Team changes

After withdrawing from the previous season in the wake of the 2011 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash that killed the team's entire active roster, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl returned to the KHL with new players.

Lev Poprad was disbanded, but a team of the same name, Lev Prague, was established in Prague, Czech Republic, while Slovan Bratislava joined the KHL and thus continues the league's presence in Slovakia.^[2] Also HC Donbass from Donetsk, Ukraine joined the league. The team previously played in the VHL.^[3] This brought the total number of teams to 26, representing 7 countries.

Salary cap

The salary cap changed from a soft cap to a hard cap, set at 1.1 billion rubles (approx. US$36.5 million), but each club can waive the cap for one player transferred directly from the NHL, if he is eligible to play for the Russian national team.^[4]

Season structure

The regular season consisted of 52 games for each team — twice (home and away) against each other team in the league and two extra games against a selected "rival" opponent (typically a geographically close team). This was a change from previous seasons, where all intra-division opponents were played more frequently. The top 8 teams from each conference qualified for the playoffs, which are played as best-of-seven series in each round.

Nadezhda Cup tournament

In January 2013, a new repechage tournament known as the Nadezhda Cup (Cup of Hope) was announced, which was held alongside the playoffs. Six teams from the Western Conference and four teams from the Eastern Conference who had not qualified for the playoffs competed in the tournament, whose prize includes the first overall pick in the next KHL Junior Draft. The new tournament was intended to extend the season, and help maintain interest in hockey for fans and players in preparation for the 2014 Winter Olympics.^[5] The first Cup of Hope was won by Dinamo Riga.

Notable events

NHL lockout

The league set up rules for the NHL lockout which lasted from 16 September 2012 to early January 2013. According to the special regulations, each KHL team was allowed to add up to 3 NHL players to their roster, among them at most one foreign player.^[6]

List of NHL players signing KHL lockout contracts Source: eliteprospect.com[7]
Date	Player	NHL Team	KHL Team
09/16/2012	Evgeni Malkin (C)	(from) Pittsburgh Penguins	(to) Metallurg Magnitogorsk
09/16/2012	Sergei Gonchar (D)	(from) Ottawa Senators	(to) Metallurg Magnitogorsk
09/16/2012	Ruslan Fedotenko (LW)	(from) Philadelphia Flyers	(to) HC Donbass
09/16/2012	Alexei Ponikarovsky (LW)	(from) Winnipeg Jets	(to) HC Donbass
09/16/2012	Anton Khudobin (G)	(from) Boston Bruins	(to) Atlant Moscow Oblast
09/17/2012	Ľubomír Višňovský (D)	(from) New York Islanders	(to) Slovan Bratislava
09/17/2012	Kaspars Daugaviņš (LW)	(from) Ottawa Senators	(to) Dinamo Riga
09/17/2012	Nikolai Kulemin (RW)	(from) Toronto Maple Leafs	(to) Metallurg Magnitogorsk
09/17/2012	Ilya Kovalchuk (RW)	(from) New Jersey Devils	(to) SKA Saint Petersburg
09/18/2012	Jakub Voráček (RW)	(from) Philadelphia Flyers	(to) Lev Prague
09/18/2012	Niklas Bäckström (G)	(from) Minnesota Wild	(to) Dinamo Minsk
09/18/2012	Semyon Varlamov (G)	(from) Colorado Avalanche	(to) Lokomotiv Yaroslavl
09/19/2012	Alexander Ovechkin (LW)	(from) Washington Capitals	(to) Dynamo Moscow
09/19/2012	Pavel Datsyuk (C)	(from) Detroit Red Wings	(to) CSKA Moscow
09/19/2012	Ilya Bryzgalov (G)	(from) Philadelphia Flyers	(to) CSKA Moscow
09/20/2012	Jiří Hudler (LW)	(from) Calgary Flames	(to) Lev Prague
09/20/2012	Nik Antropov (C)	(from) Winnipeg Jets	(to) Barys Astana
09/20/2012	Artem Anisimov (C)	(from) Columbus Blue Jackets	(to) Lokomotiv Yaroslavl
09/21/2012	Mikhail Grabovski (C)	(from) Toronto Maple Leafs	(to) CSKA Moscow
09/21/2012	Sergei Bobrovsky (G)	(from) Columbus Blue Jackets	(to) SKA Saint Petersburg
9/21/2012	Vladimir Tarasenko (RW)	(from) St. Louis Blues	(to) SKA Saint Petersburg
09/24/2012	Dmitri Kulikov (D)	(from) Florida Panthers	(to) Lokomotiv Yaroslavl
09/25/2012	Nikita Nikitin (D)	(from) Columbus Blue Jackets	(to) Avangard Omsk
09/25/2012	Pekka Rinne (G)	(from) Nashville Predators	(to) Dinamo Minsk
09/27/2012	Anton Babchuk (D)	(from) Calgary Flames	(to) HC Donbass
09/27/2012	Andrej Sekera (D)	(from) Buffalo Sabres	(to) Slovan Bratislava
09/28/2012	Victor Hedman (D)	(from) Tampa Bay Lightning	(to) Barys Astana
09/28/2012	Evander Kane (LW)	(from) Winnipeg Jets	(to) Dinamo Minsk
10/02/2012	Zdeno Chára (D)	(from) Boston Bruins	(to) Lev Prague
10/02/2012	Tom Wandell (LW)	(from) Dallas Stars	(to) Severstal Cherepovets
10/03/2012	Andrei Markov (D)	(from) Montreal Canadiens	(to) Vityaz Chekhov
10/04/2012	Anton Volchenkov (D)	(from) New Jersey Devils	(to) Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod
10/05/2012	Joe Pavelski (C)	(from) San Jose Sharks	(to) Dinamo Minsk
10/07/2012	Sergei Kostitsyn (LW)	(from) Nashville Predators	(to) Avangard Omsk
10/11/2012	Ryan McDonagh (D)	(from) New York Rangers	(to) Dynamo Moscow
10/19/2012	Nicklas Bäckström (C)	(from) Washington Capitals	(to) Dynamo Moscow
10/30/2012	Joffrey Lupul (RW)	(from) Toronto Maple Leafs	(to) Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg
11/20/2012	Viktor Stålberg (RW)	(from) Chicago Blackhawks	(to) Atlant Moscow Oblast
12/07/2012	Ryan O'Reilly (C)	(from) Colorado Avalanche	(to) Metallurg Magnitogorsk
01/04/2013	Kris Letang (D)	(from) Pittsburgh Penguins	(to) SKA Saint Petersburg

