The 2010–11 KHL season was the third

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

of the

Kontinental Hockey League The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; ) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs based in Russia (20), Belarus (1), Kazakhstan (1), and China (1) for a total of 23 clubs. It was considered in ...

. It was held from 8 September 2010 and ended on 16 April 2011. The season started with the Opening Cup game between the last season's finalists,

Ak Bars Kazan Hockey Club Ak Bars (, , ), also known as Ak Bars Kazan, is a professional ice hockey club based in Kazan, Russia. It is a member of the Kharlamov Division in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). History Founded as Mashstroy Kazan in 1956, the n ...

and UHC Dynamo, the new team that was created by merging last season's Western conference winner

HC MVD HC MVD () was a professional ice hockey club based in Balashikha, Moscow Oblast, Russia. They were members of the Tarasov Division of the Kontinental Hockey League. They are best known for winning the silver medal in the KHL backstopped by all star ...

with

Dynamo Moscow MGO VFSO "Dynamo" (), commonly known as Dynamo Moscow (), is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on 18 April 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first institution created from the All-Union Dynamo Sports Club. Dynamo Mosco ...

Salavat Yulaev Ufa Hockey Club Salavat Yulaev (; ), commonly referred as Salavat Yulaev Ufa, is a professional ice hockey club based in Ufa, Russia. It is a member of the Chernyshev Division in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Established in 1957, Salavat Yu ...

won the

Gagarin Cup The Gagarin Cup () is the trophy presented to the winner of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) playoffs, and is named after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space. The Cup was supposedly named after Gagarin because the last po ...

and the Russian Championship after beating

Atlant Moscow Oblast Hockey Club Atlant Moscow Oblast (, ) was a Russian professional ice hockey team based in Mytishchi, Moscow Oblast. They were members of the Bobrov Division of the Kontinental Hockey League in the 2014–15 season, but have not been active si ...

4–1 in the play-off final series.

League changes

Team changes

Folding of Lada Togliatti Lada Togliatti dropped out of the league and joined the

Russian Major League The All-Russian Hockey League (VHL) (, ''Vserossiyskaya hokkeinaya liga (VHL)''), also known as the Major Hockey League or Higher Hockey League (HHL), is a professional ice hockey league in Eurasia, and the second highest level of Ice Hockey Fed ...

instead, after failing to meet the league's financial requirements. Merger of HC MVD and Dynamo Moscow On 30 April 2010, it was announced that

would merge with

to form UHC Dynamo, which for the time being will play the majority of their games at Megasport Arena in Moscow, while also attempting to play some games in

Balashikha Balashikha ( rus, Балашиха, p=bəlɐˈʂɨxə) is a city in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located on the Pekhorka River east of the Moscow Ring Road. Population: Etymology In Finno-Ugric languages, ''Bala-shika'' means ''land of celebration ...

. The current plan is to have a new, large and modernized arena constructed in Balashikha by 2012. Expansion teams By the deadline of 1 April 2010, six new teams from four different countries applied for KHL membership for this season: HC Yugra,

Krylya Sovetov Moscow HC Krylya Sovetov (; ''Soviet Wings'') is a professional ice hockey team based in Moscow, Russia. The team played in the top divisions of Soviet and Russian hockey. In 2008, the team was expelled from the Soviet Wings Sport Palace and a new t ...

and Gazovik Tyumen from Russia; HC Budivelnyk from

Kyiv, Ukraine Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

; HC Lev from

Hradec Králové Hradec Králové (; ) is a city of the Czech Republic. It has about 94,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Hradec Králové Region. The historic centre of Hradec Králové is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech R ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

; and Vėtra Vilnius from Lithuania. Of these teams, Budivelnyk and Yugra were initially accepted into the KHL, but on 24 June 2010 Budivelnyk announced it is unable to participate in the KHL in the 2010–11 season because their stadium is not ready. On 16 July 2010, HC Lev, which in the meantime has been moved to

Poprad Poprad (; ; ) is a city in northern Slovakia at the foot of the High Tatras, High Tatra Mountains, famous for its picturesque historic centre and as a holiday resort. The largest town of the Spiš region and the largest of all towns in the vic ...

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

, was accepted into the KHL, but after the Slovak Hockey Federation's delay to give permit to the team, the KHL excluded Lev from the 2010–11 season.

Other changes

Play-off format Unlike in the previous seasons, all play-off series were played in a best-of-seven format. Vuvuzelas ban The KHL administration has explicitly banned the sale and use of vuvuzelas, infamous since the

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

, in ice hockey arenas.

Regular season

The regular season started on 8 September 2010 with the Opening Cup and ended on 20 February 2011. There were short breaks in November, December and February for international matches and for the all-star game. Each team played 54 games during the regular season.

