The

Kontinental Hockey League The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; russian: Континентальная хоккейная лига (КХЛ), Kontinental'naya khokkeynaya liga) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs b ...

's (KHL) Tarasov Division was formed in 2008 as part of the league's inauguration. It is one of four divisions and part of the Western Conference since the second season of the KHL when the conferences were established. It is named in honor of Hockey Hall of Fame inductee

Anatoli Tarasov Anatoly Vladimirovich Tarasov (russian: Анато́лий Влади́мирович Тара́сов; 10 December 1918 – 23 June 1995) was a Russian ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usual ...

, "the father of Russian hockey", who established the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

as "the dominant force in international competition".Encyclopædia Britannica, Article "Anatoly Tarasov"
/ref>

Division lineup

The Tarasov Division currently consists of the following teams: *

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow (russian: ЦСКА Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was a central piece ...

* Dinamo Minsk *

Dinamo Riga Dinamo Riga ( lv, Rīgas Dinamo) is a professional ice hockey team based in Riga, Latvia. It is a member of the Latvian Hockey Higher League. The club is affiliated with HK Zemgale/LLU. The club was re-founded on 7 April 2008 as a successor of ...

Dynamo Moscow MGO VFSO "Dynamo" (russian: МГО ВФСО «Динамо»), commonly known as Dynamo Moscow (russian: Динамо Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on 18 April 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first ...

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl Hockey Club Lokomotiv (russian: ХК Локомотив, en, Locomotive HC), also known as Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, is a Russian professional ice hockey team, based in the city of Yaroslavl, playing in the top level Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) ...

Severstal Cherepovets Hockey Club Severstal is a professional ice hockey team based in Cherepovets, Vologda Oblast, Russia. They are members of the Tarasov Division in the Kontinental Hockey League The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; russian: Континент� ...

Lineup history

Initial lineup (2008)

In the first KHL season, the division alignment was determined by team strength and the Tarasov division consisted of:

, HC MVD,

Khimik Voskresensk Hockey Club Atlant Moscow Oblast (russian: ХК Атлант Московская область, en, Atlas Hockey Club Moscow Region) was a Russian professional ice hockey team based in Mytishchi, Moscow Oblast. They were members of the Bobrov ...

Metallurg Magnitogorsk Metallurg Magnitogorsk (russian: Металлург Магнитогорск) is a professional ice hockey team based in Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. They are members of the Kharlamov Division of the Kontinental Hockey League. They a ...

Traktor Chelyabinsk Traktor Chelyabinsk, also known as Traktor (russian: Трактор), is a professional ice hockey team based in Chelyabinsk, Russia. They are members of the Kharlamov Division of the Eastern Conference of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). F ...

and

SKA Saint Petersburg The Hockey Club SKA (russian: Спортивный клуб СКА), often referred to as SKA Saint Petersburg and literally as the Sports Club of the Army, is a Russian professional ice hockey club based in Saint Petersburg. They are members o ...

Re-alignment in 2009

With the geographical alignment of the divisions for the 2009–10 season, the composition of the Tarasov division was completely changed and only HC MVD remained in the division. It was joined by two other teams from the Moscow region,

Atlant Moscow Oblast Hockey Club Atlant Moscow Oblast (russian: ХК Атлант Московская область, en, Atlas Hockey Club Moscow Region) was a Russian professional ice hockey team based in Mytishchi, Moscow Oblast. They were members of the Bobrov ...

and

Vityaz Chekhov Hockey Club Vityaz (, en, HC Knight) is a professional ice hockey team based in Podolsk, Moscow Oblast, Russia. They are members of the Bobrov Division of the Kontinental Hockey League. In the first few seasons of the KHL, the team was widely k ...

, as well as by

Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod (russian: Торпедо Нижний Новгород) is a professional ice hockey club in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. It is a member of the Bobrov Division in the Kontinental Hockey League. The team's home arena is Trad ...

and

Minsk replaces HC MVD (2010)

First, HC Budivelnyk from

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian invas ...

were admitted to the league in 2010 to replace HC MVD after their merger with

. However, the team later dropped out of the league before the start of the season and instead Dinamo Minsk joined the division from the Bobrov Division.

