With an average of 14 games remaining in the KHL season, the newest edition of the rankings gives us an idea of who is playoff-ready and who has some work to do.

With the Winter Olympic break in February, this Christmas break and a couple days off for the All-Star game, the season is further along than the last games in early March indicates. This makes these rankings especially interesting. Because the method used awards those that defeat teams with more points in the standings than those clubs disposing of weaker opponents, we are starting to get a picture of who has fared best against potential playoff opponents (full explanation of the methods used can be seen here).

Statistical Power Rankings

Rank Club Raw Score GP Score 1 SKA St. Petersburg 3466 37 93.7 2 Barys Astana 3042 37 82.2 3 Dynamo Moscow 2794 37 75.5 4 Ak Bars Kazan 2558 37 69.1 5 Metallurg MG 2277 36 63.3 6 Torpedo 2199 35 62.8 7 KHL Medvescak 2359 38 62.1 8 Dinamo Riga 2221 36 61.7 9 Donbass 2266 38 59.6 10 Lev Praha 2174 37 58.8 11 CSKA 2030 39 52.1 12 Salavat 1892 37 51.1 13 Avtomobilist 1918 39 49.2 14 Lokomotiv 1764 36 49.0 15 Admiral 1714 37 46.3 16 Traktor 1588 36 44.1 17 Neftekhimik 1600 37 43.2 18 Severstal 1458 36 40.5 19 Avangard 1510 39 38.7 20 Sibir 1341 37 36.2 21 Slovan Bratislava 1237 36 34.4 22 Atlant 1212 36 33.7 23 Spartak 1207 36 33.5 24 Vityaz 1069 36 29.7 25 Amur 1065 37 28.8 26 Ugra 890 37 24.1 27 Dinamo Minsk 862 38 22.7 28 Metallurg Nk 457 37 12.4

The first two interesting situations to discuss are Torpedo and KHL Medvescak. Torpedo is ranked sixth in the stat rankings, though they are ranked 12th in the league in points. Their 88 goals scored is nothing impressive for potential playoff clubs. So, their high power ranking likely means they are beating the best teams. Their defeats of Medvescak (twice), Metallurg, CSKA and Dinamo Riga are proof that they will be competitive come playoff time.

Medvescak is a little different, as they have defeated some quality opponents (CSKA, Donbass, Sibir, Barys Astant), but their high scoring offense (third in the league) is pulling them into the 7th spot. All-Star forward Brandon Bochenski stated he thinks Medvescak will be a forced to be reckoned with in the first round of the playoffs because of their ability to put in goals.

Current playoff bound teams that should be worried are Salavat Yulaev and Sibir. Salavat has the fourth best scoring offense in the league and are fourth in the Eastern Conference. However, they are ranked 12th in the power rankings, indicating they have a hard time with the top teams. This is true as they have lost to SKA, AK Bars, CSKA, Metallurg MG, Lev Praha, Traktor, Barys and Sibir. Several of the teams mentioned previously are possible playoff opponents for Salavat and could spell an early defeat if they cannot begin competing with the best clubs.

Sibir is the team that separates the clubs with higher raw scores (1500+) from those who are in the bottom half (1300s and lower). Unfortunately, they are on the bottom side of that separation. Sibir’s 84 goals scored are third worst of all current playoff teams in the league and their +1 goal differential is also tied for third worst. They have some cushion currently between themselves and lower seeded clubs Traktor and Admiral, but their remaining schedule includes SKA, Riga and Metallurg MG. They will need to play the rest of the season at the level they showed they were to before the break, defeating Barys Astana 4-3.

Admiral is the final interesting case. They are tied with Traktor for the final spot in the Eastern Conference, but Admiral is ranked higher than Traktor here. Does this mean Admiral will prevail above Traktor? Not necessarily. It does indicate that if they make the playoffs, they have the potential to be more dangerous.

Both Traktor and Admiral rank higher than current higher seeded club Sibir, making for some interesting hockey to watch with the playoffs on the horizon.