HC CSKA Moscow


HC CSKA Moscow is a professional ice hockey club based in Moscow, Russia. It is a member of the Tarasov Division in the Kontinental Hockey League. It is a part of CSKA Moscow sports club. The team is referred to in the West as "Central Red Army" or the "Red Army Team" for its affiliation with the Soviet Army, known as the Red Army until 1946, and the Russian Armed Forces. CSKA won more Soviet championships and European cups than any other team in history. It is owned by Russia's largest oil company, Rosneft, which is in turn majority-owned by the Russian government.
In addition to nine division titles and record six Continental Cups, CSKA has reached the Gagarin Cup Finals six times, winning in 2018–19 [KHL season|2019], 2022 and 2023. The club also became the first one to win both the Continental Cup and the Gagarin Cup in the same season.
In 2018, after more than 50 seasons at the old Ice Palace, the team moved to a new arena, which is now called CSKA Arena, their present home arena in Moscow.
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History

The club was founded in 1946 as CDKA. It was known as CDSA from 1952 – 1954, as CSK MO from 1955 – 1959, and acquired its current name in 1960.

As a hockey powerhouse

CSKA won 32 Soviet regular season championships during the Soviet League's 46-year existence, far and away the most in the league's history; no other team won more than five. This included all but six from 1955 to 1989 and 13 in a row from 1977 to 1989. By comparison, no NHL team has won more than five Stanley Cups in a row since the NHL took de facto control of the trophy in 1926.
CSKA was just as dominant in the European Cup. They won all but two titles from 1969 to 1990, including 13 in a row from 1978 to 1990. The team's first coach was Anatoli Tarasov, who would later become famous as the coach of the Soviet national [ice hockey team|Soviet national team]. Tarasov coached the Red Army Team, either alone or with co-coaches, for most of the time from 1946 to 1975. The team's greatest run came under Viktor Tikhonov, who was coach from 1977 to 1996β€”serving for most of that time as coach of the national team.
The Red Army Team was able to pull off such a long run of dominance because during the Soviet era, the entire CSKA organization was a functioning division of the Soviet Armed Forces via the Ministry of Defence. As all able-bodied Soviet males had to serve in the military, the team was able to literally draft the best young hockey players in the Soviet Union onto the team. All players were commissioned officers in the Soviet Army. There was a substantial overlap between the rosters of the Red Army Team and the Soviet national team, which was one factor behind the Soviets' near-absolute dominance of international hockey from the 1950s through the early 1990s. By the late 1980s, however, the long run of Red Army dominance caused a significant dropoff in attendance throughout the league.
One of the most feared lines in hockey history was the KLM Line of the 1980s. The name came from the last names of the three players, Vladimir Krutov, Igor Larionov, and Makarov (ice hockey, born 1958)|Sergei Makarov]. Together with defensemen Viacheslav Fetisov and Alexei Kasatonov, they were known as the Green Unit because they wore green jerseys in practice. The five-man unit formed a dominant force in European hockey throughout the decade. All five players were later permitted to go to the NHL in 1989, with mixed results. Krutov had the shortest NHL career, lasting only one season in Vancouver; Makarov and Kasatonov were out of the NHL by 1997; Fetisov and Larionov won the Stanley Cup twice together with Detroit before Fetisov retired in 1998; Larionov would win a third Cup with Detroit in 2002, before retiring from New Jersey in 2004.
Not surprisingly, discipline was quite strict, especially under Tikhonov. His players practiced for as many as 11 months a year, and were confined to training camp most of that time even if they were married. However, it became less restrictive after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
At the IIHF Centennial All-Star Team, out of 6 players selected 4 players once played at CSKA Moscow.

