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RUSSIAN LEAGUES (RE-STRUCTURE)

One of my goals in NHL was to revisit the entire Russian domestic hockey league pyramid and to redefine it into a more stable, streamlined situation that adds some interesting new twists to play with. To that end, my goals were the following:

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  • A slimmed-down KHL with only the strongest, big-market clubs that serves as the eastern counterpart to the new Europa Super League. These two leagues stand atop the European hockey pyramid.

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  • A stronger VHL that can stand alone on its own as a viable top-tier domestic league equivalent to the SHL, Liiga, NLA, etc and that has access to the European Champions Hockey League.

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  • A functional second-tier domestic professional league, the PHL, with promotion to and demotion from the VHL above it.

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  • More independence among clubs at the VHL & PHL levels. This is not entirely realistic as the strongest KHL clubs are moving towards directly-linked farm clubs. But in NHLX, I've actually done away with many of these direct farm clubs in favor of independent clubs.

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  • Establishment of an elite new Russian domestic cup competition between all professional Russian clubs...see the Domestic Cups section under NHLX features.
     

 Interested? Read more below!

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KHL Structure

KONTINENTAL HOCKEY LEAGUE (KHL) STRUCTURE

 

The KHL has been compacted to a 16-team, single conference format – to mirror the 16-team Europa Super League to the west. These two leagues form the top of the non-NHL hockey pyramid and the Garagin Cup winner out of the KHL faces off against the ESL champions and the winners of the Champions Hockey League in the season-ending Kings of Europe Cup to crown the best team in the entirety of Europe.

 

By reducing membership to 16 teams, the new KHL weeds out some of the weaker and less supported clubs and focuses on becoming a higher caliber of competition with strong clubs, strong attendance and strong financials. Like the ESL, there is no relegation or promotion from other levels of the domestic pyramid – although VHL and PHL clubs get to take their shots at KHL teams in the domestic Russian Makarov Cup.

 

Changes from the real 2021-22 KHL Format

 

The NHLX version of the KHL has a 16-team membership consisting of:

  • Ak Bars Kazan

  • Avangard Omsk

  • Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg

  • Barys Nur-Sultan (KAZ)

  • CSKA Moskva

  • Dinamo Minsk (BLR)

  • Dinamo Riga (LAT)

  • Dynamo Moskva

  • Lokomotiv Yaroslavl

  • Metallurg Magnitogorsk

  • Salavt Ufa

  • Sibir Novosibirsk

  • SKA Saint-Petersburg

  • Spartak Moskva

  • Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod

  • Traktor Chelyabinsk

 

The following clubs have been reassigned to the new VHL:

  • Admiral Vladivostok, Amur Khabarovsk, HK Sochi, Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk, Severstal Cherepovets, Vityaz Podolsk

 

In addition, Helsingin Jokerit has made the swap to the ESL while Kunlun Red Star are now in the rebooted Asia Super League. For Jokerit, this is a lateral move that puts them closer to more of their historical European rivals (including city rival HIFK) while with Kunlun it was finally time to pull the plug on the Chinese adventure for the KHL. Instead of being a heavily-subsidized also-ran in the KHL, Kunlun can now be the regional power in a stronger Asian league. This leaves three foreign clubs remaining in the KHL and all have been long-time members and tentpole clubs in their respective countries: Barys, Dinamo Minsk and Dinamo Riga.

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VHL Structure

Vysshaya HOCKEY LEAGUE (VHL) STRUCTURE

 

The VHL has undergone significant changes in NHLX. With the “demotion” of six current KHL clubs and the reduction of the overall league size to 16, the concept behind the VHL in NHLX is as a top quality domestic league to rival the likes of the SHL, Liiga and NL. It is considered the top tier of Russian domestic hockey – with the KHL standing alone as its own continental entity now, like the Europa League.

 

In addition to competing for the Petrov Cup (VHL playoff championship), the new format opens up a couple of exciting new competition possibilities:

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  • There is demotion and promotion to and from the Pervaya League (PHL). Think of it like the SHL and Allsvenskan; the VHL is the top tier, the PHL is the second tier and there is possibility to move up and down between the two leagues.

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  • Top finishers in the VHL now have access into the Champions Hockey League (CHL) where they can face off against the best from other top domestic leagues in Europe.

 

VHL (and PHL) clubs also play in the Russian domestic Makarov Cup along with KHL clubs – so there is a chance to face off against old rivals and take your best shots against KHL teams.

 

The initial VHL line-up consists of the following 16 clubs:

  • Admiral Vladivostok (from KHL)

  • Amur Khabarovsk (from KHL)

  • Atlant Mytishchi (rebranded Zvezda Moskva)

  • Dynamo St. Petersburg

  • HK Molot

  • HK Sochi (from KHL)

  • Khimik Voskresensk

  • Lada Togliatti

  • Metallurg Novokuznetsk

  • Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk (from KHL)

  • Rubin Tyumen

  • Serebryanye Lvy Karelia (rebranded SKA-Neva)

  • Severstal Cherepovets (from KHL)

  • Toros Neftekhamsk

  • Vityaz Podolsk (from KHL)

  • Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk

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PHL Structure

PERVAYA HOCKEY LEAGUE (PHL) STRUCTURE

 

As described above, the PHL is the second-tier domestic competition after the VHL in Russia. It has been significantly altered from a very low reputation, fringe league in real life to a fully-developed 16-team domestic league with promotion to the VHL in the NHLX database (basically replacing the old PVHL). It includes essentially all of the current real-life VHL clubs that have been forced out of that league in the NHLX re-structuring of the Russian hockey pyramid.

 

The initial PHL line-up consists of the following 16 clubs (keep in mind there is promotion and relegation to the VHL):

  • AKM Novomoskovsk

  • Buran Voronzeh

  • CSK VVS Samara

  • Dizel Penza

  • Gornyak-UGMK

  • HK Rostov

  • HK Ryazan

  • HK Tambov

  • Izhstal Izhevsk

  • Kristall Saratov (from third-tier)

  • Neftyanik Almetievsk

  • Sokol Krasnoyarsk

  • Sputnik Nizhny Tagil (brought back)

  • Yermak Angarsk

  • Yuzhniy Ural Orsk

  • Zaurelie Kurgan

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