KHL.ru reviews the 2024/2025 season for Kunlun Red Star. Under the guidance of Mikhail Kravets, the Beijing-based team secured 28 victories, a total that ultimately fell short of a playoff spot.
The start of the 2024/2025 season was promising for Kunlun Red Star, with the Dragons winning their first two games. Nail Yakupov, who joined the team in August, made an immediate strong impression. However, the team then encountered difficulties. “We had some poor performances. At that point, some players were still adjusting to the League, figuring out how to play, what to do, and how to behave. We lacked the right philosophy; hockey wasn`t the priority, but rather the desire to have a good time,” Mikhail Kravets explained after the season.
Working with the team`s management, Kravets focused on instilling a proper team philosophy. This included appointing a new captain and making several trades throughout the season to strengthen the roster. These efforts began to show results in December and January, when the Dragons achieved a club-record seven-game winning streak and significantly closed the gap to the playoff zone.
However, in the remaining part of the championship, Kunlun Red Star could not catch Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod, who finished in the eighth spot, ending the regular season nine points behind. A key factor was their performance against Torpedo specifically – they managed only one victory in their four head-to-head matches.
Key Players
Spencer Foo
During the season, Foo took over the captaincy from Brandon Yip. The added responsibility did not hinder Spencer; the forward had his best KHL season, collecting 35 points (17 goals, 18 assists) in 63 games. Three of his goals were game-winners for Kunlun Red Star.
Lucas Lockhart
The leader in games played for Kunlun Red Star in the KHL (446) and the second-highest scorer in team history (143 points), Lockhart also had his best personal season, recording 33 points (16 goals, 17 assists). Lockhart can truly be called an iron man for the Beijing team; in the 2024/2025 season, he set a club record by playing 153 consecutive games. The streak was only broken in the final game, which Lucas missed due to family circumstances.
Jeremy Smith
Living legend of Kunlun Red Star, Jeremy Smith, had another magnificent season, setting personal records for wins (16) and shutouts (4) in a single regular season. Five times during the season, Smith made 40 or more saves.
Coach
Mikhail Kravets coached Kunlun Red Star during the 2024/2025 season. Under his leadership, the Beijing team achieved 28 victories, equaling their best result set in the 2016/2017 season. Nevertheless, the club decided not to exercise the option for the second year of his “1+1” contract.
Best Game
On October 1st, Kunlun Red Star visited Ufa to play Salavat Yulaev. In the first period, Salavat Yulaev significantly outshot the Dragons (12-5), but the score remained goalless. In the second period, Ufa pulled ahead to a 2-0 lead. However, after the break, Kunlun Red Star played a perfect third period, scoring five unanswered goals against Salavat Yulaev. Tyler Graovac, the team`s top scorer by the end of the season, tied the game with a pair of goals, and Lucas Lockhart contributed 3 points (1 goal, 2 assists) in this game.
Young Players
The Kunlun Red Star coaching staff relatively often utilized three players from the U23 age category: forwards Semyon Sinyatkin and Stepan Zvyagin, and defenseman Alexey Kozhevnikov.
Sinyatkin appeared in 17 games during the season, averaging about seven minutes on ice, and did not register any points. Zvyagin and Kozhevnikov played for the Dragons on loan from Dinamo Minsk and Lokomotiv, respectively. Zvyagin played 27 games with the same average ice time of seven minutes per game, scoring 3 points (2 goals, 1 assist).
The 22-year-old Kozhevnikov played 27 games for Kunlun with an average ice time of 12:17, recording one assist and finishing with a plus/minus rating of -7.
Offseason Outlook
Kunlun Red Star traditionally begins its work on the transfer market later than other KHL clubs. The Beijing team has consistently focused on the North American markets and waited for the seasons overseas to conclude. As of summer 2025, there is no transfer news from the Dragons` den yet. However, the team`s management faces serious work in building the roster, as most key players` contracts have expired.
Existing agreements for the next season include Jeremy Smith, Austin Wough, brothers Spencer and Parker Foo, and Brandon Yip. However, it is uncertain if Yip will play; the club`s all-time leading scorer appeared in only eight games in the 2024/2025 season and, according to Kunlun`s social media posts, has shifted towards scouting in North America.
Gareth Tenby