A significant amount of news has been decided upon in the wake of the tragedy.  The KHL season is officially postponed until Monday, Sept. 12.  The games that were to take place from yesterday's opener through Sunday will be made up at a later date.  This is being done to allow players and league officials to attend the memorial at Yaroslavl Arena for the Lokomotiv team on Saturday, Sept. 10. 

Lokomotiv will play in 2011-12.  The makeup of the team is still yet to be determined, but it looks like it will be made up of players on loan from other clubs, free agents, and players who were on the team's MHL and VHL affiliates.  Reports are that around 30 current KHL players have already volunteered to play for Yaroslavl this season. 

In the meantime, Lokomotiv has a new head coach.  Pyotor Vorobyev, who coached Yaroslavl in their late 1990s heyday and was with their MHL club, will be taking over the coaching duties for the 2011-12 season. 

The KHL looks to be taking over travel arrangements for all the clubs.  Word is that Russian airliner Aeroflat is looking to negotiate a deal with the league to become the KHL's official airliner, responsible for all the teams' air travel. 

The two survivors, player Alexander Galimov and flight engineer Alexander Sizov, have been transfered to a top hospital in Moscow.  They both remain in critical condition.  Galimov was reported to be able to communicate with his father who is at his bedside. 

The two black boxes from the airplane have been located.  All the remains have been pulled from the crash site, and are available to the families for identification. 

Tributes are going on in Yaroslavl, where fans had a candlelight vigil at the Arena last night.  There are also tributes going on in Minsk and in Latvia for prominent national team players Ruslan Salei and Karlis Skrastins. 

Other KHL teams are offering up financial support for both the victim's families as well as the team itself.  Insurance taken out on the players by the team will be redistributed to the families. 

If you haven't cried enough, read this, and see this.  RIP Iron Man. 

Follow Slava Malamud and Dmitry Chesnekov on Twitter for more details.  

I spent the evening at a charity dinner here in Saskatoon, and while it helped me get my mind off the tragedy that consumed my thoughts during the day, it also gave me a bit of separation from the non-stop, horrid accounts that made it seem like the end of hockey in the area, and possibly the KHL for the season.  I'm maybe not the foremost expert in grief and mourning, but from the experience I do have with it it is important to give some time to just think about what the deceased meaned to you, and be there for the families.  It's important to show up, even if you feel helpless regarding the situation as a whole. 

That's the reason why the KHL should postpone the start of their hockey season until after the memorial service for the members of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl.  A whole member city, a country, a whole hockey community is in mourning, and needs to be there to express their grief and support to the families of the victims.  The gesture won't heal the league, it won't heal the deep sadness that the families will carry, but quite simply, there is no other option.  I won't be so bold to suggest that time will heal all the wounds of Wednesday's tragedy, but life will continue in its new modified form.  It's important to reflect, to mourn, and to take time away from the regular routine of life. 

But then, the league will have to carry through with their season.  And the city of Yaroslavl will need a team again.  North American leagues have disaster drafts in cases of extraordinary tragedy, and while the KHL is not known to have such a measure, it should follow a similar path.  There is some word that the other member clubs are willing to send some of their best players to Yaroslavl for the season.  Certainly, the gesture is appreciated, and it is in the right spirit. 

Questions will have to be asked about the travel procedures of teams, and while player safety is incredibly important, it must be pointed out that these planes were in widespread public use in the country.  Blaming the team's ownership for commissioning this charter plane is probably misguided...  if it even is the fault with the plane itself.

In the meantime, I encourage you to read the tributes being put up by Joe Pelletier of Greatest Hockey Legends.  I hope to add more on the lives lost on this site as well.

 An official listing of the passengers on board the flight that killed nearly the entire KHL club Lokomotiv Yaroslavl (team logo on right) has been released.  Investigation into the flight and aircraft is being conducted, and this story will play itself out in the coming weeks and months.  The KHL will resume action again on Thursday with the three remaining scheduled games, and a decision will have to be made as to how to proceed further in the season.  For now, though, we can only mourn the losses and hope for the best from the two survivors. 

The fourty-three deceased were:

