"There are no obvious leaders and outsiders in the KHL like before"

For the KHL, the outgoing year 2025 was marked by a number of positive innovations. For the first time in history, the playoffs stretched to the second half of May, as the league, like the NHL, began to draw up its calendar without looking at the World Cup schedule. The Gagarin Cup has a new winner, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, and record attendance was recorded in the regular season. Among the negative trends of the year is the huge number of cancellations of long—term contracts between clubs and players and their re-signings on low terms, which some experts perceive as an attempt to circumvent the salary cap.

In an interview with Izvestia, KHL President Alexei Morozov spoke about the work on changing the regulations, assessed the chances of maintaining the current playoff calendar after the return of the Russian national team to international competitions, and explained the reasons for the increased number of coaching resignations in KHL clubs this season.

"This has never happened in the 17 years of the league's existence."

— What are the positive and negative aspects for the KHL in the coming 2025?

— On the positive side, I would like to highlight the fact that we have a new champion. It's always nice when the Gagarin Cup is won by a club that has never won the KHL's main trophy before. We are glad that Lokomotiv Yaroslavl has managed to do this — a team with great hockey traditions, which deservedly achieved this success, becoming the best both in the regular season and in the playoffs.

— What else pleased you?

— Increased attendance at KHL matches. This season, at the time of the December break in the regular season, it was recorded that an average of 8,000 spectators attended the match, which had not happened in the 17 years of the league's existence. And the third point is the opening of a new arena in Yekaterinburg with a capacity of 12.5 thousand people, where Avtomobilist has been playing home matches since March. The appearance of another modern stadium is significant for the league, after the arenas in Omsk and Novosibirsk have opened in recent years.

— Now it's the turn of a new 12,000-year-old in Nizhny Novgorod. Do you have any idea when to expect the first KHL match on it?

— There is no specific date yet. Originally from the Torpedo Hockey Club (Nizhny Novgorod) We had information that this would happen on December 23rd. But the league's staff was monitoring how the construction process was going, so it was clear that it was unrealistic to make it by that time. Now we are focusing on the period after the New Year holidays. In the near future, representatives of the KHL will travel to Nizhny Novgorod and see what stage of construction the arena is at. We know that the palace is almost ready for commissioning, but everything must be fully completed. We expect Torpedo to start playing KHL matches there in 2026.

— What would you call the negative aspects?

— Termination of contracts between players and clubs. This story has been discussed more than once both inside the league and publicly in communication with the media, which often raise this topic. The KHL does not turn a blind eye to this, but contract cancellations have been conducted in accordance with the regulations in recent years. This includes the high-profile case that occurred in the summer of 2025 with a five-year contract between Omsk Avangard and Vladimir Tkachev (the highest-paid league player at that time, now the main star of the regular season leader Magnitogorsk Metallurg. — Ed.), which was terminated a year after signing. Of course, we would like long-term agreements, if they are signed, to be valid until the end. However, this does not always happen. For various reasons: club leaders change, new head coaches come in with their own vision of hockey, which the player does not fit into. The league is currently working on changes to the regulations to resolve the situation with contract cancellations. We are interviewing clubs on this issue, we have sent them relevant proposals, and we are waiting for their response. I hope we will eventually come to a reasonable decision.

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"There have been more series of defeats for individual teams, to which managers respond by changing coaches"

— Is Vityaz's disappearance from the KHL a comparable story?

— This can be called the second negative moment of the year. The loss of Vityaz was a big disappointment for us. Especially considering that it happened at a time when the calendar of the season was already agreed upon and the list of participants was approved.

— Isn't there too much turnover of coaching staff in KHL clubs this season?

— Approximately at the same level.

— It seems that this season the number of dismissals of head coaches and their assistants is still abnormal compared to previous years...

— Because now there is more competition in the KHL. There are almost no obvious leaders and outsiders as before. At least there are a lot fewer of them. Accordingly, there are more clubs that lose more often than before. There have been more series of defeats for individual teams, to which managers respond by changing coaches.

— One of the main achievements of the KHL in recent years is the approval of a law that gave the league autonomy from the RIHF and the IIHF, which allows the playoffs to be held in May, in parallel with the World Cup. This would hardly have been possible if the Russian national team had not been suspended from international competitions in 2022. But after her return there, are there any chances to keep the KHL calendar in its current form?

— We have an agreement with the RIHF and the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation that we release the players of our clubs to our national teams for the World Cup and the Olympic Games. Therefore, we will study this issue in detail when our national team is allowed to participate in these tournaments. We need to look at what dates the World Cup or Olympics will be in one year or another, and also talk with the RIHF about how it is going to form the national team for these competitions — if only NHL players get there, then what's the point of stopping the season in the KHL? We will all watch and analyze when we are allowed to participate in major tournaments.