Kunlun season preview: impressive imports and a new head coach

Continuing KHL.ru’s club-by-club preview for the 2024-2025 season, we’re looking at Kunlun Red Star. The Dragons have been waiting a long time to get back to the playoffs, but there’s grounds for optimism this season with the arrival of head coach Mikhail Kravets and a promising posse of imports from North America.Last seasonUnder head coach Viktors Ignatjevs, KRS made a promising start to the season just gone, winning the first three games. September went pretty well, with six wins in 13 games. However, the problem was that due to the planned involvement of Kunlun’s players in China’s Olympic qualification tournament, the team faced a punitive schedule. Throughout the fall, the Dragons were scheduled to play almost every second day. Unsurprisingly, that took its toll on the players however much the coaching staff tried to rotate the roster.At the end of the regular season, when the schedule returned to normal, Red Star again looked a decent team, especially when facing its direct rivals for a playoff spot. The Chinese club managed several good results, but in the end that early schedule took too much. On Feb. 13, Kunlun Red Star dropped out of playoff contention.Roster changesArrivals: goalies Konstantin Volkov (Dynamo Moscow), Kyle Keyser (Maine, ECHL); defense: Adam Clendenning (Ilves, FIN), Martin Lefebvre (Assat, FIN), Ian McCoshen (Liberec, CZE), Yury Pautov (Admiral); offense: Danny O’Regan (MoDo, SWE), Chris Wilkie (Wolfsburg, GER), Jayden Halbgewachs (Frolunda, SWE), Rourke Chartier (Ottawa, NHL), Hudson Elynuik (Chicago, AHL), Tomas Jurco (Avangard).Departures: goalie Alexander Lazushin; defense Nikita Parfenyuk (Dinamo Minsk, end of loan), Ryan Sproul, Jason Fram (Asiago, ICEHL), Zak Yuen; offense: Devin Brosseau (Amur), Ivan Lisin, Brandon McMillan, Teemu Pulkkinen, Alex Riche, Gemel Smith.Top 3 signingsRourke ChartierLast season, Rourke Chartier played almost 40 games in the NHL. He featured on the fourth line for Ottawa, occasionally played on the second, and also featured on the Senators’ PK. He won more than 50% of his face-offs.However, while his role for Ottawa was a bottom six battler, in the AHL he proved that he has plenty of creativity and had a good points return. Thus, it seems that in the form of Chartier, KRS has acquired a reliable all-rounder who can fulfil any role. Adam ClendenningClendenning, 31, played more than 500 games in the AHL and almost 100 in the NHL. He also featured for Team USA at U18, U20 and senior levels. At the 2021 World Championship, Clendenning had 5 (2+3) points, outscoring, for example Alexander Chmelevski. He finished the tournament with a bronze medal.In 2023-2024, Clendenning played for Ilves in Finland, where he was the top-scoring defenseman. KRS demonstrated last season that they want a good choice of two-way D-men who can contribute regular scoring; this season, apparently, we can expect Clendenning to come to that party.Tomas JurcoThis is Jurco’s second spell with Red Star, having previously been here in 2022-2023. Back then the Slovak forward joined the team partway through the campaign but made a positive impact on the team’s play: in 32 games he had 25 (10+15) points. Jurco began last season with Davos but came to Avangard before the deadline. In Omsk, Tomas had 16 (8+8) points at the end of the regular season then, in the playoffs, he was a real leader on the team, outstripped only by the all-conquering Tkachyov-Spooner-Boucher line. It’s clear that Jurco knows his way around the Red Star set-up, and has also played for new head coach Mikhail Kravets. There can be no doubt that his skills will boost the Dragons’ offense. CoachingIn the off-season, KRS signed Mikhail Kravets to a on