KHL Award Winners Have Been Announced

KHL season is long over and finally, the league has announced the winners of the KHL awards.

KHL’s ”Ending Ceremony” was canceled due to COVID-19, and because of that, the KHL Awards were announced on leagues homepage and players awarded from afar. Leagues’ press office has also provided us with quotes from each player. In this year’s edition two important awards are missing and have been left out – KHL’s coach of the year and The Golden Whistle (Best Referee) award.

Viktor Tikhonov’s Continental Cup (The winner of KHL’s regular season): CSKA Moscow.

Top scorer (Player that records the most points during the regular season): Vadim Shipacyov (Dynamo Moscow) 17 goals, 48 assists (65 points).

Shipachyov top KHL: Of course it’s nice to finish as the top scorer in the regular season. But I think that Kirill Kaprizov and Dmitrij Jaskin also deserve recognition – there wasn’t much to choose between us. Overall, I think the season went well for me and for Dynamo. It’s just a pity that the pandemic prevented us from continuing with the playoffs. Now we just have to make sure we’re ready for the new season and can produce our best hockey from day one.

Top Goal Scorer: Kirill Kaprizov (CSKA Moscow) – 33 goals.

Kaprizov to KHL: It’s good, it’s really cool, but it would never have happened without my team-mates. Thanks guys, and thanks to the coaching staff for their help and support.

Top-scoring defenseman (Defenseman that has recorded the most points during the regular season): Mikko Lehtonen (Jokerit Helsinki) 17 goals, 32 assists (49 points).

Lehtonen to KHL: I feel very honoured to receive this award. Both personally and as a team, we were able to play well during the season. I was fortunate to get such a big role in Jokerit and that gave me a chance to succeed individually as well. I want to thank the club and our team for all the support during the season.

Latest Hockey News

• 2022 IIHF World Junior Championships Cancelled Due To COVID
• Dinamo Riga Goes Through Their Third Coaching Change Of The Season
• Team USA Smothers Canada For Fifth-Ever Tournament Gold Medal
• USA vs. Canada: Friends Will Become Frenemies Tonight
• What Canada and the U.S. Are Doing Well

The Golden Stick awards (Regular season MVP): Dmitrij Jaskin (Dynamo Moscow) 31 goals, 32 assists (63 points).

Jaskin to KHL: It feels really good to be chosen for such a prestigious award, especially in my first season in the league. Is there more to come? There are no limits to perfection. We train and we play so that we can get better so that fans can come to the game and enjoy quality hockey. There’s a lot of work ahead of us. The new season won’t be easy and, from the first seconds of action, everyone has to prove – to himself, to the coaches and the to the fans – that his previous achievements were no accident.

Best goalie: Timur Bilyalov (AkBars Kazan).

Bilyalov to KHL: This isn’t just for me, it’s an award for the whole team. Together we had a pretty good season, we won the Eastern Conference and set a new Russian record shut-out streak. The prize might be given to me, but it’s down to the whole team – the guys helped a lot, they blocked shots, kept the opposition to the outside. We had some off days, but we learned from those and used the experience to help us win again. It’s sad that the season had to finish early but we all understand that people’s health is always the most important thing. I’m sure things will get back to normal soon and we’ll be back on the ice to play entertaining hockey for our fans.

Alexei Cherepanov Award (Rookie of the year): Artyom Galimov (AkBars Kazan) 13 goals, 10 assists (23 points).

Galimov to KHL: To be honest, I didn’t think the league would pick me as the best rookie so it’s a nice surprise. First, I’d like to thank the coaching staff at Ak Bars for giving young players a chance to prove themselves at the highest level. I’d also like to thank my team-mates for sharing their experience with me, both on and off the ice. It was an interesting season, my first in the KHL. It’s a completely different level from what I’d done before, a different understanding of the game. I managed to do OK on my debut in the league but that’s thanks to our coaches, my team-mates, my family, and the fans for the way they always get behind our team.

Top troika (highest scoring forward line in the regular season): Andre Peterson – Vadim Shipachyov – Dmitrij Jaskin (Dynamo Moscow) combined for 34 goals.

Sergei Gimayov Prize for loyalty to hockey (best veteran player or coach): Alexander Semin (Vitjaz Moscow).

Semin to KHL: It’s a great honor to receive an award named after a man like Sergei Gimayev, a man who always told it as he saw it. Thank you to the KHL for recognizing my contribution to our team. I feel great, I don’t feel my age at all and I can still enjoy playing the game that I love. It’s just a pity how things ended: I got an injury, Vityaz came out of the playoffs, and then everything had to stop. But people’s health is more important than hockey. I hope that next season everything will get back to normal.