	0			4	Jokerit	1
	2	SKA	4
	7	Torpedo	1
											1	CSKA	3
										2	SKA	4
	3	Dynamo Msk	4
	6	Lokomotiv	2								Western Conference
	4	Jokerit	4			2	SKA	4
	5	Dinamo Mn	1			3	Dynamo Msk	1

• During the first three rounds home ice is determined by seeding number, not position on the bracket. In the Finals the team with the better regular season record has home ice.

• On September 13, 2014, the Metallurg Magnitogorsk forward Sergei Mozyakin recorded his 400th KHL regular season career point. He became the first player in league history to reach this milestone.
• On September 24, 2014, the Metallurg Magnitogorsk forward Danis Zaripov recorded his 300th KHL regular season career point. He became the third player in league history to reach this milestone.
• On October 5, 2014, Ak Bars Kazan coach Zinetula Bilyaletdinov coached his 800th career game in Russian championships.
• On October 6, 2014, Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod forward Wojtek Wolski set a new league record for the fastest hat-trick in the game against Sibir Novosibirsk scoring in 1 minute 46 seconds.
• On February 18, 2015, Jokerit forward Steve Moses scored his 36th goal against Atlant Moscow Oblast and broke the league record for the most goals scored during one season.