In the 2023/2024 season, the salary cap in the KHL championship is 900 million rubles, the minimum is 405 million. Starting from the 2024/2025 season, bonuses exceeding 10% of the total salary will be taken into account in the salary cap, but only if the contract was concluded after April 13, 2023. It is interesting that in the KHL there is still a big difference between the financial capabilities of the teams. Thus, some people still do not reach the floor, while others cannot always fit all their acquisitions into the ceiling.
SKA and Evgeny Kuznetsov
The main transfer saga of this offseason is the likely transfer of Evgeny Kuznetsov to SKA. For the KHL, a hockey player of Kuznetsov’s level is an unconditional superstar. In the NHL, the Russian managed to win the Stanley Cup with Washington, played for a long time for the capital, then moved to Carolina, after which he terminated his contract with the Hurricanes by agreement of the parties.
Of course, Kuznetsov is very welcome in his native Chelyabinsk, but now there is a 99.9% chance that the striker will end up in St. Petersburg. For SKA, a center of this level will not be superfluous, but it is necessary to further clean up the payment system. There has been talk for some time about the departure of Emil Galimov, whose contract with the military team is valid until the end of the 2026/2027 season with a salary of 40 million rubles. Roman Rotenberg’s team is ready to part with defender Sergei Sapego. His agreement is similar to Galimov’s and his salary in the next season will be 45 million rubles. 85 million rubles are released – this is the amount that Kuznetsov should count on at SKA.
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Ak Bars and Alexander Barabanov
Ak Bars has the most problems. If Vadim Shipachev could be transferred to Dynamo Minsk, then it is still impossible to find options for Vyacheslav Voinov with a contract valid for the next season and a salary of 75 million rubles. In fact, for approximately the same amount of money, future Kazan newcomer Alexander Barabanov is competing, with whom, as we reported, a two-year contract will soon be signed.
The fate of Evgeniy Svechnikov on a 75 million contract for next season is still unclear, and there are some slow negotiations regarding Stanislav Galiev, who they don’t seem averse to leaving in the capital of Tatarstan. Kirill Petrov and Artyom Lukoyanov are almost certain to be absent from Ak Bars, but let’s not forget that, in addition to Barabanov, Bars still have to sign American striker Nick Petan.
As for Barabanov, he is also a KHL star. Of course, not on the same scale as Kuznetsov, but a clear reinforcement for the attack of Anvar Gatiyatulin’s team. The main thing is that Alexander needs to find a competent center forward in the top three. Barabanov quite rightly made the decision to return to Russia. San Jose no longer counts on him, but in the KHL you can constantly play in the top 6 and earn a lot of money.
ALEXANDER BARABANOV (left)
Photo: Tony Avelar/AP/TASS
Dynamo (Moscow) and Nikita Gusev
Dynamo Moscow made an interesting move on the transfer market. Let’s see if this turns out to be effective. The signing of Hunter Miska currently raises questions as to how much the American goalkeeper will strengthen the blue-and-whites, but at least the 29-year-old goalkeeper moved to Russia on a very small contract for a foreigner. The bowl cost Dynamo only 20 million rubles, thanks to which the Moscow club currently has just over 80 million rubles under its roof. This is the amount that Dynamo committed to signing Nikita Gusev.
In order to conclude a contract with the top scorer of the last KHL regular season, Dynamo sporting director Alexei Sopin will not have to refuse anyone. All the necessary changes in this direction took place at the time when the blue-and-whites exchanged Yegor Petukhov and Ivan Muranov for the Admiral. The signing of Gusev (he has not yet given up hope of finding options abroad) should be a big point in Dynamo’s national team. Only technical issues remain, such as parting with goalkeeper Ilya Konovalov, whose rights are loaned to the club, but there is no contract with the goalkeeper.
