2015–16 KHL season

The 2015–16 KHL season was the eighth season of the Kontinental Hockey League. The season started on 24 August 2015 with the Opening Cup between defending champions SKA Saint Petersburg and last year's Continental Cup winners CSKA Moscow, replacing Ak Bars Kazan, the previous season's Gagarin Cup finalists.^[1][2]

2015–16 KHL season
League	Kontinental Hockey League
Sport	Ice hockey
Duration	24 August 2015 – 19 April 2016
Number of games	60
Number of teams	28
Regular season
Continental Cup winner	CSKA Moscow
Top scorer	Sergei Mozyakin
Playoffs
Western champions	CSKA Moscow
Western runners-up	SKA Saint Petersburg
Eastern champions	Metallurg Magnitogorsk
Eastern runners-up	Salavat Yulaev Ufa
Gagarin Cup
Champions	Metallurg Magnitogorsk
Runners-up	CSKA Moscow

Team changes

Spartak Moscow returned to the league prior to this season.^[3][4] It was also announced by KHL President Dmitry Chernyshenko that Atlant Moscow Oblast would not participate in the league this season due to financial problems.^[5]

Divisions and regular season format

In this season, each team played every other team once at home and once on the road, giving a total of 54 games (27 at home, 27 on the road), plus 6 additional games (3 at home, 3 on the road) played by each team against rival clubs from its own conference. Thus, each team played a total of 60 games in the regular season.^[6]

How the teams are divided into divisions and conferences is shown in the table below.^[2][7]

Western Conference	Eastern Conference

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

League standings

Western Conference

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	CSKA Moscow	60	38	5	3	14	163	87	+76	127	Advance to Gagarin Cup Playoffs[a]
2	Jokerit	60	31	5	5	19	167	140	+27	108
3	Lokomotiv Yaroslavl	60	37	6	2	15	155	94	+61	125	Advance to Gagarin Cup Playoffs
4	HC Sochi	60	30	4	10	16	175	149	+26	108
5	Dynamo Moscow	60	27	8	8	17	167	126	+41	105
6	SKA Saint Petersburg	60	27	6	7	20	176	149	+27	100
7	Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod	60	23	10	11	16	163	137	+26	100
8	Slovan Bratislava	60	21	11	4	24	154	148	+6	89
9	Dinamo Minsk	60	20	7	9	24	147	168	−21	83
10	Medveščak Zagreb	60	19	6	9	26	144	172	−28	78
11	Spartak Moscow	60	20	5	7	28	139	172	−33	77
12	Dinamo Riga	60	17	8	8	27	129	151	−22	75
13	Vityaz Podolsk	60	17	8	3	32	129	166	−37	70
14	Severstal Cherepovets	60	12	8	6	34	124	167	−43	58

Updated to match(es) played on 18 February 2016. Source: KHL
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) a higher number of wins in the regular time; 3) a higher number of wins in overtime and shootouts; 4) goal difference; 5) number of goals scored; 6) drawing of lots.
Notes:

1. Two winners of divisions hold the first two places in the conference

Eastern Conference

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Avangard Omsk	60	27	6	13	14	156	120	+36	106	Advance to Gagarin Cup Playoffs[a]
2	Metallurg Magnitogorsk	60	25	13	2	20	180	138	+42	103
3	Sibir Novosibirsk	60	24	12	9	15	155	133	+22	105	Advance to Gagarin Cup Playoffs
4	Salavat Yulaev Ufa	60	29	5	4	22	179	156	+23	101
5	Ak Bars Kazan	60	25	6	9	20	143	127	+16	96
6	Admiral Vladivostok	60	25	8	4	23	157	163	−6	95
7	Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg	60	21	9	11	19	145	158	−13	92
8	Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk	60	20	7	12	21	130	135	−5	86
9	Barys Astana	60	21	8	6	25	167	184	−17	85
10	Traktor Chelyabinsk	60	17	12	8	23	132	151	−19	83
11	Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk	60	19	6	3	32	120	178	−58	72
12	Amur Khabarovsk	60	17	6	6	31	112	143	−31	69
13	Lada Togliatti	60	17	5	8	30	120	153	−33	69
14	Metallurg Novokuznetsk	60	13	1	14	32	128	191	−63	55

Updated to match(es) played on 18 February 2016. Source: KHL
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) a higher number of wins in the regular time; 3) a higher number of wins in overtime and shootouts; 4) goal difference; 5) number of goals scored; 6) drawing of lots.
Notes:

1. Two winners of divisions hold the first two places in the conference

Gagarin Cup Playoffs

Main article: 2016 Gagarin Cup playoffs

Gagarin Cup

The playoffs started on 21 February 2016 with the top eight teams from each of the conferences, and ended with the last game of the Gagarin Cup final on 19 April 2016.^[8]

