Ak Bars Kazan

Ak Bars Kazan
City	Kazan, Russia
League	Kontinental Hockey League
Conference	Eastern
Division	Kharlamov
Founded	1956
Home arena	TatNeft Arena (capacity: 10,000)
Colours
Owner(s)	Tatneft
General manager	Marat Valiullin
Head coach	Dmitri Kvartalnov
Captain	Artem Lukoyanov
Affiliate(s)	Bars Kazan (VHL) (MHL)
Website	www.ak-bars.ru
Franchise history
Ak Bars Kazan 1996–present Itil Kazan 1990–1996 SC Uritskogo Kazan 1958–1990 Mashstroy Kazan 1956–1958
Current season

Hockey Club Ak Bars (Tatar: Ак Барс, English: Snow Leopard), also known as Ak Bars Kazan,^[1] is a Russian professional ice hockey team based in Kazan. They are members of the Kharlamov Division of the Kontinental Hockey League.

History[]

Founded as Mashstroy Kazan in 1956, the name was later changed to SC Uritskogo Kazan when it entered the Soviet Class B league in 1958. It was promoted to Soviet Class A2, where it gained promotion to the top tier of Soviet hockey. Kazan's performance was respectable, starting the season by winning 6 out of 19 games against the best of the Soviet teams before falling away in the second half of the season and was demoted.

From this point onward, SC Uritskogo Kazan established a reputation as a consistently strong team in the second-tier leagues of the USSR. Renowned as a high scoring team, Kazan averaged over four goals a game throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Twice they won the USSR League (lower tiers), being named Champion of Russia in 1962 and 1976.

SC Uritskogo Kazan's most successful period occurred in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The team was led by Russia's Sergei Stolbun; scoring ace Gennady Maslov (current coach of Ak Bars-2 Kazan), who enjoyed a short stint with the Soviet Wings and set a club record of 140 points in 76 games in 1982–83; and Ravil Shavaleev, who was regarded as one of the finest defenseman to ever come out of Tatarstan. During this period, Kazan was consistently among the top teams in the league but failed year after year to gain promotion to the top flight of Soviet hockey.

Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, Uritskogo Kazan became Itil Kazan in 1990 and participated in the IHL. Itil was only mildly successful, narrowly avoiding relegation to the Vysshaya Liga in 1991 and 1992.

It was following the establishment of the Russian Superleague (RSL) in 1996 that the golden age of hockey in Tatarstan began. Renamed Ak Bars Kazan after the traditional symbol of the Tatars, the snow leopard. Benefiting from the resources boom in the Urals, Ak Bars began its history in fine form, finishing first in their respective divisions in 1997 and 1998 along with winning the RSL in 1998. During this period, Kazan lacked the high scoring of their predecessors but regardless continued to be a dominant team in Russian hockey, finishing runners-up in 2000 and 2002. During this period, Kazan developed players such as Denis Arkhipov and Danis Zaripov.

In the 2004–05 season, Kazan signed 11 National Hockey League players, including Russian superstars Alexei Kovalev and Ilya Kovalchuk and Canadians Vincent Lecavalier and Dany Heatley, in an attempt to celebrate Kazan's 1000th anniversary with a championship. They did not succeed, however, as a lack of continuity and chemistry saw them finish in fourth place and were upset in the first round of the playoffs by Lokomotiv Yaroslavl.

Since then, Ak Bars Kazan dominated the RSL, winning the league in 2006 on the back of a brilliant performance from Aleksey Morozov. In 2007, Kazan paced the league with 35 wins and 214 goals in 54 games before falling at the final hurdle to Metallurg Magnitogorsk.

Ak Bars has been led in recent years by the dominant "ZZM" line of Sergei Zinovjev, Danis Zaripov, and Aleksey Morozov, who have established themselves as one of the most dominant lines in recent history. Combined with veterans such as Vitaly Proshkin and Vladimir Vorobiev, and imports, such as Ray Giroux, Petr Čajánek, and Jukka Hentunen, Kazan has remained one of the top teams in the league. However, they have been at times criticized for lacking consistency and relying too heavily on star players such as Morozov.^[2]

Ak Bars Kazan are strong rivals with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl and the neighboring team of Salavat Yulaev Ufa. However, Ak Bars was the strongest rival with Dynamo Moscow in the 1990s.

Honors[]

Champions[]

Russian Championship (5): 1997–98, 2005–06, 2008-09, 2009–10, 2017–18
Gagarin Cup (3): 2008-09, 2009–10, 2017–18
Opening Cup (2): 2009–10, 2020–21
Russian Superleague (2): 1997–98, 2005–06
IIHF European Champions Cup (1): 2007
IIHF Continental Cup (1): 2007–08
Soviet Class A2 (3): 1962, 1985, 1989 (West)
Soviet Class B (1): 1976

Runners-up[]

Russian Championship (5): 1999-00, 2001-02, 2006-07, 2014-15, 2019-20
Gagarin Cup (1): 2014-15
Russian Superleague (3): 1999-00, 2001-02, 2006-07
Russian Championship (1): 2016-17
Gagarin Cup (1): 2016-17
Russian Superleague (1): 2003-04
IIHF Continental Cup (1): 1999-00

Season-by-season KHL record[]

Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; OTL = Overtime/Shootout Losses; Pts = Points; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; P = Playoff