League standings

Source: KHL.ru^[9]

Points are awarded as follows:

• 3 Points for a win in regulation ("W")
• 2 Points for a win in overtime ("OTW") or a penalty shootout ("SOW")
• 1 Point for a loss in overtime ("OTL") or a penalty shootout ("SOL")
• 0 Points for a loss in regulation ("L")

The conference standings determine the seedings for the playoffs. The first two places in each conference are reserved for the division winners.

Player statistics

Bracket

	Conference Quarterfinals					Conference Semifinals					Conference Finals					Gagarin Cup Finals
	1	Ak Bars	4
	8	Neftekhimik	0
						1	Ak Bars	4
						5	Salavat Yulaev	3
	2	Avangard	4
	7	Sibir	3
											1	Ak Bars	3
	Eastern Conference
											3	Traktor	4
	3	Traktor	4
	6	Barys	3
						2	Avangard	1
						3	Traktor	4
	4	Metallurg Mg	3
	5	Salavat Yulaev	4
																3	Traktor	2
																3	Dynamo Msk	4
	1	SKA	4
	8	Atlant	1
						1	SKA	4
						5	Severstal	0
	2	CSKA	4
	7	Lev	0
											1	SKA	2
	Western Conference
											3	Dynamo Msk	4
	3	Dynamo Msk	4
	6	Slovan	0
						2	CSKA	1
						3	Dynamo Msk	4
	4	Lokomotiv	2
	5	Severstal	4

Player statistics

Players of the Month

Best KHL players of each month.

Month	Goaltender	Defense	Forward	Rookie
September[15]	Konstantin Barulin (Ak Bars)	Yevgeny Medvedev (Ak Bars)	Jori Lehterä (Sibir)	Daniil Apalkov (Lokomotiv)
October[16]	Alexander Eremenko (Dynamo Moscow)	Anton Belov (Avangard)	Ilya Kovalchuk (SKA)	Nail Yakupov (Neftekhimik)
November[17]	Rastislav Staňa (CSKA)	Victor Hedman (Barys)	Artem Anisimov (Lokomotiv)	Viktor Antipin (Magnitogorsk)
December[18]	Karri Rämö (Avangard)	Sergei Gonchar (Magnitogorsk)	Evgeni Malkin (Magnitogorsk)	Alexander Sharychenkov (Dynamo Moscow)
January[19]	Vasiliy Koshechkin (Severstal)	Dmitri Kalinin (SKA)	Igor Skorokhodov (Yugra)	Valeri Nichushkin (Traktor)
February[20]	Vasiliy Koshechkin (Severstal)	Yakov Rylov (CSKA)	Mikhail Varnakov (SKA)	Valeri Nichushkin (Traktor)
March[21]	Michael Garnett (Traktor)	Dominik Graňák (Dynamo Moscow)	Viktor Tikhonov (SKA)	Valeri Nichushkin (Traktor)

KHL Awards

On 22 May 2013, the KHL held their annual award ceremony. A total of 23 different awards were handed out to teams, players, officials and media. The most important trophies are listed in the table below.^[22]

Golden Stick Award (regular season MVP)	Sergei Mozyakin (Magintogorsk)
Best coach	Oļegs Znaroks (Dynamo Msc)
Alexei Cherepanov Award (best rookie)	Valeri Nichushkin (Traktor)

The league also awarded six "Golden Helmets" for the members of the all-star team:

Forwards	Alexander Radulov SKA Saint Petersburg		Viktor Tikhonov SKA Saint Petersburg		Sergei Mozyakin Metallurg Magnitogorsk
Defense	Ilya Nikulin Ak Bars Kazan			Ilya Gorokhov Dynamo Moscow
Goalie	Alexander Eremenko Dynamo Moscow