Kontinental Hockey League team changes

Lore & Background

From the league's inception in 2008, team changes have occurred between seasons. The inaugural season included all 20 teams from the 2007–08 Russian Superleague, along with non-Russian teams Barys Astana, Dinamo Riga, and Dinamo Minsk, plus the recreated Khimik Voskresensk, champion of the 2007–08 Major League, bringing the total to 24 teams. The number of teams remained at 24 through the first two seasons. In the third season, the number was reduced to 23 because Budivelnyk, a team that planned to join, dropped out before the start of the season. Initially, Lev Poprad replaced Budivelnyk to retain 24 teams, but Lev was excluded by the KHL before that season began. Lev Poprad was later accepted into the league for the 2011–12 season. The league plans to expand the number of teams for future seasons.

Reader's Guide

The KHL's approach to team changes differs from the promotion/relegation system used in the earlier Russian Superleague and Vysshaya Liga. The league's initial composition drew entirely from the previous season's Superleague teams plus four additional clubs, establishing a 24-team format that held for two seasons. The third season saw a reduction to 23 teams after Budivelnyk withdrew before the season started. The attempted replacement, Lev Poprad, was itself excluded by the league before that season, though it was later accepted for the following season. These events illustrate the league's flexible but sometimes unsettled expansion process. The league has stated plans to increase the number of teams in future seasons, indicating ongoing structural evolution. The absence of a promotion/relegation system means team changes are determined by league decisions rather than competitive merit relative to lower divisions.

Did You Know?

• Non-Russian teams Barys Astana, Dinamo Riga, and Dinamo Minsk joined the KHL at its inception.
• The number of KHL teams dropped from 24 to 23 in the third season due to Budivelnyk's withdrawal.
• Lev Poprad was excluded by the KHL before the third season but was accepted for the 2011–12 season.

Expansion Beyond the Soviet Border

The KHL launched in 2008 with 24 teams, 21 drawn from Russia and one each from Belarus, Latvia, and Kazakhstan. The league's first genuinely international expansion arrived in 2011, when newly founded Lev Poprad from Slovakia was admitted. After a single season, however, Lev was swapped for Lev Praha from the Czech Republic. The 2012–13 campaign added Slovan Bratislava and Ukraine's Donbass from Donetsk, while 2013 brought Croatia's Medveščak from Zagreb, previously competing in the Austrian Hockey League, alongside Russian expansion side Admiral Vladivostok. That season marked the league's peak at 28 clubs. In 2014, Finland's Jokerit from Helsinki and the newly created HC Sochi entered the competition. The most geographically ambitious addition came in 2016–17, when HC Kunlun Red Star from Beijing joined, established as part of China's broader effort to build a competitive national squad ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics. By the 2025–26 season, the roster has narrowed to 22 clubs spanning Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and China.

Financial Fragility and the Ebb of Franchises

A striking pattern in KHL team changes is the repeated departure of clubs over monetary strain. In the 2014–15 season, both Lev Praha and Spartak Moscow withdrew citing financial problems, while HC Donbass sat out because of the Donbas war. Before the 2015–16 campaign, Atlant Moscow Oblast also exited for financial reasons, though Spartak Moscow came back after a one-year absence. Medveščak Zagreb departed ahead of the 2017–18 season to rejoin the Austrian league, and Metallurg Novokuznetsk was relegated down to the VHL. The 2018–19 season closed with Slovan Bratislava's withdrawal to return to Slovakia's Tipsport Liga, once again attributed to financial difficulties. These successive exits stand in sharp contrast to the league's 2013–14 peak of 28 teams, revealing that sustaining an international footprint proved far more economically demanding than the initial wave of expansion had suggested.

Geopolitical Ruptures and the 2022 Exodus

The KHL's membership has been reshaped as much by geopolitics as by on-ice performance. HC Donbass, based in Donetsk, was unable to compete in the 2014–15 season owing to Russia's involvement in the Donbas war, though the club had expressed intent to rejoin later. The most dramatic rupture came in February 2022. On 24 February, Finnish club Jokerit announced it would withdraw for the remainder of the season, including the playoffs, citing the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Three days later, on 27 February, Latvian club Dinamo Riga made the identical decision for the same reason. The conflict also severed the KHL's institutional tie with the NHL, which suspended its Memorandum of Understanding and directed its member teams to immediately cease all direct or indirect dealings with the KHL, its clubs, and player agents operating in Russia. By the 2025–26 season, the league's 22 clubs are confined to Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and China, with no representation from the Baltic states, Finland, or Central Europe.

The 2011 Tragedy and a League in Formation

The KHL's early identity was forged during a period of rapid institutional growth shadowed by a devastating loss. The league evolved out of the Russian Superleague, with journalist Vsevolod Kukushkin serving as its first press secretary during the transition. The inaugural 2008–09 season fielded 24 teams split into four divisions based on prior-season results, comprising 21 Russian clubs plus one each from Belarus, Latvia, and Kazakhstan. The start of the fourth season in 2011 was overshadowed by the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash on 7 September, in which nearly the entire roster perished shortly after take-off en route to their season-opening game in Minsk. The Opening Cup match in Ufa, already underway when the news arrived, was suspended immediately. In the league's response, 7 September became a designated day of mourning on which no regular-season games were scheduled, a practice maintained until after the 2017–18 season. That same period saw the league's first expansion beyond the former Soviet Union with Slovakia's Lev Poprad, underscoring how the KHL was simultaneously growing and confronting profound grief.