2021–22 KHL season

For the 2021–22 season, the competition returned to 24 teams after Admiral Vladivostok returned from a season's hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Russia affecting their financial status.[5]

There was an additional break during the season due to the 2022 Winter Olympics, held in February in Beijing, China.[2]

The 24 teams were split into four divisions: the Bobrov Division and the Tarasov Division as part of the Western Conference, with the Kharlamov Division and the Chernyshev Division as part of the Eastern Conference.

Following Admiral Vladivostok's return to the league, Torpedo moved back to the Western Conference and joined the Bobrov Division, with Severstal moving into the Tarasov. Admiral was inserted back into the Chernyshev Division, with Kunlun Red Star moving into the Kharlamov Division.[2]

Western Conference		Eastern Conference
Bobrov Division	Tarasov Division	Kharlamov Division	Chernyshev Division
Jokerit	CSKA Moscow	Ak Bars Kazan	Admiral Vladivostok
SKA Saint Petersburg	Dinamo Minsk	Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg	Amur Khabarovsk
HC Sochi	Dinamo Riga	Kunlun Red Star	Avangard Omsk
Spartak Moscow	Dynamo Moscow	Metallurg Magnitogorsk	Barys Nur-Sultan
Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod	Lokomotiv Yaroslavl	Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk	Salavat Yulaev Ufa
Vityaz Podolsk	Severstal Cherepovets	Traktor Chelyabinsk	Sibir Novosibirsk

Each team was scheduled to play 56 games: playing every other team home-and-away (46 games), plus additional home-and-away games against five intra-conference teams (10 games).[2][6] Points were awarded for each game, where two points were awarded for all victories, regardless of whether it was in regulation time, in overtime or after game-winning shots. One point was awarded for losing in overtime or game-winning shots, and zero points for losing in regulation time. In the 2021–22 season, the second seed in each conference would not be guaranteed to a divisional winner.[7]

With the discontinuation of the regular season, it was proposed that teams were to be ranked by points percentage, with the top eight from each conference scheduled to qualify for the Gagarin Cup playoffs. This was subject to approval by the KHL Board of Directors and the Ice Hockey Federation of Russia.[4] This was confirmed on 16 February.[1]

Following the curtailment of the regular season, the playoffs were brought forward to start from 1 March.[1]

On 25 February 2022, Jokerit announced their withdrawal from the league for the remainder of the season, including the playoffs, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[8] Their first round opponents Spartak Moscow were given four forfeit victories and progressed to the second round of the playoffs.[9] Dinamo Riga subsequently also withdrew from the league for the same reason.[10]

	Conference Quarter-Finals					Conference Semi-Finals					Conference Finals					Gagarin Cup Finals
	1	Metallurg	4			1	Metallurg	4
	8	Barys	1			4	Avangard	3
	2	Traktor	4							Eastern Conference
	7	Neftekhimik	0
											1	Metallurg	4
										2	Traktor	1
	3	Salavat Yulaev	4
	6	Sibir Novosibirsk	1
	4	Ak Bars	2			2	Traktor	4
	5	Avangard	4			3	Salavat Yulaev	2
																E1	Metallurg	3
		(Pairings are re-seeded after the first round.)
																W2	CSKA	4
	1	SKA	4			1	SKA	4
	8	Dinamo	0			4	Spartak	1
	2	Jokerit	0
	7	Spartak	4*
											1	SKA	3
										2	CSKA	4
	3	CSKA	4
	6	Lokomotiv	0								Western Conference
	4	Dynamo	4			2	CSKA	4
	5	Severstal	3			3	Dynamo	0

• During the first three rounds home ice is determined by seeding number, not position on the bracket. In the Finals the team with the better regular season record has home ice.

• Official website