CSKA and the NHL

CSKA played 36 games against NHL teams from 1975 to 1991 and finished with a record of 26 wins, 8 losses, and 2 ties. 34 of these games were played in Super Series, including the tour of North America in 1975/1976. The Super Series also introduced eventual Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender Vladislav Tretiak of the CSKA squad to North American ice hockey fans. On New Year's Eve 1975, CSKA played the Montreal Canadiens, widely regarded as the league's finest team. The game ended with a 3–3 draw, but was widely hailed as one of the greatest games ever played.
Another memorable game was played on 11 January 1976 against the Philadelphia Flyers, who at the time were the defending Stanley Cup Champions and were known as the "Broad Street Bullies" for their highly physical play. The game was notable for an incident where, after a body check delivered by Philadelphia's Ed Van Impe, the CSKA's top player, Valeri Kharlamov, was left prone on the ice for a minute. CSKA coach Konstantin Loktev pulled his team off the ice in protest that no penalty was called. They were told by NHL president Clarence Campbell to return to the ice and finish the game, which was being broadcast to an international audience, or the Soviet Hockey Federation would not get paid the fee that they were entitled to. They eventually complied and lost the game 4–1.
CSKA Moscow alumni have made a large impact on the NHL. In the mid-1990s, Sergei Fedorov, Vladimir Konstantinov, and Vyacheslav Kozlov had established themselves as key members of the Detroit Red Wings when they were joined by Fetisov and Larionov, forming the Russian Five. These five players would play an integral role in the Wings' consecutive Stanley Cup championships in 1997 and 1998. Dmitri Mironov joined the 1998 squad, following Konstantinov's career-ending injury on 13 June 1997; since Konstantinov was kept on the roster despite his injury, the 1998 squad marks the largest contingent of CSKA veterans to win the Stanley Cup.

Post-Soviet history

During the late '80s and early '90s CSKA positions significantly weakened. After a conflict with Tikhonov, CSKA major stars including Fetisov, Larionov, Krutov and Makarov left the team to make their careers in the NHL. During the 90s they were followed by younger talents like Bure, Fedorov and Samsonov.
CSKA Moscow played a series of exhibitions games, and an all-star game with the American Hockey Association as part of the 1992–93 season.
For a time in the late 1990s and early 2000s, it was briefly unofficially known as "the Russian Penguins" after the Pittsburgh Penguins bought an interest in the team. The Russian Penguins played 13 games in the International Hockey League as part of the 1993–94 IHL season.
In 1996 after a conflict with management of the club, Tikhonov created his own separate team called HC CSKA that spent two seasons in the Russian Superleague and eventually reunited with the original CSKA in 2002.

In the KHL

Although CSKA has remained one of the strongest teams in Russia since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, it did not win a title in the KHL or its predecessors until 2015, when the club finished first in the regular season and became Russian champion for the first time in a long time, but failed to win the Gagarin Cup. From 2008 to 2015, the team did not advance past the conference semifinals of the Gagarin Cup playoffs; they missed the playoffs altogether in 2011. In the 2015–16 season, the team advanced all the way to the Gagarin Cup final; however, they lost that series to Metallurg Magnitogorsk in seven games. In the 2018–19 season, CSKA won its first Gagarin Cup, after beating Avangard Omsk in four games.
After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Swedes Joakim Nordstrom and Lucas Wallmark elected to leave the team. Having lost the 2021 Gagarin Cup final to Avangard Omsk, CSKA returned to the final in 2022 to win its second Gagarin Cup against Metallurg Magnitogorsk. in 2023, CSKA went back to back, winning the Gagarin Cup in 7 games against Ak Bars Kazan.

Honours

Domestic competitions

Soviet League Championship : 1947–48, 1948–49, 1949–50, 1954–55, 1955–56, 1957–58, 1958–59, 1959–60, 1960–61, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1965–66, 1967–68, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1974–75, 1976–77, 1977–78, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89
USSR Cup : 1954, 1955, 1956, 1961, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1973, 1977, 1979, 1988
Vysshaya Liga Championship : 1996–97
Russian Championship : 2014–15, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2021–22, 2022–23

[Kontinental Hockey League]

Gagarin Cup : 2019, 2022, 2023
Continental Cup : 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21
Opening Cup : 2015–16, 2022–23

International

Intercontinental Cup : 1971–72
IIHF European Cup : 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990
Spengler Cup : 1991
Pajulahti Cup : 2005

