2011–12 KHL season
The 2011–12 KHL season was the fourth season of the Kontinental Hockey League. The regular season began with the Opening Cup game on 7 September 2011, but because of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash, which occurred during the first period of the Cup game and killed all but one member of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team, further play was delayed until 12 September 2011. The tragedy forced Lokomotiv Yaroslavl to cancel their participation in the KHL season. The Opening Cup was renamed the Lokomotiv Cup in honor of those lost in the tragedy.
The regular season ended on 26 February 2012 and the following playoffs ended on 25 April.
The Gagarin Cup was won by Dynamo Moscow, defeating Avangard Omsk in a seven-game final series. Dynamo Moscow is the first champion from the Western Conference of the KHL.
League changes
Team changes
Expansion to SlovakiaWith the admission of Lev Poprad from Poprad, Slovakia the league expanded beyond the borders of the former Soviet Union. This brought the number of teams to 24. However, following a plane crash that claimed the lives of the entire Lokomotiv Yaroslavl squad, Lokomotiv withdrew from the season, leaving only 23 teams as in the previous season.
Regular season
The regular season was supposed to start on 7 September 2011 with the Opening Cup and end on 26 February 2012 with short breaks in November, December and February for international matches and for the all-star game. However, after the Yaroslavl plane tragedy the schedule had to be modified: the start of the season was postponed to 12 September and the number of games for each team was reduced to 54 as in the previous season, when also only 23 teams participated.Notable events
Yaroslavl plane tragedy
On 7 September 2011, the day of the season opening, a tragic airplane accident occurred in Yaroslavl in which the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team was killed. After the news broke in Ufa, where the Opening Cup game between Salavat Yulaev Ufa and Atlant Moscow Oblast was already underway, the match was abandoned. Later, the KHL announced that the start of the season would be postponed to 12 September, and that pre-game ceremonies would be held to honour the Lokomotiv team, while arena entertainment would be cancelled. On 10 September, at Lokomotiv's public memorial service team president Yuri Yakovlev announced that they would not participate in the 2011–12 KHL season.All-star game
The All-star weekend took place on 20–21 January 2012 in Riga, Latvia. Team Fedorov defeated Team Ozoliņš with 15–11.League standings
Source: KHL.ruPoints are awarded as follows:
- 3 Points for a win in regulation
- 2 Points for a win in overtime or a penalty shootout
- 1 Point for a loss in overtime or a penalty shootout
- 0 Points for a loss in regulation
Note: Bolded teams qualified for the playoffs.
Western Conference
y – Won division; z – Won conference ;BOB - Bobrov Division, TAR - Tarasov Division
Source: khl.ru
Eastern Conference
y – Won division; c – Won Continental Cup ;CHE - Chernyshev Division, KHA - Kharlamov Division
Source: khl.ru
Player statistics
Scoring leaders
Updated as of the end of the regular season. Source: khl.ruGP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/– = Plus-minus; PIM = Penalty minutes
| Player | Team | GP | G | A | Pts | +/– | PIM |
| Alexander Radulov | Salavat Yulaev Ufa | 50 | 25 | 38 | 63 | +1 | 64 |
| Tony Mårtensson | SKA Saint Petersburg | 54 | 22 | 37 | 59 | +35 | 10 |
| Vadim Schipachev | Severstal Cherepovets | 54 | 22 | 37 | 59 | +16 | 26 |
| Brandon Bochenski | Barys Astana | 49 | 27 | 31 | 58 | +4 | 26 |
| Kevin Dallman | Barys Astana | 53 | 18 | 36 | 54 | +15 | 33 |
| Jakub Petružálek | Amur Khabarovsk | 54 | 22 | 29 | 51 | +14 | 16 |
| Aleksey Morozov | Ak Bars Kazan | 53 | 21 | 29 | 50 | +10 | 24 |
| Sergei Shirokov | CSKA Moscow | 53 | 18 | 30 | 48 | +7 | 26 |
| Vladimir Tarasenko | SKA Saint Petersburg | 54 | 23 | 24 | 47 | +18 | 15 |
| Petr Vrána | Amur Khabarovsk | 46 | 20 | 25 | 45 | +18 | 12 |
Leading goaltenders
Updated as of the end of the regular season. Source: khl.ruGP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; SOL = Shootout losses; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average
| Player | Team | GP | Min | W | L | SOP | GA | SO | SV% | GAA |
