230 million per goal: why Khmelevsky is having problems at Ak Bars and whether they were mistaken in Kazan

      Can Khmelevsky prove himself at Ak Bars?

      Khmelevsky wanted Avangard but ended up at Ak Bars

      During Ak Bars’ current road trip, Alexander Khmelevsky finally made an impact in the match against his former team Salavat Yulaev. The forward scored on the 36th minute on the power play. At the moment Khmelevsky has only one goal in eight games.

      Khmelevsky spent three full seasons in the Ufa lineup. According to his contract, the American was supposed to play two more seasons for Salavat with a salary of 80 million rubles a year and was considered the club’s most expensive hockey player. However, a forced budget cut did not allow the club to keep the foreigner. In September the 26-year-old forward moved to Kazan.

      For Khmelevsky the 2025/26 season is officially his fourth in the KHL. It is known that he was supposed to move to Avangard — moreover, signing a contract with the Omsk team was a formality. The player himself also pinned hopes on continuing his career in Omsk, but at the very last moment he ended up at Ak Bars. The forward said as much almost in so many words in an interview with Match TV.

      “Were you very nervous that day when you were traded from Salavat Yulaev to Ak Bars? Initially it was thought you were supposed to go to Avangard.”

      “I’ll start by saying that I began that day unemployed, because I had already signed the termination of my contract with Salavat Yulaev. And then I waited to be sent to another team. Yes, at first it wasn’t entirely pleasant that my plans didn’t match reality. But I’m glad to be at Ak Bars now, that Kazan considers me a good player and wanted me so much. I want to help the club in the playoffs, to lift the Gagarin Cup over our heads,” Khmelevsky told Match TV.

      Ak Bars’ newcomer is the most expensive transfer in the Kazan club’s history

      Ak Bars’ contract with Alexander Khmelevsky runs for two years. In the first season the forward’s salary will be 57 million rubles, and in the next it will rise to 95 million rubles. Given the fuss that has grown around Khmelevsky’s move, the main question arises: why didn’t the Tatarstan club act as actively in the transfer market during the offseason and sign some of Salavat Yulaev’s free agents last summer?!

      For obvious and clear reasons Sheldon Rempal chose Washington and signed a two-way contract with the NHL club. In the fight for Nayton Todd Moscow’s Spartak was fastest. Joshua Livo was snapped up by Chelyabinsk’s Traktor, Scott Wilson ended up at Sibir, Sprong chose CSKA, Tkachev signed with Metallurg, Bushe went to Avtomobilist — the list goes on. And all of them were free agents who could have been signed without compensation.

      Khmelevsky, however, became the most expensive transfer in Ak Bars’ history. The Tatarstan club had to pay Ufa monetary compensation of 230 million rubles. According to Sport-Express, Omsk had offered 200 million rubles for the forward. In addition, as part of the trade a defenseman, Wyatt Kalyniuk, was sent from Kazan to Ufa. Undoubtedly Khmelevsky is a high-class hockey player, but so far Ak Bars’ purchase has not justified its price. Kazan’s coach Anvar Gatiyatulin attributes everything to the newcomer’s adaptation to the team.

      “Sasha recently changed teams. Our system is different from Ufa’s, you can see he’s worried. We talk with him, he has time to adapt. It’s clear he’s getting better from game to game. Alexander is a great craftsman, he needs time,” Gatiyatulin said at one of the postgame press conferences.

      Khmelevsky — the ideal center for Ak Bars

      Twenty-six-year-old Alexander Khmelevsky is an American player of Ukrainian descent. He was born in California. He played in the Ontario Hockey League junior ranks. In 2017 he was selected by the San Jose Sharks in the NHL draft in the 6th round, 184th overall.

      He debuted for the Sharks in the NHL in 2021. Over two seasons he played 24 games and recorded 10 points (0+10). However, he spent most of his time with San Jose’s farm club. After his contract ended he moved to Russia as a free agent to join Salavat Yulaev.

      In his debut season in Ufa he became the team’s top scorer for the season. Khmelevsky’s strong qualities include power-play play and reliability on faceoffs. According to KHL statistics, he won more than half of the faceoffs over a season. In Ak Bars Khmelevsky is expected to be the main star.

      Today the most reliable center in Ak Bars is Kirill Semenov, but he lacks a bit of creativity. Ilya Safonov has shown almost no progress over the last two seasons. And Brandon Biro is a rather doubtful candidate for the top lines.

      So Khmelevsky is the player the Tatarstan side has been missing. It remains to wait for the moment when the American will break out and finally show his full potential. Kazan fans can only hope that the newcomer’s initial reluctance to play for Ak Bars does not affect his results.

      Photo: ak-bars.ru

      More news about the event:

      230 million for a goal: why Khmelevsky is struggling at Ak Bars and did Kazan make a mistake

      Can Khmelevsky prove himself at Ak Bars?

