European Hockey · August 16, 2026
The Kontinental Hockey League opens its 2026-27 season in early September — making it the first major hockey league back on the calendar and one of the first opportunities to reactivate your hockey betting unit after the summer break. KHL betting requires a different mindset than the NHL, but the value is there for bettors who put in the work.
SKA Saint Petersburg remain the pre-season favourites and will be until results suggest otherwise. Their roster quality is the deepest in the league and they have addressed the defensive depth concerns that cost them in last season's playoffs. Backing them for a top-two Western Conference finish is reasonable at current prices — the outright Gagarin Cup odds are short but the conference market offers better value.
CSKA Moscow are the most likely challenger. They have added two top-end import forwards and their goaltending situation is settled — an important differentiator in a league where inconsistent goaltending frequently derails strong rosters through the winter stretch.
Ak Bars Kazan are the Eastern Conference pick. They have consistently outperformed their pre-season odds in the East, which suggests the market is applying a bias toward the Moscow-based clubs that is not justified by recent playoff data.
KHL betting has structural characteristics that differ meaningfully from the NHL:
The KHL season opener in September is valuable as a calibration tool. Early-season KHL results help establish scoring rate baselines before the NHL opens, and the total goals markets in the first month are often softer than they become once the season finds its rhythm. Target UNDER bets in opening-month matchups between top defensive clubs — the large ice and slower early-season pace historically pushes early games below the total.
The Gagarin Cup playoffs in March and April are when KHL betting markets deepen significantly. Series odds, game-by-game lines and live in-play markets all improve in coverage and liquidity. Bettors who follow the regular season closely have a real information advantage heading into the playoffs — the KHL regular season generates substantial data on home/away splits, goaltender form and power play efficiency that the broader market does not process as efficiently as for the NHL.
For more on European hockey betting, see our European Leagues guide and our KHL Betting section.