KHL set to reduce overtime length and introduce shootouts in the Gagarin Cup

KHL vice-president Vladimir Shalaev explained the reasoning behind the changes that will be introduced into the format of KLH playoff round next season.

Among those is the decision to cancel the competition’s first-round playoffs to make them best-of-five series and a new rule that will restrict every game but the decider in any given series to a single overtime and then straight to a shootout. The rest of the competition’s rounds, from the quarterfinals onward, will remain best-of-seven series, he added.

According to Shalaev, the reason for the amendment was the extremely tight schedule of the KHL season that leaves little time to prepare the Russian national team.

Another alternation concerns the foreign players quota: Russian passport holders will only be considered home players if they are eligible to play for the national team.

Those players who hold Russian passports but have represented other nations will be counted as one of a team’s six-player foreign quota.

«However, if such a player already has a long-term agreement, the new rule won’t be applied to him. Our league always respects the contract,» Shalaev told R-Sport.