Alexei Morozov: KHL Has No Plan for Expansion

The KHL president explained why the league has no plan for artificial expansion, ruled out a return to the three-point system, and set out the thinking behind a proposal to introduce a shootout series before the start of matches. He also touched on Alexander Ovechkin's new contract with the Washington Capitals and on rumours, unconfirmed by all accounts, that Sochi could move its home fixtures to another city.

He reserved his fullest answer for the new arena in Nizhny Novgorod, which staged its first KHL fixture this month. Morozov had toured the building two months earlier, while it was still being finished.

"Two months ago, when I came to Nizhny Novgorod and looked round the arena at the final stage of construction, what impressed me was how well thought through the building was — the dressing rooms, the halls. I liked very much that there are three rinks, and that the route from the dressing room onto the ice for the sledge teams is well designed. It is a comfortable arena. Even when it is given over to concerts, the teams will not have to go anywhere else, because there are additional training areas. On top of that, the Torpedo management plan to move their school teams there from the old arena, so they can train alongside the main team, watch their idols and learn from them. I remember my own childhood at the Krylia Sovetov school, when we were based in the same arena as the first team: it was always a pleasure to come and watch their training. I think the children at the Torpedo school will feel the same pleasure being close to their older team-mates," Morozov said.

If the school teams do move in as planned, Torpedo would follow a small number of KHL clubs housing their academy alongside the first team full-time. That, more than any talk of expansion, looks like the direction Morozov wants the league's infrastructure to take.