Fatalities of Sept 7, 2011 Yaroslavl Crash

Name	Nat.	Age	Position/Title
Vitaly Aikeyenko		24	Defenseman
Mikhail Balandin		31	Defenseman
Gennady Churilov		24	Centre
Pavol Demitra		36	Centre
Robert Dietrich		25	Defenseman
Marat Kalimulin		23	Defenseman
Alexander Kalyanin		23	Right Wing
Andrei Kiryukhin		24	Right Wing
Nikita Klyukin		21	Centre
Stefan Liv		30	Goaltender
Jan Marek		31	Centre
Sergei Ostapchuk		21	Left Wing
Karel Rachunek		32	Defenseman
Ruslan Salei		36	Defenseman
Maxim Shuvalov		18	Defenseman
Karlis Skrastins		37	Defenseman
Pavel Snurnitsyn		19	Left Wing
Daniil Sobchenko		20	Centre
Ivan Tkachenko		31	Left Wing
Pavel Trakhanov		33	Defenseman
Yuri Urychev		20	Defenseman
Josef Vasicek		30	Centre
Alexander Vasyunov		23	Left Wing
Alexander Vyukhin		38	Goaltender
Arten Yarchuk		21	Left Wing
Brad McCrimmon		52	Head Coach
Alexander Karpovtsev		41	Assistant Coach
Igor Korolev		41	Assistant Coach
Yuri Bakhvalov		??	Video Operator
Aleksandr Belyavev		??	Equipment Manager
Nikolai Krivonosov		??	Fitness Coach
Yevgeni Kunnov		??	Massage Therapist
Vyacheslav Kuznetsov		??	Massage Therapist
Vladimir Piskunov		??	Administrator
Yevgeni Sidorov		??	Coach/Analyst
Andrei Zimin		??	Team Doctor
Andrei Solomentsev		??	Pilot
Igor Zhivelov		??	Co-Pilot
Nadezhda Maksumova		??	Flight Attendant
Vladimir Matyushin		??	Flight Engineer
Elena Sarmatova		??	Flight Attendant
Elena Shavina		??	Flight Attendant
Sergey Zhuravlev		??	Mechanic

Survivng the flight are Alexander Galimov (26 year old Russian defenseman) and Alexander Sizov (Flight Engineer).  Best wishes go out for their survival and recovery from this terrible ordeal. 

May all the victims rest in peace. 

This is really tough to write about.  Reports say at least 40 people of 42 total passengers have died in a horrific plane crash in Yaroslavl, Russia.  The plane crashed just 2 km after takeoff, and was en route to Minsk, Belarus.  The plane was carrying the entire KHL team Lokomotiv who were going to Minsk to play their season opener tomorrow.

Yaroslavl is one of the KHL's strongest teams.  The team won three Russian Championships in 1997, 2002, and 2003.  They won the Western Conference in 2009 and 2010, losing to Ak Bars Kazan in the Gagarin Cup Finals.

Their current roster includes former Olympians Stefan Liv (Sweden, 2006, gold medal), Ruslan Salei (Belarus, 1998, 2002, 2010), Karlis Skrastins (Latvia, 2002, 2006, 2010), Pavol Demitra (Slovakia, 2002, 2006, 2010), and Josef Vasicek (Czech Republic, 2010).  It also included noted international players Jan Marek (Czech Republic), team captain Karel Rachunek (Czech Republic), Robert Deitrich (Germany), and two members of last year's gold medal winning Russian U20 team:  Daniil Sobcehnko (who scored the fifth goal in the gold medal game) and defensemen Yuri Urychev.  Longtime NHLer Brad McCrimmon was the team's new head coach.

There are reports that one of the survivors was a crew member and that one player, Alexander Galimov, also survived. 

This is the worst tragedy in modern hockey history. 

More on the planes from the Russian Today report: 

­The Yakovlev Yak-42 plane series was first designed in the 1970s in the USSR to replace obsolete mid-range Tupolev passenger jets. The Yakovlev plane in its various modifications can carry up to 120 passengers, while the maximum take-off weight is 57,500 kg.

Numerous Yak-42 planes have been sold to other countries, such as Macedonia, China or Cuba. During the Soviet-Afghan war, Soviet troops employed a number of Yak-42 vehicles.

One of the most recent Yak-42 crashes happened in May 2003 on a flight from Kyrgyzstan to Turkey, when a plane crashed into a mountain, taking the lives of all 75 people on board.

I'll update this as more news comes in.  

UPDATE:  Pavol Demitra has been confirmed dead at the age of 36.  Alexander Galimov is in critical condition, having suffered 3rd degree burns on 80% of his body (per Dmitry Chesnekov and Slava Malamaud on Twitter).  The Globe & Mail is reporting that Yuri Urychev was listed as injured, so whether he was on the flight or not is yet to be confirmed.  EDIT:  Urychev has been confirmed as dead.  He was 20 years old.

The KHL has released the following statement:

On Wednesday, September 7th, the sport of hockey witnessed a devastating loss. A YK-42 plane that was carrying the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey team to its first game of the 2011/2012 Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) season in Minsk, crashed while departing from Yaroslavl.

KHL statement regarding today’s tragedy in Yaroslavl:

“We are only beginning to understand the impact of this tragedy affecting the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl club and the international hockey community. First and foremost, our condolences go out to the families and friends of the players, coaches and staff lost in today’s tragedy.

“We know that there are many in the KHL family who will be grieving with us. As the investigation of this tragedy progresses we will work closely with investigators, government officials, club executives and the Yaroslavl community. We are working to find an appropriate way to honor this club and begin the healing process from the deep loss so many of us feel today.

“We are aware that many of you have questions. This tragedy remains our primary focus. We ask for patience as we find an appropriate way to proceed with the 2011/2012 season. We will continue to communicate our plans as they take shape."

