Powerful acquisitions from abroad and a new head coach

8 August 2024

In the build-up to the opening games, KHL.ru is reviewing the off-season work of every club in the league. Here’s a translation of what the official website had to say about the Dragons ahead of the 2024/25 campaign – and there’s a big thumbs-up for our summer recruitment program.

LAST SEASON

Under head coach Viktors Ignatjevs, KRS made a promising start to the season just gone, winning the first three games. September went pretty well, with six wins in 13 games. However, the problem was that due to the planned involvement of Kunlun’s players in China’s Olympic qualification tournament, the team faced a punitive schedule. Throughout the fall, the Dragons were scheduled to play almost every second day. Unsurprisingly, that took its toll on the players however much the coaching staff tried to rotate the roster.

At the end of the regular season, when the schedule returned to normal, Red Star again looked a decent team, especially when facing its direct rivals for a playoff spot. The Chinese club managed several good results, but in the end that early schedule took too much. On Feb. 13, Kunlun Red Star dropped out of playoff contention.

ROSTER CHANGES

Arrivals: goalies Konstantin Volkov (Dynamo Moscow), Kyle Keyser (Maine, ECHL); defense: Adam Clendenning (Ilves, FIN), Martin Lefebvre (Assat, FIN), Ian McCoshen (Liberec, CZE), Yury Pautov (Admiral); offense: Danny O’Regan (MoDo, SWE), Chris Wilkie (Wolfsburg, GER), Jayden Halbgewachs (Frolunda, SWE), Rourke Chartier (Ottawa, NHL), Hudson Elynuik (Chicago, AHL), Tomas Jurco (Avangard).

Departures: goalie Alexander Lazushin; defense Nikita Parenyuk (Dinamo Minsk, end of loan), Ryan Sproul, Jason Fram (Asiago, ICEHL), Zak Yuan; offense: Devin Brosseau (Amur), Ivan Lisin, Brandon McMillan, Teemu Pulkkinen, Alex Riche, Gemel Smith.

TOP 3 SIGNINGS

Rourke Chartier

Last season, Rourke Chartier played almost 40 games in the NHL. He featured on the fourth line for Ottawa, occasionally played on the second, and also featured on the Senators’ PK. He won more than 50% of his face-offs.

However, while his role for Ottawa was a bottom six battler, in the AHL he proved that he has plenty of creativity and had a good points return. Thus, it seems that in the form of Rourke Chartier, KRS has acquired a reliable all-rounder who can fulfil any role. 

Adam Clendenning

Clendenning, 31, played more than 500 games in the AHL and almost 100 in the NHL. He also featured for Team USA at U18, U20 and senior levels. At the 2021 World Championship, Clendenning had 5 (2+3) points, outscoring, for example Alexander Chmelevski. He finished the tournament with a bronze medal.

In 2023/24, Clendenning played for Ilves in Finland, where he was the top-scoring defenseman. KRS demonstrated last season that they want a good choice of two-way D-men who can contribute regular scoring; this season, apparently, we can expect Clendenning to come to that party.

Tomas Jurco

This is Jurco’s second spell with Red Star, having previously been here in 2022/23. Back then the Slovak forward joined the team partway through the campaign but made a positive impact on the team’s play: in 32 games he had 25 (10+15) points. Jurco began last season with Davos but came to Avangard before the deadline. In Omsk, Tomas had 16 (8+8) points at the end of the regular season then, in the playoffs, he was a real leader on the team, outstripped only by the all-conquering Tkachyov-Spooner-Boucher line. 

It’s clear that Jurco knows his way around the Red Star set-up, and has also played for new head coach Mikhail Kravets. There can be no doubt that his skills will boost the Dragons’ offense. 

COACHING

In the off-season, KRS signed Mikhail Kravets to a one-year deal with a potential one-year extension. Kravets has already been head coach of Vityaz, Amur and Avangard in the KHL. It’s notable that, at Vityaz, Kravets worked with Viktors Ignatjevs, who took charge of Kunlun last season, as well as with Alexander Savchenkov, his another current assistant in the Dragons’ lair. So, coaching partnership resumed.  

“I understand what we need to do and what we need to work on to get this team to the playoffs and deliver decent results,” Kravets commented when he joined the Dragons.

In total Kravets has coached 311 games in the KHL, winning 160 (51.4%).

GOALIES

At the start of pre-season training in Mytishchi, the KRS goaltending brigade included three men: Jeremy Smith, Konstantin Volkov and Kyle Keyser. Smith needs no introduction – he’s a club legend, with more games and wins than anyone in Kunlun history.

We’ve also seen Volkov in action in the Blue-and-White colors of Dynamo Moscow, but Keyser is something new for the KHL. A silver medallist with Team USA at the 2019 World Juniors, he’s also a graduate of the Boston Bruins system after playing more than 70 games for the Bruins’ farm club in the AHL and also playing in the ECHL.

DEFENSE

Ryan Sproul is a noticeable loss from the D-core after a career that saw him stand second in all-time games for Red Star. Jason Fram is another big departure, noted for his ability to play defense or offense as required. However, two pillars of the defense, Jake Chelios and Kyle Wood, remain in place, while Ryan Merkley and Doyle Somerby agreed new contracts. In addition to Clendenning, Kunlun also acquired Martin Lefebvre, Ian McCoshen and Yury Pautov to strengthen the defensive roster.

Canadian Lefebvre has proved himself in various Nordic countries. He’s won titles in Denmark, Norway (twice) and was Norway’s player of the year during his time with Stavanger. Last season he had a good campaign with Assat in Finland (46 games, 4+23 points, +3). America’s McCoshen played 60 NHL games, 242 AHL games and has a season each in Finland and the Czech Republic. Meanwhile, Pautov spent the last two seasons at Admiral, where he was an important part of the Sailors’ defense.

OFFENSE

Kunlun will have to do without Devin Brosseau, who had 54 points across the past two seasons. That’s a real loss. However, the other forwards who left the club in the summer are far less significant. Several of them were added last season to plug gaps in the roster, others failed to impress in Red-and-Gold for various reasons. 

The Wong brothers and the Foo brothers remain in place, Brandon ‘Captain China’ Yip is still leading from the front along with another of the club’s most productive players, Luke Lockhart. There were new contracts for Tyler Graovac and Colin Campbell.

Meanwhile, as on defense, there are several new North Americans. Chris Wilkie, Danny O’Regan and Jayden Halbgewachs all have experience in Europe, although Canada’s Hudson Elynuik is crossing the ocean for the first time. A powerfully-built center, who can also play on the wing, Elynuik is an ECHL champion and played 210 games in the AHL. In both of his last two AHL campaigns, Elynuik scored 20+ points.

YOUNG PLAYERS

Typically, Kunlun relies only on older players. In the coming season, the youngest guys on the roster will be Ryan Merkley and Austin Wong, both of whom turn 24 this month.

WHAT TO EXPECT

It seems that Kunlun is finally ready to break into the top eight in the West. By any reckoning, the team was closer to that breakthrough last season only to be let down by the schedule. 

This time, there is no such marathon schedule. The team’s losses, for the most part, do not look critical and the new arrivals inspire optimism. In addition, a coaching staff with Kravets and Ignatjevs working together looks promising right now.

Of course, some growing pains are inevitable. Nonetheless, this updated Kunlun roster is more than capable of battling for seventh or eighth in the West.