Bracket

	Conference Quarterfinals					Conference Semifinals					Conference Finals					Gagarin Cup Finals
	1	Avangard	4
	8	Neftekhimik	0
						1	Avangard	3
						4	Salavat Yulaev	4
	2	Metallurg Mg	4
	7	Avtomobilist	2
											4	Salavat Yulaev	1
	Eastern Conference
											2	Metallurg Mg	4
	3	Sibir	4
	6	Admiral	1
						2	Metallurg Mg	4
						3	Sibir	1
	4	Salavat Yulaev	4
	5	Ak Bars	3
																2	Metallurg Mg	4
																1	CSKA	3
	1	CSKA	4
	8	Slovan	0
						1	CSKA	4
						7	Torpedo	1
	2	Jokerit	2
	7	Torpedo	4
											1	CSKA	4
	Western Conference
											6	SKA	0
	3	Lokomotiv	1
	6	SKA	4
						5	Dynamo Msk	2
						6	SKA	4
	4	HC Sochi	0
	5	Dynamo Msk	4

Final standings

Rank	Team
1	Metallurg Magnitogorsk
2	CSKA Moscow
3	Salavat Yulaev Ufa
4	SKA Saint Petersburg
5	Avangard Omsk
6	Dynamo Moscow
7	Sibir Novosibirsk
8	Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod
9	Lokomotiv Yaroslavl
10	Jokerit
11	HC Sochi
12	Ak Bars Kazan
13	Admiral Vladivostok
14	Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg
15	Slovan Bratislava
16	Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk
17	Barys Astana
18	Dinamo Minsk
19	Traktor Chelyabinsk
20	Medveščak Zagreb
21	Spartak Moscow
22	Dinamo Riga
23	Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk
24	Vityaz Podolsk
25	Amur Khabarovsk
26	Lada Togliatti
27	Severstal Cherepovets
28	Metallurg Novokuznetsk

Player statistics

Scoring leaders

As of 18 February 2016

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	+/–	PIM
Sergei Mozyakin	Metallurg Magnitogorsk	57	32	35	67	+11	0
Alexander Radulov	CSKA Moscow	53	23	42	65	+28	73
Brandon Bochenski	Barys Astana	60	20	41	61	+16	48
Vadim Shipachyov	SKA Saint Petersburg	54	17	43	60	−8	63
Linus Omark	Salavat Yulaev Ufa	60	18	39	57	+12	40
Matt Ellison	Dinamo Minsk	54	26	29	55	−10	54
Danis Zaripov	Metallurg Magnitogorsk	60	22	32	54	+9	26
Nigel Dawes	Barys Astana	55	31	22	53	+15	16
Justin Azevedo	Ak Bars Kazan	59	17	36	53	+6	26
Jan Kovář	Metallurg Magnitogorsk	58	20	32	52	+7	61

Source: KHL

Leading goaltenders

As of 18 February 2016

Player	Team	GP	Min	W	L	SOP	GA	SO	SV%	GAA
Ilya Sorokin	CSKA Moscow	28	1638:53	17	7	4	29	10	.953	1.06
Alexei Murygin	Lokomotiv Yaroslavl	34	1962:29	22	8	3	37	13	.954	1.13
Stanislav Galimov	CSKA/Ak Bars	28	1669:11	18	6	4	42	7	.938	1.51
Viktor Fasth	CSKA Moscow	20	1122:04	13	4	1	31	3	.921	1.66
Alexander Yeryomenko	Dynamo Moscow	23	1392:08	11	4	7	41	2	.936	1.77

Source: KHL

Awards

Players of the Month

Best KHL players of each month.

Month	Goaltender	Defense	Forward	Rookie
September[9]	Alexei Murygin (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl)	Mat Robinson (Dynamo Moscow)	Sergei Mozyakin (Metallurg Magnitogorsk)	Roman Manukhov (Metallurg Novokuznetsk)
October[10]	Alexander Salák (Sibir Novosibirsk)	Mikhail Pashnin (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl)	Nigel Dawes (Barys Astana)	Artyom Zub (Amur Khabarovsk)
November[11]	Danny Taylor (Medveščak Zagreb)	Staffan Kronwall (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl)	Anatoly Golyshev (Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg)	Alexander Polunin (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl)
December[12]	Dominik Furch (Avangard Omsk)	Kevin Dallman (Barys Astana)	Danis Zaripov (Metallurg Magnitogorsk)	Vladislav Gavrikov (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl)
January[13]	Ilya Sorokin (CSKA Moscow)	Mat Robinson (Dynamo Moscow)	Vadim Shipachyov (SKA St. Petersburg)	Igor Ustinsky (Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg)
February[14]	Alexander Yeryomenko (Dynamo Moscow)	Anton Belov (SKA St. Petersburg)	Peter Regin (Jokerit)	Artur Lauta (Avangard Omsk)
March[15]	Ilya Sorokin (CSKA Moscow)	Denis Denisov (CSKA Moscow)	Sergei Mozyakin (Metallurg Magnitogorsk)	Yuri Sergiyenko (Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod)
April

Milestones