Notable events

Opening Cup The first game of the season is traditionally the " Opening Cup" and is played between the two Gagarin Cup finalists from the previous season. Because previous season's runner-up

merged with

, the Opening Cup was played between defending champion

and the newly formed UHC Dynamo. The game took place on 8 September 2010 at the

TatNeft Arena Tatneft Arena (Russian language, ru: Татнефть Арена) is an indoor arena, indoor sporting arena located in Kazan, Russia. The venue got its name due to a sponsorship with Tatneft, a russian oil company, oil producing company. Opened in ...

Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...

where UHC Dynamo beat

3–1. KHL versus NHL exhibition games The

Carolina Hurricanes The Carolina Hurricanes (colloquially known as the Canes) are a professional ice hockey team based in Raleigh, North Carolina. The Hurricanes compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Con ...

played

SKA Saint Petersburg Hockey Club SKA (), often referred to as SKA Saint Petersburg and literally as the Sports Club of the Army, is a professional ice hockey club based in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is a member of the Bobrov Division in the Kontinental Hockey Le ...

at the

Ice Palace Saint Petersburg The Ice Palace (Russian: Ледовый Дворец, ''Ledovy Dvorets'') is an arena in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It was built for the 2000 IIHF World Championship and opened in 2000. It holds 12,300 people. The Ice Palace is primarily used for ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

on October 4 (SKA won 5–3), and the

Phoenix Coyotes The Arizona Coyotes are an inactive professional ice hockey team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. They competed in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division (1996–1998, 2021–2024) and ...

played

Dinamo Riga Dinamo Riga () is a professional ice hockey team based in Riga, Latvia. It most recently was a member of the Latvian Hockey Higher League. The club is affiliated with HK Zemgale/LBTU. The club was re-founded on 7 April 2008 as a successor of a D ...

at Arena Riga in

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

on October 6 (Riga lost 1–3). Game in Switzerland On 23 December 2010, before the

Spengler Cup The Spengler Cup is an annual invitational ice hockey tournament held in Davos, Switzerland. First held in 1923, the Spengler Cup is often cited as the oldest invitational ice hockey tournament in the world. The event is hosted by the Swiss team ...

started, the two participants from the KHL,

and Spartak Moscow, played an official regular-season game in the Vaillant Arena in

Davos Davos (, ; or ; ; Old ) is an Alpine resort town and municipality in the Prättigau/Davos Region in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It has a permanent population of (). Davos is located on the river Landwasser, in the Rhaetian ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. It was the first KHL game played in central Europe. All-Star Game The All-Star weekend took place on 5 and 6 February 2011 in Saint Petersburg.

League standings

Source: KHL.ru Points were awarded as follows: *3 Points for a win in regulation ("W") *2 Points for a win in overtime ("OTW") or penalty shootout ("SOW") *1 Point for a loss in a penalty shootout ("SOL") or overtime ("OTL") *0 Points for a loss in regulation ("L")

Conference standings

The conference standings determined the seedings for the play-offs. The first two places in each conference were reserved for the division winners. Source: khl.ru Source: khl.ru

Divisional standings

Western Conference Eastern Conference

League leaders

Source: khl.ru Goaltenders: minimum 15 games played

Scoring leaders

Source: khl.ru ''GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/– = P

Plus–minus Plus–minus, ±, +/−, or variants may refer to: * Plus–minus sign (±), a mathematical symbol which can mean either plus (+) or minus (−), or can indicate the uncertainty of a measurement or statistic * Plus–minus (sports), a sport ...

; PIM = Penalty minutes''

Leading goaltenders

Source: khl.ru ''GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; SOL = Shootout losses; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% =

Save percentage Save percentage (often known by such symbols as SV%, SVS%, SVP, PCT) is a statistic in various Goal (sports), goal-scoring sports that track Save (goaltender), saves as a statistic. In ice hockey and lacrosse and association football, it is a sta ...

; GAA =

Goals against average Goals against average (GAA), also known as average goals against (AGA), is a statistic used in field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, and water polo that is the mean of goals allowed per game by a goaltender or goalkeeper (depending on spo ...

Playoffs

The playoffs started on 23 February 2011. The fifth and final game of the final series for the

was played on 16 April 2011.

Playoff leaders

Source: khl.ru Goaltenders: minimum 5 games played

Scoring leaders

Source: khl.ru ''GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/– = P

; PIM = Penalty minutes''

Leading goaltenders

Source: khl.ru ''GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; SOL = Shootout losses; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% =

; GAA =

Final standings

Awards

Players of the Month

Best KHL players of each month.

KHL Awards

On 20 May 2011, 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. The league also awarded six "Golden Helmets" for the members of the all-star team:

References

KHL regular season calendar in EnglishKHL playoffs format in EnglishKHL Official Rulebook in Russian
{{DEFAULTSORT:2010-11 KHL season Kontinental Hockey League seasons 1 1