The KHL has announced a crackdown on "reckless and dangerous tackles" when the new season starts in September to stop the league losing crowd-pleasing players to injury, the league said Wednesday.
A statement on the league website named "hits to the head, kneeing, kicking, boarding, slashing or striking an opponent between the legs, charging the goaltender and being the aggressor in a brawl" as violations coming under extra focus.
"Any occurrence of the violations listed above will come under close scrutiny by the Disciplinary Committee, which will conduct detailed investigation and take the most severe measures stipulated in the regulations," league vice-president Valery Kamensky said on the KHL website.
The move was necessary because injuries sullied the league's reputation, he said.
"We make no apology for repeating once again that when the tournament is plagued by injuries, it has a negative effect on the entertainment value of the championship and on the image and reputation of the entire league."
The league will also consider incidents, taking place at the warm-ups or immediately after a game, as follows from the statement.
Last season, brutal tackles resulted in several players spending months out injured.
In September 18 year-old CSKA Moscow forward Nikolay Prokhorkin broke a finger in a fight with Avangard Omsk forward Alexander Nesterov and missed two months.
Amur Khabarovsk forward Alexander Nikulin was ruled out for three months with a badly broken arm and dislocated wrist after being tackled by SKA St. Petersburg center Ivan Nepryaev in February.
A KHL match between Vityaz Chekhov and Avangard in 2010 set a world record for penalty minutes, with 691 awarded and the match abandoned following a vast bench-clearing brawl.