Pre-season

Hockeyades : 2017, 2018
Moscow Mayor Cup : 2010, 2011, 2013, 2017

Season-by-season KHL record

Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; OTW = Overtime/shootout wins; OTL = Overtime/shootout losses; Pts = Points; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against
SeasonGPW'OTWLOTLPtsGFGAFinishTop ScorerPlayoffs
2008–095627711111061761411st, TarasovSergei Shirokov Lost in Quarterfinals, 0–3
2009–1056228215871481354th, BobrovDenis Parshin Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 0–3
2010–1154137286591361595th, BobrovJan Marek did not qualify
2011–1254193257701191294th, BobrovSergei Shirokov Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 1–4
2012–13522313151961511091st, TarasovAlexander Radulov Lost in Conference Semifinals, 1–4
2013–1454257202911301185th, BobrovNikolai Prokhorkin Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 0–4
2014–1560391092139207981st, TarasovAlexander Radulov Lost in Conference Finals, 3–4
2015–1660385314127163871st, TarasovAlexander Radulov Lost in Gagarin Cup Finals, 3–4
2016–1760413881371831101st, TarasovKirill Petrov Lost in Conference Semifinals, 2–4
2017–1856359111124175891st, TarasovMaxim Shalunov Lost in Gagarin Cup Finals, 1–4
2018–1962431090106191751st, TarasovMikhail Grigorenko 'Gagarin Cup Champions, 4–0 '
2019–206240513494202991st, TarasovKirill Kaprizov Won in Conference Quarterfinals, 4–0
Playoffs cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2020–2160349125911821211st, TarasovKonstantin Okulov Lost in Gagarin Cup Finals, 2–4
2021–22471811135631201071st, TarasovMikhail Grigorenko 'Gagarin Cup Champions, 4–3 '
2022–23683310178942141621st, TarasovKonstantin Okulov 'Gagarin Cup Champions, 4–3 ''
2023–2468304268761931664th, TarasovKonstantin Okulov Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 1–4
2024–2568308219851941704th, TarasovMaxim Sorkin Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 2–4

Head coaches

Until the fall of communism, all coaches held the rank of colonel in the Soviet Army.

Players

Retired numbers

CSKA have retired four numbers in their history:
NoPlayerPositionCareerLast match date for CSKA
2Viacheslav FetisovD1978–89, 200911 December 2009
17Valeri KharlamovLW1967–819 July 1981
20Vladislav TretiakG1968–8422 December 1984
24Sergei MakarovRW1978–8917 March 1989

Hall-of-Famers

Players
Builders

IIHF Hall-of-Famers

Players
Builders

Triple Gold Club

Players

First round draft picks

List of CSKA players selected in the NHL Amateur Draft

List of CSKA players selected in the NHL Entry Draft

Stanley Cup Winners

Players
Builders
''Note: Only counts if the players or builders have played for CSKA before the NHL.''

Olympic Champions

Players
Builders

Canada Cup Winners

Players
Builders

NHL Awards

Hart Trophy
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy
Calder Memorial Trophy
Ted Lindsay Award
Frank J. Selke Trophy
NHL Plus-Minus Award
Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy
''Note: Only counts if the players or builders played in the CSKA before the NHL.''

All-Star game

NHL All-Star Game

Players
''Note: Only counts if the players or builders has played in the CSKA before NHL.''

KHL All-Star Game

Players
Builders

Franchise scoring leaders

These are the top-ten-point-scorers in franchise history. Figures are updated after each completed Soviet/CIS/IHL/RUS 2/RSL/KHL regular season.
Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game
PlayerPosGPGAPtsP/G
Sergei MakarovRW4723033756781.43
Vladimir PetrovC4963463196651.34
Boris MikhailovLW5003912096001.20
Valeri KharlamovLW436293214 5071.16
Vladimir KrutovLW438288 215 5031.14
Vyacheslav FetisovD4741532213740.78
Viktor ZhluktovC456 198 168 3660.80
Igor LarionovC334 165 196 3611.08
Anatoli FirsovLW217 328 20 348 1.60
Andrei KhomutovRW330197 147 3441.04

PlayerPosG
Boris MikhailovLW391
Veniamin AlexandrovLW351
Vladimir PetrovC346
Anatoli FirsovRW328
Sergei MakarovRW303
Valeri KharlamovLW293
Vladimir KrutovLW288
Vladimir VikulovC279
Viktor ZhluktovLW198
Andrei KhomutovRW197

PlayerPosA
Sergei MakarovRW375
Vladimir PetrovC319
Vyacheslav FetisovD221
Vladimir KrutovLW215
Valeri KharlamovLW214
Alexei KasatonovD212
Boris MikhailovRW209
Igor LarionovC196
Viktor ZhluktovC168
Alexander RadulovRW160

Awards and trophies

Soviet / Russian MVP
Scoring Champion
Goal Scoring Champion
Soviet / Russian League First Team
Best Line
'''Best Rookie'''