Anyone who wants to read about the state of the Russian Super League before the KHl, there's a book called "King of Russia: A Year in the Russian Super League" written by Dave King, who was the first North American coach in the RSL. He coached Magnitogorsk when a very young Evgeni Malkin was on the team before he left for the NHL. It's really fun reading, and gives a very interesting take on the league from a foreigner's viewpoint.
Nice vid, really appreciated it. I would have been interested in a deeper dive into Kunlun, including how Covid made them move to Moscow and what their outlook is going forward.
ТОЛЬКО СКА И ТОЛЬКО ПОБЕДА! One of our great stars who was not mentioned is Sergey Tolchinsky, the MVP of the 2021 KHL playoffs. A few other interesting facts: Kunlun Red Star ended up in the Western conference because of COVID restrictions in China. They used to play in the East, but it's unclear when will they return home. Also, many of their "Chinese" players are Canadians with Chinese passports. Severstal means "North Steel" in Russian, which is a pretty badass name if you ask me. Vityaz used to be known as a team with a lot of "tough guys" (enforcers) who often attacked players of opposing teams with intent to injure them. Now they're trying to get rid of this reputation, but as they haven't had a lot of good results this is what the franchise is primarily remembered for.
Really great video, especially for someone who doesn't know much abou the history of the KHL teams (like me). I'm considering rooting for Kunlun, Minsk, or Severstal...
I'd be really interest in a video about how the Russo-Ukraine war has impacted the KHL; I imagine a lot of the cooperation with the NHL or European leagues is effectively over,a dn I wonder how that impacts them
Thats a good idea. I'd have to do a ton more research but the war has had a huge impact on the leagues ability to grow in terms of teams and gaining top quality players from other countries. A lot of the best international players in the KHL left when the original invasion occurred.
I used to have a Russian fan jersey where the logo was two beer glasses clinking together. This was a real minor league team called "Beer Kings", if I remember correctly. Not sure what happened to that.
The KHL was created in 2008/2009. CSKA did not win their first championship in the new league until 2014/2015, the 7th year of the league. Since then, they have gone on to win the championship 5 times including back to back in 2021/2022 & 2022/2023. AK Bars & Metallurg is the next KHL teams with 3 championships & are the reigning champs. CSKA is better known as the old Central Red Army team
@@gazzarip I think you’re combining SKA and CSKA’s championships together but they are two separate teams. SKA won their first in 14/15 and CSKA didn’t win their first until 18/19.
Correction only two survived the locomotiv plane crash The Mechanic and captin of the team but he Circum to his injurys later said my mayday air disaster. Type in mayday air disaster locomotiv disaster to see. Also can u do team that are no longer in the K