Maps are useful things – or at least I think so. And for that reason, below the jump, you will find a large Google map purporting to show the home arenas of all current KHL and VHL teams! You will also find a note or two, mostly having to do with that word “purporting”…

There it is (KHL teams are in blue, VHL in red)! Clicking on this link should send you to a version of it that includes a scale! Do play around with it at your leisure, and let me know if you find anything wrong with it. A couple of explanatory notes are in order, however:

— This is very much an ongoing project sort of thing, and it will be updated. A couple of teams (Dynamo Moscow, Barys Astana) are likely to be in new arenas when the puck drops for 2015-16, but for now, they’re still shown in their old buildings. Spartak Moscow have not yet finalized plans for an arena next season, so again, they are marked as living in their traditional Sokolniki home, which will be used as a practice facility. New VHL side Zvezda Chekhov are marked in the former home of Vityaz Chekhov, and I think that’s a reasonable guess. As I said, updates as events warrant.

— That “to be updated” notion extends to the teams depicted as well. There is, sadly, little chance that Slovan Bratislava will play in the KHL next year, but efforts to keep them are still underway — they’ll stay on the map until we officially hear that those efforts have failed. A similar principal applies to several VHL teams, most notably Rubin Tyumen. And, although it would be very surprising at this point, if there are any late additions to the roster of teams in either league, I’ll add them as they become official.

— I may, in due time, add something showing where now-departed participants in both leagues were located.

— The junior hockey ranks will get their own big map, but for that I am going to wait until the new setup of the MHL is confirmed.

And that’s about all I can think of! As noted above, if you find horrible problems with the map, drop me a line about them either in the comments or at peterboriana@gmail.com. Enjoy!