For the 2014–15 season, Ukrainians constituted the 14th most numerous nationality within the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). During the 2009–10 KHL season, 26 Ukrainian players participated in the competition, the most to date, out of the 41 total to have played. Alexei Zhitnik, along with Anton Babchuk and Nikolay Zherdev are of a select few to have been named to the annual All Star Game.
Oleg Tverdovsky became the first Ukrainian-born player to win the Gagarin Cup, doing so with HC Salavat Yulaev in 2010. In 2013, Kostiantyn Kasianchuk became the first Ukrainian national team player to do the same; after which the Cup was brought to Kyiv in celebration. According to Sokil Kyiv general manager Vyacheslav Zavalnyuk, 13.5% of all players in the KHL have Ukrainian roots.
Players
= Active in 2012-13 season= Signed for 2013-14 season= Active in 2013-14 season= Retired NATNamePOSGPGAPTSBirthplaceTeamRef. F5931114Kyiv(Belarus) D144143549Kyiv- ★D80101525KyivSalavat Yulaev D15691524Konotop(VHL) F0000Arzamas-16Donbass G1---NovosibirskUnsigned F0000KyivDonbass LW2496682148KharkivUnsigned D250326395KharkivCSKA C15011Kyiv(VHL) LW3381018KyivDonbass G78---KyivDonbass F170293564KyivDynamo D39246Kyiv- C176193756SeverodonetskNeftekhimik F25011KyivDonbass D20011Kyiv(VHL) LW7000KyivDinamo-Minsk LW2004561106KyivAtlant LW109101222Kyiv(Belarus) F0000TolyattiDonbass D515813Kyiv- D0000KyivDonbass LW221204868KolodysteBarys LW3251318KyivKunlun D23792938KharkivDonbass D1044913SimferopolSpartak F21246Kyiv(Belarus) C103151217KyivUnsigned RW3000BelovoDonbass F141344276Kyiv(Swiss) G0---KharkivDonbass RW37347Kharkiv(MOL Liga) D0000LubnyUgra D16000TyumenDonbass G13---Kyiv- C51628Kyiv- RW25336Kharkiv- D5000DnipropetrovskAk Bars RW0000KharkivDonbass D191295180Donetsk- LW133242650KyivDonbass D263254469KharkivLokomotiv G87---Sverdlovsk- F0000KyivDonbass C809716KyivSeverstal ★RW1554478122KyivSeverstal ★D11241418Kyiv- Note: A (★) denotes a player who has participated in an All Star GameAll statistics accurate to the end of the 2012–13 KHL season
Breakdown of players by nationality
Captains Several players have acted as captains of their respective KHL clubs, including: Alexei Zhitnik (Dynamo Moscow); Vitaly Vishnevsky (SKA); Serhiy Varlamov, Ruslan Fedotenko, (HC Donbass); and Nikolay Zherdev (Atlant)
Players of Ukrainian descent The following is a list of KHL players who while not born in Ukraine, are of documented Ukrainian descent.
Mikhail Anisin Alexander Eremenko Shaun Heshka Andrei Nikolishin
Notes Figure includes both Ukrainian-born and Ukrainian national players. Denis Denisov was born in Kharkiv, Ukrainian SSR to a military family who relocated to Tver prior to Ukraine's independence. As a result, he never was a Ukrainian citizen. Yuri Silnitsky and Vladislav Shalimov played in the 2012–13 season, but did not gain Ukrainian citizenship until the following year. Indicates a player who was born in Russia and became a naturalized Ukrainian citizen Vitaly Anikeyenko, Daniil Sobchenko, and Alexander Vyukhin were killed in the 2011 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash prior to the opening game of the 2011–12 KHL season.
References