The National Hockey League (NHL) is among the most popular sports leagues in North America. It is also the most popular ice hockey league in the world.
On the other hand, there is the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). The KHL is the second most popular ice hockey league in the world. It consists of teams from China, Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Finland, and Latvia.
The NHL has a total of 31 teams, while 23 teams come together and compete in the KHL. Now, let's go over the main differences between the NHL and the KHL.
Differences between the KHL and the NHL
The National Hockey League consists of teams that employ some of the best players in the world. The Kontinental Hockey League, on the other hand, features many of the best players in all of Europe and even Asia. These players are either not good enough to be in the NHL or prefer to stay outside of North America.
The NHL has a comprehensive farm-system. Featuring AHL affiliate teams, this system allows the NHL sides to have around 50 players to fight for the ranks.
The NHL has several restrictions on the players' contracts, such as a hard salary cap. The salary cap for the NHL is $81.5 million. Theoretically, this creates an even playing field, giving the teams an equal chance of winning the championship.
The NHL also has a draft system that allows teams to employ fresh players every year. The draft system allows the lowest ranking teams to have the first pick at the new ice hockey players. Therefore, everyone has a chance to come to the top. The latest updates on the NHL draft are on lines.com.
The KHL's system is somewhat different. However, they are slowly trying to adopt some of the NHL's ways.
Previously, the KHL had a salary cap, of sorts, along with luxury taxes. Also, it was neither public nor was it enforced on the teams. Therefore some of the wealthiest clubs end up spending more than ten times the smallest teams' salaries.
But the Kontinental Hockey League has now put an obligation on its clubs to work within a salary cap of $13 million. That is far too little for the wealthiest clubs but perfectly fine for the mid-level teams.
The change will give the lower-level clubs a chance to rise, as it levels the playing field.
The KHL also had a draft system. The first one was in 2009. However, the system wasn't entirely perfect, and it came to an end in 2016.
The KHL doesn't allow their Russian teams to sign any more than five foreign players and one goalkeeper. They also need to employ a Russian goalkeeper for a particular number of games.
The NHL and KHL also differ in the playing and training conditions. Not only that, but the traveling and other options also highly vary between the leagues.
The division between the rich and the lower level clubs is still massive in the KHL, especially when put in comparison with the NHL.
