The season is officially one week over, but most teams have only played two games. Record is important in how the teams move, but their first ranking also played into things as well. There were some big movers toward the top and because of this many of the teams that started in the middle fell a bit.
The big news last week was that both expansion teams, KHL Medveščak and Admirals Yaroslavl, won their first matches. Medveščak manhandled CSKA Moscow 7-1, while Vladivostok won in a shootout against bottom dweller Amur.
Dynamo Moscow defeated Traktor in a rematch of finalists from last season. They have been the most dominate team through their three games, but was it enough to take number one from SKA?
On player watch: Jeff Glass, the goalkeeper from Spartak, has two shutouts through the first two games. Spartak was not expected to do too much this year. A 2-0-0 start riding Glass’ remarkable play is amazing, but how good can he stay over the course of the season? Week 2 Power Rankings below:
Rank |
Team |
Record |
Trend |
Comment |
|
1 |
 SKA St. Petersburg |
2-0-0 |
— |
SKA keeps their top spot, but Dynamo Moscow is on their heels. St. Pete has still been dominate in their first two. So far, Kovalchuk has three SOG and one assist. |
|
2 |
 Dynamo Moscow |
3-0-0 |
— |
Basically 1A/1B with SKA. Dynamo has one shutout and is outscoring opponents 12-2. Pestushko is the points leader so far with two goals and three assists. |
|
3 |
 Barys Astana |
1-0-0 |
Up 5 |
Only one game played so far, but a 10-1 thrashing is enough evidence that Barys is looking to be among the elite teams in the KHL this season. |
|
4 |
 Ak Bars Kazan |
1-1-0 |
Down 1 |
There are a lot of undefeated teams currently, but it is too early to tell who are contender and who are pretenders. Ak Bars still is a contender…on paper. |
|
5 |
 CSKA Moscow |
1-1-0 |
— |
CSKA was dominated by the newcomer from Zagreb, but rebounded in overtime against Dinamo Minsk. There are some growing pains with new coach John Torchetti, but they should grow out of them. |
|
6 |
 Avangard Omsk |
1-1-0 |
— |
Avangard’s only lost was against league best SKA St. Petersburg. Some more time is needed here to see what kind of team Avangard will be. |
|
7 |
 Salavat Yuleav Ufa |
1-0-1 |
— |
Two shootout games for Salavat so far: a win and a loss. They are looking better than some in the points column, but they are close to moving down. |
|
8 |
 Traktor Chelyabinsk |
1-2-0 |
Down 4 |
Traktor felt the wrath that is Dynamo Moscow and then lost to up-and-comer Vityaz. They are being outscored 8-13. Can last year’s East finalist defense rebound? |
| 9 |  Donbass Donetsk |
2-0-0 |
Up 8 |
Donbass defeated conference foes Slovan and Lev Praha. They made their case this week for being above the pack in the west. Are they an elite club? |
|
10 |
 Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk |
2-0-0 |
Up 9 |
Yugra defeated a poor side in Atlant, but surprise early with a hard fought win over Lokomotiv. Difficult to know if they will finish this high, but they deserve it now. |
|
11 |
 Dinamo Riga |
2-0-0 |
Up 11 BIG |
Tellqvist is putting on a great show in net with only one goal allowed in each of their games this year. The team plays a physical and smart hockey. |
|
12 |
 Metallurg Magnitogorsk |
1-1-0 |
Down 2 |
They were competitive with Dynamo Moscow, but played close with Vityaz in their only win. Still trying to figure out who these guys are. |
|
13 |
 KHL Medvescak |
1-1-0 |
Down 2 |
Had a historic first win over CSKA, but were dominated physically two days later by Riga. They will need some time to develop their chemistry–sooner rather than later if they are going for the playoffs.. |
|
14 |
 Sibir Novosibirsk |
1-1-0
|
Down 2 |
Sibir got a little shocked on their first game against Metallug NK. They were able to beat the expansion Admirals. Time will tell if consistency will be a problem here. |
|
15 |
 Lev Praha |
1-1-0 |
Down 1 |
An important week for Prague as they play division rivals Medvescak and Dinamo Minsk. If they can split and beat upstart Spartak, then they are for real. |
|
16 |
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl |
0-2-0 |
Down 8 |
A disappointing start to the season after a resilient return. There is a lot of time to turn it around, but they have not been competitive so far. |
|
17 |
 Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk |
1-1-0 |
Down 1 |
These guys could be promising with a win over Ak Bars and being only defeated by the mighty Dynamo Moscow. For now, they stand pat in the rankings. |
|
18 |
 Vityaz Chekov |
1-1-0 |
Up 2 |
Vityaz surprised Traktor and scored 4 in a loss to Metallurg MG. Defense and consistent play will be the make or break for a team that had a great preseason. |
|
19 |
 Spartak Moscow |
2-0-0 |
Up 7 A TEAM TO WATCH |
Maybe the preseason Mayor’s Cup was not so meaningless. They were bad last year and did little to improve. Glass has been playing out of his mind. Can he carry them all season? |
|
20 |
 Admirals Vladivostok |
1-1-0 |
Up 5 |
They are playing strong with a team built through an expansion draft and starting off on the road. A lot of promise for a inexperienced club. |
|
21 |
 Severstal Cherepovets |
1-1-0 |
Down 6 |
Severstal beats a bad team in a shootout and gets blown out 10-1 a day later. These guys are in a bit of trouble early. |
|
22 |
 Metallurg Novokuznetsk |
2-0-0 |
Up 6 |
Basically they have a completely new roster and beat Amur (they should have) and Sibir (probably should not have). A good start for a young group of guys. |
|
23 |
Slovan Bratislava |
0-2-0 |
Down 10 BIG MOVER |
A scary start with a two game road trip against a division foe and a conference rival. Should take the Minsk game, but if not maybe the Satan loss was worse than expected. |
|
24 |
 Atlant Moscow Oblast |
0-2-0 |
Down 6 |
One goal in two games is not going to win Atlant a lot of games. They need to find their offense soon. |
|
25 |
 Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod |
0-1-1 |
Down 4 |
They are only two games in and one was a shootout loss to Salavat. They dropped because others jumped up, but they might be around here all season. |
|
26 |
 Avtomobilist Yekaterinberg |
0-1-1 |
Down 3 |
They put four goals in on SKA, but let in six of their own. Add a shootout loss against a (currently) mediocre Severstal team and it might be a long season |
|
27 |
 Dinamo Minsk |
0-1-1 |
Down 3 |
Minsk had a rough start against Riga and gave CSKA a run for their money. They still come up empty in the win column. Maybe a home stand against Prague and Bratislava can get these guys jump started. |
|
28 |
 Amur Khabarovsk |
0-1-1 |
Down 1 |
Lost to the expansion Admirals in their opener and only scored one against Metallurg NK. A road trip against some better teams coming up will not help them get out of the basement any time soon. |
