KHL Pre-Match Shootout Plan Divides Hockey World

KHL president Alexei Morozov's plan to hold a shootout before the opening faceoff, rather than after a drawn match, has run into open resistance from former referee Yuri Karandin, who called the idea a "circus" and said it would have cost an NHL commissioner his job.

Morozov's proposal is straightforward: if the scores are level, the winner would be settled by a shootout taken before the puck drops, with the extra point banked in advance. The league has presented it as a way to widen the audience for its games.

Karandin does not agree. "The reform doesn't have a single point in its favour — nothing but minuses," he said. "Had Gary Bettman come out with something like that in the NHL, he would have been sacked the very next day. My only explanation is that someone among the president's deputies, people with little to do with hockey, has set him up."

He also pointed out that the KHL itself trimmed the post-match shootout from five rounds to three only a couple of seasons ago, and asked how that squares with a league now insisting fans want more of the format. Deciding the contest before the puck drops, he argued, hands the winning side a lead to defend from the first minute and rewards defensive hockey — the opposite of what the rest of the sport is trying to encourage.

Roman Rotenberg, head coach of Russia 25 and first vice-president of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation, took a lighter view, speaking at the Expo Basket forum. "We need to look at different ways of growing our audience. From a revenue and media standpoint, that matters," he said. "You could take the shootout before the match, or after it. We could even do it at the interval — it wouldn't get in the way of the game itself. If it grows the audience, then why not?"

The Media League's technical director struck a similar note, telling reporters: "All fans look forward to shootouts. They're rarely scored, so it makes sense to hold them before the game."

Spartak forward Alexander Belyaev was asked for his view and kept it short. "I don't know. Our job is to go out and play hockey. Whatever they come up with, we'll do it," he said. "Shootouts, somersaults, circus turns — no question, we'll do it if we're told to."