The KHL Season Closing Ceremony continued with the presentation of six significant awards, recognizing top performers and officials from the league. Categories included Most Valuable Player, Top Scoring Defenceman, Best Head Referee (Andrei Starovoitov Award), Best Linesman (Mikhail Galinovsky Award), Best Line, and Best Coach.
Ak Bars forward Artem Galimov was named the Most Valuable Player of the regular season, achieving a plus-minus rating of +31 over 68 games.
Sibir defenceman Trevor Murphy received the Top Scoring Defenceman award after achieving a career-best KHL season with 13 goals and 45 assists in 65 appearances.
The awards for the league`s best officials went to head referee Denis Naumov and linesman Dmitry Shishlo. Naumov started his KHL career as a linesman in 2008/2009 before becoming a head referee. Shishlo joined the league in 2015/2016. Both had been nominated previously but received the awards for the first time this season.
Severstal`s forward line of Danil Aymurzin, Mikhail Ilyin, and Kirill Pilipenko was recognized as the Best Line of the season, collectively scoring 42 goals.
Igor Nikitin: Best Coach
Igor Nikitin of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl was officially named the Best Coach for the 2024/2025 season. This prestigious award follows his achievement of leading the Yaroslavl club to their first-ever Gagarin Cup victory.
Born on March 23, 1973, in Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan, Nikitin had a playing career as a defenceman, winning a Russian championship with Avangard Omsk in 2004.
His coaching journey in the KHL began with Avangard, followed by roles at Sibir, CSKA, Lokomotiv, and the Russian national team. As a coach, Nikitin boasts an impressive resume including two Gagarin Cup titles (2019, 2025), two World Championship gold medals (2012, 2014), and an Olympic gold medal (2018).
Nikitin also holds a unique league record: he is the first coach to win both the Continental Cup (awarded for the regular season championship) and the Gagarin Cup (playoff championship) in the same season, a feat he accomplished twice (in 2019 and again in 2025).
This is the second time Nikitin has received the Best Coach award, with his first recognition coming in 2019. The award was presented by three-time Gagarin Cup winner Sergei Fedorov and Alexey Podryabinnikov from Rostelecom, a league partner.
Gareth Tenby 
Neville Woodall