A KHL Preview

Jeff Klein, writing for the Slap Shot blog at the NY Times, has an excellent preview of the new rival league to the NHL.

On Tuesday the K.H.L. begins play with a rematch of last season’s Superliga final between champions Salavat Yulaev Ufa and Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, along with four other games. Here is the opening-day slate, with home teams listed first:

Salavat Yulaev Ufa vs. Lokomotiv Yaroslavl
Amur Khabarovsk vs. Dinamo Riga
Metallurg Novokuznetsk vs. Dinamo Minsk
Spartak Moscow vs. Atlant Mytishchi
Vityaz Chekhov vs. HK MVD Balashikha

Below, an updated post from earlier this summer that presents capsule profiles of each of the league’s 24 clubs — the cities they play in, their histories and their top players. The number that appears alongside each club’s name is its rating, familiar to Europeans as a “coefficient,” based on its performance over the last five seasons.

Really interesting stuff, especially if you are a fan of European hockey.