| Vitali Koval | Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod | 30 | 1612:04 | 15 | 9 | 6 | 47 | 4 | .930 | 1.75 |
| Alexander Eremenko | Dynamo Moscow | 35 | 1975:20 | 18 | 9 | 5 | 63 | 6 | .920 | 1.91 |
| Karri Rämö | Avangard Omsk | 45 | 2666:48 | 19 | 17 | 9 | 87 | 5 | .925 | 1.96 |
| Michael Garnett | Traktor Chelyabinsk | 45 | 2674:37 | 29 | 10 | 6 | 88 | 3 | .922 | 1.97 |
| Rastislav Staňa | CSKA Moscow | 46 | 2646:42 | 20 | 19 | 4 | 91 | 2 | .926 | 2.06 |
Playoffs
The playoffs started on 29 February 2012 with the top eight teams from both conferences and ended on 25 April with the seventh game of the Gagarin Cup final.Player statistics
Playoff scoring leaders
The following players lead the league in points at the conclusion of the playoffs. Source: khl.ruGP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/– = Plus-minus; PIM = Penalty minutes
| Player | Team | GP | G | A | Pts | +/– | PIM |
| Roman Červenka | Avangard Omsk | 20 | 11 | 10 | 21 | +6 | 4 |
| Konstantin Gorovikov | Dynamo Moscow | 21 | 6 | 14 | 20 | +7 | 16 |
| Mikhail Anisin | Dynamo Moscow | 21 | 14 | 5 | 19 | +7 | 2 |
| Vladimir Tarasenko | SKA Saint Petersburg | 15 | 10 | 6 | 16 | +10 | 6 |
| Marek Kvapil | Dynamo Moscow | 21 | 8 | 4 | 12 | +8 | 4 |
| Alexander Perezhogin | Avangard Omsk | 21 | 8 | 4 | 12 | +6 | 8 |
Playoff leading goaltenders
The following players lead the league in points at the conclusion of the playoffs. Source: khl.ruGP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; SOL = Shootout losses; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average
| Player | Team | GP | Min | W | L | SOP | GA | SO | SV% | GAA |
| Vasiliy Koshechkin | Severstal Cherepovets | 6 | 364:40 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 1 | .958 | 1.32 |
| Edgars Masaļskis | Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk | 3 | 88:23 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .958 | 1.36 |
| Karri Rämö | Avangard Omsk | 21 | 1209:08 | 14 | 6 | 0 | 31 | 3 | .940 | 1.54 |
| Alexander Eremenko | Dynamo Moscow | 21 | 1304:23 | 16 | 5 | 0 | 34 | 3 | .943 | 1.56 |
| Michael Garnett | Traktor Chelyabinsk | 16 | 988:48 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 29 | 1 | .935 | 1.76 |
| Jakub Štěpánek | SKA Saint Petersburg | 13 | 750:33 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 22 | 3 | .924 | 1.76 |
Final standings
| Rank | Team |
| 1 |  Dynamo Moscow |
| 2 | Avangard Omsk |
| 3 | Traktor Chelyabinsk |
| 4 | SKA Saint Petersburg |
| 5 | Metallurg Magnitogorsk |
| 6 | Ak Bars Kazan |
| 7 | Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod |
| 8 | Atlant Moscow Oblast |
| 9 | Salavat Yulaev Ufa |
| 10 |  Barys Astana |
| 11 | Severstal Cherepovets |
| 12 | Amur Khabarovsk |
| 13 |  Dinamo Minsk |
| 14 | Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk |
| 15 |  Dinamo Riga |
| 16 | CSKA Moscow |
| 17 | Metallurg Novokuznetsk |
| 18 | Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk |
| 19 | Spartak Moscow |
| 20 | Sibir Novosibirsk |
| 21 |  Lev Poprad |
| 22 | Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg |
| 23 | Vityaz Chekhov |
Awards
Players of the Month
Best KHL players of each month.| Month | Goaltender | Defense | Forward | Rookie |
| September |  Jakub Štěpánek | Aleksandr Osipov | Vadim Schipachev | Andrei Sergeev |
| October |  Michael Garnett | Vitaly Shulakov | Vladimir Tarasenko | Nikita Tochitsky |
| November | Michael Garnett | Alex Riazantsev | Vadim Schipachev | Sergei Barbashev |
| December |  Ari Ahonen | Yevgeny Medvedev | Alexander Radulov | Dmitry Lugin |
| January | Teemu Lassila | Kevin Dallman | Evgeny Kuznetsov | Stanislav Bocharov |
| February | Alexander Eremenko | Guntis Galviņš |  Robert Nilsson | Roman Tatalin |
| March | Michael Garnett | Ilya Gorokhov | Vladimir Tarasenko | not awarded |
| April | Alexander Eremenko | Martin Škoula | Mikhail Anisin | not awarded |
KHL Awards
On 23 May 2012, the KHL held their annual award ceremony. A total of 20 different awards were handed out to teams, players, officials and media. The most important trophies are listed in the table below.| Golden Stick Award | Alexander Radulov |
| Best coach | Oļegs Znaroks |
| Alexei Cherepanov Award | Dmitry Lugin |
The league also awarded six "Golden Helmets" for the members of the all-star team: