Ice hockey: the main stories of 04.09.2026

The KHL's new season opens on Saturday with a row over press access still unresolved. Russia's sports minister, Mikhail Degtyarev, said on 3 September he would look into the league's refusal to accredit several well-known hockey writers — the first time a federal official has taken the matter up. The league has not set out its reasons in public, and no timetable for a decision has been given. Degtyarev's promise puts the question with the ministry rather than with the clubs, which means it may well outlast the opening weekend.

Below that, the season is already under way elsewhere: Norilsk beat Sokol 3:0 at home in the VHL opener, a clean sheet in the club's first fixture of the campaign. Roman Rotenberg, first vice-president of the FHR and head coach of the Russia 25 side, traced his own start in the game to watching the USSR national team and skating in his sister's figure skates because nothing else was in the house; he spoke in the same interview about the Krasnaya Mashina academy, where pupils take a dance class once a week. Separately, one outlet reports that the FHR plans to open an academy in Bangkok this month.

• One outlet reports that SKA defenceman Nikita Zaitsev went unclaimed on waivers; his salary may be cut by 20% and he may stay at the club.
• Vancouver signed 20-year-old defenceman Zeev Buium to an 8-year deal worth $9.38m a year from 2027, according to a single report.
• Seattle extended forward Jacob Melanson for 3 years at a cap hit of $1.45m; he led the Kraken in hits last season with 188 in 36 games — one source.
• Buffalo re-signed defenceman Zack Metsa for a year at $900,000, per one outlet; Toronto added Brendan Brisson on a two-way deal.
• Calgary general manager Craig Conroy said he misused the word "relapse" about Jonathan Huberdeau, who had hip replacement surgery in March and will not be fit for the start of camp — one report.
• Vyacheslav Voynov named captain of Amur, with Li, Dergachev, Abramov and Alexei Vasilevsky as assistants; Vladimir Tkachev takes the armband at Torpedo and Ansel Galimov's team-mate Ozhiganov at Dynamo Moscow — all single-source.
• Minsk Dynamo coach Sergei Brylin said a diagnosis on defenceman Nicolas Meloche, hurt in a fight in the Moscow Mayor's Cup final, is expected within days — one outlet.
• Aleksandr Radulov was voted the KHL's best player of last season in a poll of 60 journalists run by Sport-Express, ahead of Sharipzyanov and Okulov, by all accounts of that vote.
• Dustin Tokarski retired at 36 and joined Carolina as a goaltending scout, per one report; Nate Sucese returned to Shanghai Dragons on a one-year deal.
• Omsk's SKK Blinov, home of Omskie Krylia, has been renamed G-Energy Arena, according to a single source.