2012 KHL standings: Dmitry Kulikov's team leads divison

Dmitry Kulikov of the Florida Panthers is currently playing for Lokomotiv of the KHL, and his team finds itself at the top of the division standings. As the division leaders, Lokomotiv is the No. 2 in the West conference, despite having a lower point total than No. 3 SKA.

Tampa Bay Lighting defenseman Victor Hedman is playing for Barys in the East conference. Barys currently sits at No. 6, but is just two points out of the fourth slot.

The division winners automatically earn the top two seeds in each conference the KHL playoffs. Just like in the NHL, the best eight teams from each conference advance to the playoffs. The KHL season is still in the early stages, as most teams have played around less than 20 of the 52-game season.

The KHL is a Russian-based professional hockey league that is considered to be the top competition in Europe, and has the most talent anywhere in the world outside of the NHL.

Full conference standings below.

West conference (team, games played, points)

1 Dynamo Msk 19, 42

2 Lokomotiv 18, 34

3 SKA 17, 40

4 CSKA 18, 31

5 Severstal 18, 29

6 Torpedo 17, 28

7 Slovan 17, 25

8 Lev 18, 24

9 Atlant 20, 24

10 Vityaz 19, 24

11 Dinamo Mn 18, 23

12 Donbass 19, 22

13 Spartak 19, 20

14 Dinamo R 19, 17

East conference

1 Traktor 17, 36

2 Sibir 19, 34

3 Metallurg Mg 17, 34

4 Ak Bars 18, 32

5 Avangard 20, 32

6 Barys 19, 30

7 Metallurg Nk 20, 29

8 Neftekhimik 18, 28

9 Salavat Yulaev 19, 27

10 Yugra 19, 23

11 Amur 20, 19

12 Avtomobilist 18,13