Gerard Gallant’s new KHL coaching job with the Kunlun Red Star will have a change of venue this season. The league’s only Chinese franchise still isn’t playing in China — but it is changing its name and moving from the Moscow area to St. Petersburg for the 2025-26 season.
A Russian report says the team is being renamed the Shanghai Dragons. It’s unknown whether the Dragons will ever play in Shanghai.
The official KHL website only states the team will play in St. Peterburg. According to Faceoff.com and sport-express.ru, the rebranded team will play in SKA Arena, the world’s largest rink (capacity of 22,500). St. Petersburg’s SKA team did play in that arena last season, although it also played in the Ice Palace (12,300).
The so-called Chinese team, based in Beijing, joined the KHL in 2016, but hasn’t played in China since 2019-20. In 2020-21, they began playing their games Russian city of Mytishchi, outside of Moscow. The team has remained there until now.
The Kunlun Red Star has officially changed its name to Shanghai Dragons. @shadragons
The club also introduced the new logo. The new emblem depicts a dragon in red and blue colors
The team will play at the SKA Arena in St. Petersburg next season.#KHL #hockey #China pic.twitter.com/DdIipSkOfF
— Eurohockey com (@eurohockey) August 7, 2025
The team had a Red Wings connection long before Gallant was named coach and named Slava Kozlov as his assistant. Among former Red Wings who’ve played for this franchise: Magnus Hellberg, Jake Chelios (son of Chris Chelios), Ryan Sproul, Tomas Jurco, Teemu Pulkkinen, and Gemel Smith.
Kunlun Red Star qualified for the KHL in their inaugural season, and has missed the playoff for the past eight seasons.
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