The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) announced on its official website on August 7 that 23 clubs from six countries will take part in the 2020/21 season.
This decision was approved by the KHL Board of Directors. In addition, the league has already published the calendar for the upcoming season.
“Each of the 23 clubs will play 60 matches. Twice all the clubs will play against each other (44 matches), 8-10 – with the teams of their own division and another 6-8 – with the teams of the neighboring division of their conference. In total, 690 matches will be played in the first stage, ”the statement says.
Due to the change in the number of teams, there was also an adjustment in the divisions: for example, Novosibirsk Siberia will play in the Chernyshev division, while Riga and Moscow Dynamo went to the Tarasov division instead of Sochi and Vityaz.
When drawing up the calendar, the KHL tried to take into account the wishes of the clubs associated with going to Siberia and the Far East. In particular, all teams will have a break of 3-4 days after the trip.
At the moment it is already known that the beginning of the season is scheduled for September 2, writes Gazeta.ru.
The decision that the KHL ends the season ahead of schedule due to the situation with coronavirus was made at the end of March. The Russian Ice Hockey Federation at the beginning of July recognized CSKA Moscow as the national champion of the 2019/2020 season.