The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) is a pan-Eurasian ice hockey movement, that was established in 2008. Its predecessor was the Russian Hockey League. The KHL and North America's NHL are recognized as the world's top two hockey leagues. The KHL spans an audience of 40 million in more than 20 countries.
 
The 2017-2018 season will include 27 teams coming from China, Finland, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Slovakia, Latvia divided into Eastern and Western conferences and a total of four divisions. The KHL will run from August 2017 to April 2018.
 
Each team plays 56 games; half at home and half away. A win in normal time (60 minutes) earns a team 3 points; they get 2 points for an overtime or penalty shoot-out win; 1 point for an overtime or penalty shoot-out defeat and 0 points for a regulation time defeat.
 
The top ranked 8 teams in each conference at the end of the 56-game regular season will qualify for the playoffs. The playoffs run from early March to the end of April, where four rounds of competition will take place. Each playoff series is a "best of 7" meaning one team must win 4 games to advance to the next round. The winner of the final championship round will win the KHL's highest honour, the Gagarin Cup.