 UPDATE:  Alexander Galimov, the player who survived the crash, has died in hospital according to Russia 24 TV.  These reports were premature, but he's in 'beyond critical condition' with burns over 90% of his body.  He is26 years old, and a one time member of Russia's U20 WJC team (2005, silver medallist).

There are now conflicting reports on the passenger list and Galimov's condition.  I will refrain from posting further as a result. 

Well, the pre-season activity is now over, and we're staring down a 672 game regular season schedule for Europe and Asia's top professional hockey league.  The KHL is back up to 24 franchises, avoiding a team failure for the first offseason while adding a new expansion market in Poprad, Slovakia, the league's first venture outside the former USSR.  Lev Poprad will see their first regular season action on Saturday, home to one of the KHL's true powerhouses:  Avangard Omsk. 

There's been a decent amount of change over the past offseason, particuarly amongst the coaching staffs.  The KHL is highlighting this change, issuing a press release which plainly points out that none of last year's quarterfinalists are returning their head coaches from last year.  The new faces behind the benches include Sergei Mikhialyov (Salavat Yulaev Ufa), Bengt-Åke Gustafsson (Atlant Mytishchi), Alexander Barkov (Metallurg Magnitogorsk), Vladimir Krikunov (Ak Bars Kazan), and Milos Riha (SKA St. Petersburg).  SKA St. Petersburg, in a move typical of their high budget ways, poached Atlant's head coach Riha after Riha won the Western Conference, bringing a few players along for the ride as well. 

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There has been some notable shifts in the balance of European hockey in the past half decade, and the emergence of the Kontinental Hockey League is front and centre in that.  So how exactly has it changed the power structure of the various leagues?  I've decided to go through the statistical information that has been made available in the KHL's 3 year existence and just look at how difficult it is for players to hit the scoresheet in the KHL.  In short, I'm establishing some KHL Equivalency ratings, based on the work done by Gabe Desjardins regarding NHL Equivalencies.  The results should give some pause to the perceived hierarchy of the professional hockey leagues.

First things first, I have adjusted the statistical totals of the players to coincide with KHL scoring rates.  I've used the figure of the KHL awarding 1.53 assists per goal, while adjusting goal totals based on the offence levels of each league to normalize them to the KHL's standard (which varies depending on the years involved from 5.42 GPG to 5.56).  I've used Desjardins' Assist per Goal historical average for various leagues to simplify the process.  For some leagues, the sample size is still quite small, for others, it's quite significant.  The point of this exercise is to not create a base for predicting performance, but to establish competitive value, so those factors are important considerations.  As part of the normalization process, I focused exclusively on forwards.  All statistical records were drawn from Elite Prospects as well as the corresponding league's official websites.  If you're not familiar with the leagues I've listed, you can check out last summer's European Hockey for Dummies series.

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The Kontinental Hockey League continues to re-invent the hockey system of Russia and Eastern Europe, through expansion into five different countries and the establishment of the franchise system.  While a lot of attention is being paid to the senior level, which seems to be changing the national structure of not only Russia, but Latvia, Belarus, Slovakia, and others into the future, it is perhaps at the youth level that the biggest impact is occuring.  The complete revolution of the hockey system is well under way.

The Minor Hockey League (MHL) will enter its third season this coming year.  It was launched a year after the launch of the KHL, with the requirement of every KHL club to eventually field their own MHL affiliate.  The league is an U22 league, mainly featuring players aged 17-21.  It is also important to note that the league is not KHL exclusive:  there were 3 VHL affiliates in 2010-11, 4 independent teams and the farm team of Yunost Minsk of the Belarussian Extraliga.  The VHL is Russia's second league, which is also in the process of becoming a full affiliate league for the KHL.  Only two KHL teams did not have a MHL team in 2010-11:  Barys Astana, the lone Kazakh team, and HC Yurga, who were the lone expansion club in the KHL last season. 

The early results seem encouraging:  a majority of the players who were part of the gold medal winning World Junior Championship team in Buffalo came from the MHL, and progress is being made in both participation as well as audience.  Going to junior hockey games is not a common occurence throughout Europe, not like the level it is at in Canada and even the United States, but the MHL seems to be gaining a foothold.  A recent press release stated that the total attendance for the league increased to 700,000 in 2010-11 from around 450,000 in 2009-10. 

NHL teams may be starting to take notice as well.  In 2010, Maxim Kitsyn was the only player taken in the NHL Entry Draft that had significant ice time in the MHL.  In the most recent draft, six players with significant ice time in the league were taken:  Nikita Kucherov (in the second round), Maxim Shalunov, Yaroslav Kosov, Nikita Nesterov, Daniil Sobchenko and Alexei Marchenko all played most of their 2010-11 season in the league. 

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  vs.

Gagarin Cup (KHL) Finals:  Atlant Moscow Oblast vs. Salavat Yulaev Ufa

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