      Khmelevsky wanted Avangard, 09:11 17.10.2025 Tatar-inform IA — Kazan

      “1:6 from Omsk gave us a push”: Ak Bars “looked at itself in the mirror” and produced a streak of 6 wins

      Kazan routed Sibir, Anvar Gatiyatulin spoke about getting out of the crisis

      Ak Bars continues the winning streak started in October — beat Sibir on the road (4:1). 08:40 17.10.2025 Business Online — Kazan

      Semenov: “If we play with a cool head and a hot heart — everything will work out”

      Ak Bars forward Kirill Semenov summed up the away match against Sibir (4:1) in the KHL regular season. 19:49 16.10.2025 Tatar-inform IA — Kazan

      Gatiyatulin on getting out of the crisis: “After the drubbing by Omsk we looked in the mirror”

      Ak Bars head coach Anvar Gatiyatulin after the away win in the KHL regular-season match over Sibir (4:1) noted that his team is solving several tasks on the current road trip. 19:22 16.10.2025 Business Online — Kazan

      Ak Bars beat Sibir on the road 4:1

      Thanks to this victory the Kazan club rose to third place in the Eastern Conference standings of the KHL.

      The match took place in Novosibirsk. 19:07 16.10.2025 Komsomolskaya Pravda Kazan — Kazan

      Gatiyatulin: “Defense is the base, everything starts from it”

      Ak Bars head coach Anvar Gatiyatulin commented on his team’s success in the away match against Sibir. 18:58 16.10.2025 Tatar-inform IA — Kazan

      Ak Bars extended its winning streak to six matches

      Sibir lost to Ak Bars in a home KHL regular-season match. 18:45 16.10.2025 Kazanskie Vedomosti — Kazan

      Ak Bars beat Sibir on the road — it’s the sixth consecutive win for the Kazan side

      Today Ak Bars defeated Sibir (4:1) in an away match of the KHL regular season. 18:28 16.10.2025 Business Online — Kazan

      Ak Bars confidently beat Sibir in Novosibirsk and extended the winning streak to six matches

      Ak Bars convincingly beat Sibir in Novosibirsk, extending its winning streak to seven games in a row. 18:03 16.10.2025 Tatar-inform IA — Kazan

      Ilya Karpukhin: The start for the team was very difficult

      Ak Bars defenseman Ilya Karpukhin spoke about the team’s condition amid a not very successful start to the season. 17:11 16.10.2025 Tatar-inform IA — Kazan

      Sibir — Ak Bars: live broadcast on TNV

      Today Kazan hockey club Ak Bars will play Sibir on the road. The game in Novosibirsk will start at 15:30. 16:04 16.10.2025 TRK Tatarstan — Kazan

      Ak Bars will play its third away game against Sibir

      Ak Bars will play Sibir in Novosibirsk as part of the KHL regular season. 10:49 16.10.2025 Tatar-inform IA — Kazan

      News from neighboring regions on the topic:

      Forward Vladimir Mikhalev left HC Sibir

      The hockey player moved to Novokuznetsk’s Metallurg. The player was traded for monetary compensation. 18:11 17.10.2025 Gorsite.Ru — Novosibirsk

      Hockey Sibir lost to Ak Bars at home with a score of 1:4

      Sibir’s next game will be on October 21, 2025 — Sibir will face Metallurg at home

      In Novosibirsk on October 16, 2025, HC Sibir in a regular season match of the Kont... 15:17 17.10.2025 GTRK Novosibirsk — Novosibirsk

      Kirov’s Rodina beat Ak Bars-Dynamo in a friendly match

      The match took place in Ulyanovsk with empty stands.

      Yesterday in Ulyanovsk there was a hockey match between Kirov’s Rodina and Kazan’s Ak Bars-Dynamo. 09:41 17.10.2025 Kirov.Online — Kirov

      Hockey player Cameron Lee left Amur and is leaving Khabarovsk

      The contract was terminated by mutual consent

      17 October, AmurMedia. 12:27 17.10.2025 AmurMedia.Ru — Khabarovsk

      Sibir lost to Ak Bars in the first match of the home series

      Photo by Konstantin Kutuzov

      Sibir began its new four-game home series with a match against Ak Bars. 05:22 17.10.2025 4S-Info.Ru — Novosibirsk

      Defeat in the match against Ak Bars

      Sibir began its home series with a loss to Ak Bars

      The match was very difficult for the hosts from the opening period. 22:42 16.10.2025 HC Sibir — Novosibirsk

      HC Sibir lost to Ak Bars 1:4 in a home match

      Novosibirsk failed to win the match

      Photo: Alexey BULATOV. 21:56 16.10.2025 KP-Novosibirsk — Novosibirsk

      Ak Bars won its sixth straight KHL match

      Kazan’s Ak Bars defeated Novosibirsk’s Sibir 4:1 in a KHL regular-season match. The game took place in Novosibirsk. Goals for Ak Bars were scored by Artem Galimov (18th minute), 18:40 16.10.2025 Sama-Samara.Ru — Samara

      General director of Voronezh’s Fakel told how much the club spent on buying new players

      Since 2019 Voronezh football club Fakel has spent 47 million rubles on transfers, but earned 100 million rubles from player sales. 13:34 16.10.2025 Obozrevatel.Vrn — Voronezh

      Sibir — Ak Bars, match preview

      Sibir begins a new four-game home series with a match against Ak Bars; Kazan continue their four-game road trip. 11:32 16.10.2025 HC Sibir — Novosibirsk