The 16th edition of the Gagarin Cup starts. The first round of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) playoffs will begin on February 29 with the matches Salavat Yulaev — Traktor, Lokomotiv — CSKA, Spartak — Severstal and Ak Bars — Avtomobilist. About all the pairs and key differences of the tournament — in the material Sport.
Cross playoffs as an attempt to attract interest
The 2024 Gagarin Cup will take place from February 29 to April 29. The new tournament will differ from the previous ones in a special format. Previously, the media and fans regularly complained about the predictability of the deciding pairings. First of all, this concerned the Western finals, where CSKA Moscow and SKA St. Petersburg met for the last five seasons in a row. The idea of separating both clubs was often expressed. As a result, the KHL introduced a cross-playoff system.
The first round will be held according to the standard scheme within the conferences. From the second round there will be a division into two groups. In the first, the best remaining team from the West will play against the fourth-seeded team in the East, while the second-seeded team from the East will meet against the third-strongest opponent from the West.
At the semi-final stage, the winners of the pairs will play against each other. In the second group, the first team of the East will compete with the fourth club of the West, the second team of the West will face the third seeded opponent from the East. The winners of the pairs will also play each other in the next round. There will be no reseeding at the semi-final stage. Thanks to the new system, clubs from the same conference can play in the Gagarin Cup final.
Dynamo confrontation
At the very end of the regular season, Dynamo Moscow took first place in the summary standings and won the Continental Cup for the first time since the 2013/14 season. Having become the best team in the Western Conference, Alexei Kudashov's team received another Dynamo — Minsk — as opponents. In the entire history of the KHL, both teams met in the playoffs only once: in the 2011/12 season, Muscovites won four games in the series, and at the end of the season they won their first Gagarin Cup.
In the 2023/24 KHL regular season, the opponents played four head-to-head matches, all ending in favor of Dynamo Moscow with a total score of 12:4. The last time Minsk head coach Dmitry Kvartalnov beat Alexey Kudashov was in October 2019, when the specialists led Ak Bars and SKA, respectively.
Torpedo said goodbye to experienced fighters
SKA, having lost to Kunlun Red Star in the final match of the regular season, missed the opportunity to take first place and remained in second place. Roman Rotenberg’s team learned their opponent in the first round of the playoffs in absentia. It could have been either CSKA or Torpedo. As a result, Nizhny Novgorod took seventh place in the conference. The rivals will meet in the playoffs for the second year in a row. Last season, the St. Petersburg team turned out to be stronger: the army team from the Neva beat Torpedo in the second round (4-0).
SKA is approaching the new confrontation as the undisputed favorite. For most of the season, Rotenberg's team looked more stable and confident. The St. Petersburg team also has a richer selection of players. “Torpedo” has lost its optimal lineup: coupled with injured leaders, head coach Igor Larionov removed experienced defender Anton Sizov from the playing lineup back in mid-January. And before the series against SKA, the specialist applied the same measures in relation to one of the team’s main forwards, Alexey Kruchinin.
Lokomotiv will again try to deprive CSKA title
Lokomotiv and CSKA have met each other for the last three playoffs. All three cup matches ended in favor of the army team. In the new season, the rivals will meet again. According to the media and fans, Yaroslavl residents are in the best position.
Igor Nikitin's team spent the regular season much better than Sergei Fedorov's team, both in terms of results and composition of the game. In this regard, the railway workers are determined to interrupt the unfortunate trend and deprive CSKA of the championship title, which has belonged to the army team for the last two seasons.
Unpredictable confrontation between Spartak and Severstal< br>Spartak Moscow will play in the KHL playoffs for the first time since the 2021/22 season. The rival of the “red-whites” was Cherepovets “Severstal”. The series of clubs is seen as a confrontation between debutant coaches and actively attacking teams. Alexey Zhamnov and Leonid Kozyrev are spending their first seasons as head coaches of KHL clubs; for them, working independently in the league playoffs will be new. Zhamnov has a slight head start over his counterpart: the current helmsman of Spartak has already served as head coach of the red-whites in the 2019 Gagarin Cup, when the Moscow club lost to SKA in the first round (2-4).
Both teams are preachers of an attacking style. They managed to surpass the 200-goal mark in the regular season, and between them they scored 436 goals. Of the four head-to-head matches in the championship, three remained with Spartak. However, their pairing is one of the most unpredictable in the first round of the playoffs.
Metallurg will be tested by flight to the Far East
In the last match of the regular season, Metallurg Magnitogorsk beat Omsk Avangard with a small team and took the final first place in the Eastern Conference. Thanks to this, Andrei Razin’s team received Khabarovsk “Amur” as opponents. Magnitogorsk is considered the favorite in the confrontation in absentia, but two points speak in favor of Amur, which made it to the KHL playoffs for the first time in six years.
Firstly, Andrei Martemyanov’s charges gained an impressive momentum directly to the beginning of the Gagarin Cup. Secondly, flights to Khabarovsk, which are difficult in terms of physical activity and adaptation, can play a special role.
Is Lada capable of another sensation?
In the very first season after returning to the KHL, Lada qualified for the playoffs, which became a sensation for most hockey observers. The Togliatti team has assembled a completely new team along with a coaching staff headed by Oleg Bratash. It is possible that Lada will surprise Avangard, which is famous for its productive trio Tkachev — Spooner — Boucher and the absence of similar strength in other combinations.
A simple path for Ufa?
Salavat Yulaev received one of the most convenient in the first round of the playoffs for themselves rivals. The Ufa team has not lost to Chelyabinsk Traktor for more than two years. During the last regular season, Viktor Kozlov's team won against Alexei Zavarukhin's team. Moreover, both victories turned out to be “dry”.
Salavat's advantage should be its goal line. Goalkeeper Alexander Samonov played a decisive role in the team's success this season. He is also called by experts the best goalkeeper of the championship, as well as a contender for the title of Most Valuable Player (MVP).
«Ak Bars» waiting for leaders
For Kazan » Ak Bars' last KHL regular season became controversial. Zinetula Bilyaletdinov's team came under a wave of criticism — for example, because of the style of play. A similar situation is with the rivals of Kazan — Ekaterinburg Avtomobilist. According to media estimates, their couple may become the least attractive in the East.
The situation may be changed by the performance of the Ak Bars stars, whose return to the team is expected in the near future. Namely, Alexander Radulov and Dmitry Yashkin, who missed three months due to a serious injury. It was in the first of four head-to-head matches in the regular season with Avtomobilist that the leading Kazan center forward was injured.