HC Kunlun Red Star

Preparation of the team

In March 2016, the Chinese club and the KHL signed a protocol of intent to have a Chinese-based team enter the KHL. The protocol was signed by the representative from the Russian Ice Hockey Federation Vladislav Tretiak, the chairman of the KHL Gennady Timchenko and the board of Kunlun Red Star. In mid-April, the President of IIHF (René Fasel) shared his opinion about the intention of the Chinese club to join the KHL. He expressed hope that this will help China to bring their hockey to a higher level.

If the club meets their contractual economic conditions by 30 April 2016, they will be allowed to join the KHL. According to Roman Rotenberg, HC Kunlun Red Star applied to fulfill its obligations, but there is a coherent number of formalities, the final decision about team should be taken in June 2016. In early May, the KHL president Dmitry Chernyshenko considered the affiliation of the club to the league as an already done deal: "The club has provided all the documents on the scene, the structure of the club, finance, and they have the permission of the Chinese Ice Hockey Association."

It was announced on 25 June 2016 that the KHL board of directors had officially accepted the club's application, and that they would be participating in the upcoming 2016–17 KHL season. The Beijing announcement ceremony included Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

The team will play their home games at the LeSports Center in Beijing; in addition, they will games at the Sports Center Pavilion in Shanghai. In November 2016 it was reported the team was playing its games at the Feiyang Skating Center in Shanghai as the Beijing faciity was booked full with concerts and basketball games, though plans were to return to Beijing in December.

2016–17 season

On July 24, 2016, the team played their first friendly game, when they were defeated 2–0 by Traktor Chelyabinsk.

In a later exhibition match, on August 8, 2016 against Barys Astana, a fight broke out minutes into the game when defenceman Damir Ryspayev punched Kunlun forward Tomas Marcinko in the face, then attacked three other Kunlun players before trying to jump into the Red Star bench. The attack appeared to be retaliation for a Kunlun hit in an earlier game that had left Barys Astana forward Dustin Boyd with a broken leg. Officials cancelled the game, and Ryspayev was suspended and eventually given a lifetime ban from the KHL.

The Kunlun Red Star won their regular season KHL debut against Amur Khabarovsk by a score of 2–1. The first goal in franchise history was scored by Sean Collins at 14:00 of the first period. The team also won their second game, a home game in front of a crowd of 7832 people, defeating Admiral Vladivostok by a final of 6–3.

On October 27, 2016 Chinese-Canadian defenseman Zach Yuen, a Vancouver, B.C.-born draft pick of the Winnipeg Jets, became the first player of Chinese descent to score in a league game, in a 1–0 win over Khabarovsk. There are also four Chinese-born players on the team. KHL roster guidelines require that Red Star have any combination of at least 10 Russian and Chinese players.

After the team's first home game in Beijing the team had to play their home games during the fall in Shanghai, as the arena in Beijing wasn't available. However, the interest in Shanghai for their games was poor; the audience attendance averaged 1,100 in their first 14 games in Shanghai. The team returned to Beijing in mid-December. Since returning to Beijing, attendance has improved, and the team began attracting crowds of around 7,500 in attendance, which is comparable with more established KHL teams.

Kunlun Red Star qualified for the 2017 KHL postseason and faced the defending Gagarin Cup champions Metallurg Magnitogorsk in the conference quarterfinals. Defenseman Tuukka Mäntylä scored the first two playoff goals in the Beijing franchise's history in a 4-2 loss to Metallurg.

Season-by-season record

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, OTW = Overtime/Shootout Wins, OTL = Overtime/Shootout Losses, L = Losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against

Current roster

Updated 12 November 2016.