| 2023–24 KHL season | |
| League: | Kontinental Hockey League |
| Sport: | Ice hockey |
| Pixels: | 250px |
| No Of Games: | 68 |
| No Of Teams: | 23 |
| Season: | Regular season |
| Season Champs: | HC Dynamo Moscow |
| Season Champ Name: | Continental Cup winner |
| Playoffs: | Playoffs |
| Conf1: | Western |
| Conf2: | Eastern |
| Playoffs Mvp: | Ilya Nabokov |
| Finals Champ: | Metallurg Magnitogorsk |
| Finals Runner-Up: | Lokomotiv Yaroslavl |
| Seasonslist: | KHL#Seasons overview |
| Seasonslistnames: | KHL |
| Prevseason Link: | 2022–23 KHL season |
| Prevseason Year: | 2022–23 |
| Nextseason Link: | 2024–25 KHL season |
| Nextseason Year: | 2024–25 |
The 2023–24 KHL season was the 16th season of the Kontinental Hockey League. There were 23 teams that competed in 68 regular season games, with a record-breaking 165 playing days, having begun on 1 September 2023 and ended on 26 February 2024.[1]
In the Finals, Metallurg Magnitogorsk completed the series sweep against Lokomotiv Yaroslavl to win their third Gagarin Cup trophy.
For the 2023–24 season, the competition welcomed the return of Lada Togliatti, marking their third stint in the KHL having last played in the league in 2018.[2]
The regular season was expanded to feature 782 games scheduled for a record-breaking 165 gamedays, with each club to play 68 regular season engagements. The regular season had just one break, from 8–18 December 2023 in which the 2023 All-Star Week took place.[3] For the first time the league changed the playoff format for the Gagarin Cup playoffs by introducing a cross playoff system in which teams participated in the Conference Quarterfinals before a cross conference switch and re-seeding took place from the second round.[4] [5]
The 23 teams are split into four divisions: the Bobrov Division and the Tarasov Division as part of the Western Conference, with the Kharlamov Division and the Chernyshev Division as part of the Eastern Conference.
Lada Togliatti was assigned to play in the Kharlamov Division in the Eastern Conference with every other participant remaining in their previous season allotment.[1]
Each team plays 68 games: in the Western Conference team play every other team home-and-away (44 games), plus an additional 20 intra-conference games (10 home and 10 away games). The remaining 4 games were slated against opposition selected with a view to increasing the number of high-profile match-ups (2 home, 2 on the road). In the Eastern Conference team play every other team home-and-away (44 games), plus an additional 22 intra-conference games (11 home and 11 away games). The remaining 2 games were slated against opposition selected with a view to increasing the number of high-profile match-ups (1 home, 1 on the road).[3] Points were awarded for each game, where two points were awarded for all victories, regardless of whether it was in regulation time, in overtime or after game-winning shots. One point was awarded for losing in overtime or game-winning shots, and zero points for losing in regulation time.[6]
The 2023-24 KHL season started on 1 September 2023 with the Opening cup. The 2023–24 Opening Cup was contested between CSKA Moscow the 2022-23 Gagarin Cup Champions and Ak Bars Kazan the 2022-23 Gagarin Cup runner up.
The Gagarin Cup playoffs started on 29 February 2024. Metallurg Magnitogorsk won the Gagarin Cup on 4 April 2024 by sweeping the finals series.