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl suspension (2011)

Because of the

2011 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash On 7 September 2011, YAK-Service Flight 9633, a Yakovlev Yak-42 charter flight operated by YAK-Service carrying players and coaching staff of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl professional ice hockey team, crashed on take-off near Yaroslavl, Yaroslavl Ob ...

that killed nearly the entire roster of

, the team management decided to suspend operations for the 2011–12 season, temporarily reducing the Tarasov division to five teams. Lokomotiv returned for the 2012–13 season.

2012 Expansion

With the addition of two new teams to the

Bobrov Division The Kontinental Hockey League, KHL's Bobrov Division was formed in 2008 as part of the league's inauguration and is part of the Western conference since the 2009–10 KHL season, second season of KHL when the conferences were established. It is on ...

for the 2012–13 season, some re-alignments among the Western conference divisions became necessary:

were moved to Bobrov, while two Moscow teams, Spartak and

CSKA CSKA (Cyrillic: ЦСКА) is an abbreviation for "Central Sports Club of the Army" in several Slavic languages, and refers to military sports teams in may stand for: Bulgaria * Football clubs ** PFC CSKA Sofia, a professional association football ...

were moved to Tarasov. This increased the Tarasov division to seven teams.

2013 Expansion and re-alignment

With the addition of two new teams to the league in the 2013–14 season, new re-alignments become necessary, therefore

was moved to the

Kharlamov Division The KHL's Kharlamov Division was formed in 2008 as part of the league's inauguration. It is one of four divisions and part of the Eastern Conference since the second season of the KHL when the conferences were established. It is named in honor o ...

and

and Dinamo Minsk left for the

. In exchange,

HC Vityaz Hockey Club Vityaz (, en, HC Knight) is a professional ice hockey team based in Podolsk, Moscow Oblast, Russia. They are members of the Bobrov Division of the Kontinental Hockey League. In the first few seasons of the KHL, the team was widely k ...

HC Donbass Hockey Club Donbass ( uk, Хокейний Клуб Донбас; russian: link=no, Хоккейный Клуб Донбасс, '' tr. Hokeinyi Klub Donbas'') is a Ukrainian professional ice hockey team based in Druzhkivka, currently playing in th ...

and

were moved from Bobrov to Tarasov Division.

2014 changes

had to withdraw prior to the 2014–15 season because of the political instability in Ukraine, and Spartak Moscow had to leave for financial reasons. Meanwhile,

HC Sochi Hockey Club Sochi (russian: Хоккейный клуб Сочи) is a professional ice hockey team based in Sochi, Russia. The team joined the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) in 2014–15 season. History On May 23, 2014, it was reported that ...

joined the league as a new team and

moved back from the Eastern Conference. Furthermore,

and

swapped divisions.

2018 changes

Slovan Bratislava and Dinamo Minsk joins from

to Tarasov Division, buth

and

leaves to

, buth

returns to

2019 Slovan Bratislava leaves

returns to Tarasov Division from

but Slovan Bratislava leaves Tarasov Division, and also from KHL, because of their low score and bad playing in KHL, but they return to

Slovak Extraliga The Tipos Extraliga (Slovak Extraliga) is the highest-level ice hockey league in Slovakia. From the 2018–19 season to the 2020–21 season, the league included one or two teams from Hungary. In 2009, it was ranked by the IIHF as the fifth stro ...

2020 changes

and

joins to Tarasov Division from

, buth Sochi and Vityaz Podolsk leaves to

, buth

Returns again to

2021 Expansion

Returns to Tarasov Division from

Division winners

* 2021:

(91 points – Continental Cup winner) * 2020:

(94 points – Continental Cup winner) * 2019:

(106 points – Continental Cup winner) * 2018:

(124 points) * 2017:

(137 points – Continental Cup winner) * 2016:

(127 points – Continental Cup winner) * 2015:

(139 points – Continental Cup winner) * 2014:

(115 points – Continental Cup winner) * 2013:

(96 points) * 2012:

(91 points) * 2011:

(108 points) * 2010: HC MVD (102 points) * 2009:

(106 points)

Gagarin Cup winners produced

*2019:

*2022:

References

{{Kontinental Hockey League, state=collapsed Kontinental Hockey League divisions