Season	GP	W	L	OTL	Pts	GF	GA	Finish	Top Scorer	Playoffs
2008–09	56	36	10	6	122	189	123	1st, Chernyshev	Alexei Morozov (71 points: 32 G, 39 A; 49 GP)	Gagarin Cup Champions, 4–3 (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl)
2009–10	56	25	18	5	96	159	128	2nd, Kharlamov	Alexei Morozov (49 points: 26 G, 23 A; 50 GP)	Gagarin Cup Champions, 4–3 (HC MVD)
2010–11	54	29	12	8	105	181	133	1st, Kharlamov	Alexei Morozov (56 points: 21 G, 35 A; 53 GP)	Lost in Conference Semifinals, 1–4 (Salavat Yulaev Ufa)
2011–12	54	27	19	5	92	167	136	3rd, Kharlamov	Alexei Morozov (50 points: 21 G, 29 A; 53 GP)	Lost in Conference Semifinals, 2–4 (Traktor Chelyabinsk)
2012–13	52	28	10	8	104	157	112	1st, Kharlamov	Alexei Morozov (38 points: 15 G, 26 A; 51 GP)	Lost in Conference Finals, 3–4 (Traktor Chelyabinsk)
2013–14	54	26	14	6	100	139	108	2nd, Kharlamov	Alexander Burmistrov (38 points: 10 G, 28 A; 54 GP)	Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 2–4 (Sibir Novosibirsk)
2014–15	60	34	14	6	120	169	115	1st, Kharlamov	Justin Azevedo (50 points: 17 G, 33 A; 58 GP)	Lost in Gagarin Cup Finals, 1–4 (SKA Saint Petersburg)
2015–16	60	31	20	9	96	143	127	2nd, Kharlamov	Justin Azevedo (53 points: 17 G, 36 A; 59 GP)	Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 3–4 (Salavat Yulaev Ufa)
2016–17	60	38	18	4	109	155	127	2nd, Kharlamov	Justin Azevedo (34 points: 13 G, 21 A; 54 GP)	Lost in Conference Finals, 0–4 (Metallurg Magnitogorsk)
2017–18	56	32	18	6	100	158	126	1st, Kharlamov	Jiri Sekac (42 points: 16 G, 26 A; 50 GP)	Gagarin Cup Champions, 4–1 (CSKA Moscow)
2018–19	62	38	18	6	82	165	139	3rd, Kharlamov	Jiri Sekac (47 points: 23 G, 24 A; 60 GP)	Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 0–4 (Avangard Omsk)
2019–20	62	44	13	5	93	178	121	1st, Kharlamov	Justin Azevedo (37 points: 13 G, 24 A; 57 GP)	Won in Conference Quarterfinals, 4–0 (Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk) Playoffs cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
2020–21	60	41	11	8	90	185	131	1st, Kharlamov	Stéphane Da Costa (57 points: 27 G, 30 A; 52 GP)	Lost in Conference Finals, 3–4 (Avangard Omsk)

Players[]

Current roster[]

Updated 28 August 2021.^[3][4]

#	Nat	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace
77			D	L	27	2021	Tyumen, Russia
31			G	L	19	2020	Kazan, Russia
82		Timur Bilyalov	G	L	26	2019	Kazan, Russia
30		Igor Bobkov	G	L	30	2021	Surgut, Russian SFSR
69		Alexander Burmistrov	C	L	29	2020	Kazan, Russian SFSR
86			LW	R	24	2019	St. Petersburg, Russia
95		Artyom Galimov	F	L	22	2018	Samara, Russia
12		Mikhail Glukhov (A)	LW/C	L	33	2014	Orsk, Russian SFSR
9		Dmitri Kagarlitsky	LW	R	32	2021	Cherepovets, Russian SFSR
20		Steven Kampfer	D	R	32	2021	Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States
18		Kristian Khenkel	D	L	25	2019	Minsk, Belarus
51		Nikolai Kovalenko	RW	L	21	2021	Raleigh, North Carolina, United States
17		Pär Lindholm	C	L	29	2021	Kusmark, Sweden
65			D	L	26	2020	Chelyabinsk, Russia
89		Artem Lukoyanov (C)	LW	L	32	2011	Almetyevsk, Russian SFSR
96		Nikita Lyamkin	D	L	25	2017	Barnaul, Russia
22		Kirill Panyukov	LW	R	24	2021	Astana, Kazakhstan
27		Kirill Petrov	LW	L	31	2019	Kazan , Russia
5		Roman Rukavishnikov	D	L	29	2019	Moscow, Russia
24			C	L	20	2019	Murmansk, Russia
3			D	L	21	2021	Kazan, Russia
79		Daniil Tarasov	RW	L	30	2021	Moscow, Russian SFSR
61		Rinat Valiev	D	L	26	2021	Nizhnekamsk, Russia
10		Dmitri Voronkov (A)	LW	L	21	2018	Angarsk, Russia
19		Jordan Weal	C	R	29	2021	North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
98			D	L	23	2021	Magnitogorsk, Russia
44		Dmitri Yudin	D	L	26	2018	Nizhny Tagil, Russia
25		Danis Zaripov	RW	L	40	2017	Chelyabinsk, Russian SFSR
2		Danila Zhuravlyov	D	L	21	2019	Nizhny Novgorod, Russia

Franchise KHL scoring leaders[]

These are the top-ten point-scorers in franchise history. Figures are updated after each completed KHL regular season.^[5]

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games Played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game;   = current Ak Bars player

NHL alumni[]

Head coaches[]

Notable alumni[]

References[]

External links[]

• (in Russian) Ak Bars Kazan official site
• Ak Bars Kazan on http://www.eliteprospects.com/
• (in Russian) Ak Bars Kazan on http://www.khl.ru/