A roundup of the top hockey news from September 2.
American journalists “nominated” Michkov for the Calder Trophy
NHL website journalist William Douglas considers Philadelphia forward Matvey Michkov to be one of the favourites in the race for the best rookie award for next season.
“Aside from Dallas’ Logan Stankoven, is there any other rookie forward more NHL-ready than Matvey Michkov? The 19-year-old right winger scored 41 points (19 goals, 22 assists) in 47 games last season for Sochi in the Kontinental Hockey League, the most among players under 20. He scored 66 points (30 goals, 36 assists) in 91 KHL games over three seasons. Michkov was not expected to be in the NHL until the start of the 2026/2027 season. But the final two years of his KHL contract were cancelled and the Flyers signed him to an initial three-year contract on July 1,” the league’s press service quoted Douglas as saying.
In addition to Michkov, the journalists of the official NHL website named McLean Celebrini (San Jose), Cutter Gauthier (Anaheim), Rutger McGroarty (Pittsburgh), Will Smith (Pittsburgh, San Jose), Logan Stankoven (Dallas) and Dustin Wolf (Calgary) as the main contenders for the Calder Trophy next season.
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Avangard and Traktor named captains of the new KHL season
Avangard has decided on the captain and assistants for the upcoming KHL season, the press service of the Omsk club reports. Defender Damir Sharipzyanov was chosen as the team captain. His assistants were forwards Vladimir Tkachev, Reed Boucher, Linden Wei and Ivan Igumnov.
Traktor striker Vladimir Tkachev, who spent last season as the team’s assistant, will play the role of captain in the new season. This was reported by the press service of the Chelyabinsk club on the Telegram channel. The role of assistants in the upcoming season will be played by Artyom Blazhievsky, Sergey Telegin, Andrey Svetlakov and Steven Kaempfer. Compared to last season, “Traktor” has completely changed the list of captain and assistants – the team will be represented by the following players:
A new Moscow club may appear in the KHL in 2030
Unison-Moscow President Alexander Klimenko said that the club plans to join the Kontinental Hockey League in 2030. The club was founded in 2022, starting from the 2024/2025 season Unison-Moscow will play in the All-Russian Hockey League.
“We have a development strategy, Unison 2030, which was approved two years ago, and we are implementing it. One of our bases in the development of the club is evolution. We have determined for ourselves that we can only move from one league to another if we win the season. Our KHL is our goal and our strategy is to become a member of the league in 2030,” TASS quotes Klimenko as saying.
In 2024, Unison-Moscow became the winner of the Cup of Regions, the playoffs of the National Youth League.
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Officially
Former Ak Bars striker Artyom Lukoyanov signed a contract with HC Unison-Moscow
MHK Atlant suffered a technical defeat in the first match of the season
Today, September 2, the Atlant youth team was supposed to play against Spartak Moscow in the opening match of both teams in the 2024/2025 season of the Junior Hockey League (MHL), but even before stepping on the ice, the team received a technical defeat. This was reported by the official VKontakte group of the Atlant MHC.
“Due to problems with the application, our team players cannot enter the match,” the club’s press service wrote on its website.
The French team will go to the 2026 Olympics if the Russian team is suspended from the tournament
The president of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), Luc Tardif, has said that if the Russian national team is not allowed to participate in the 2026 Olympic Games, the French national team will play in the hockey tournament.
“This will be the French team,” Match TV quotes Tardif as saying.
The Russian national team will miss the World Hockey Championships from 2022. The team managed to play in the Olympic Games that same year before being suspended, where it finished second. In the decisive match, Russia, which plays under the abbreviation ROC (Russian Olympic Committee), lost to the Finnish national team 1:2.
The French team finished second in the group stage of Olympic qualification. The decision on the admission of the Russian team to the Olympic Games is expected to be made no earlier than March 2025.
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