Seasons overview 2009–10 season In the first MHL season, 22 teams participated, all from
Russia. The MHL opened its doors on September 4, 2009 in
Moscow, when the first ever MHL game was played between
MHC Dynamo (then the junior team of
Dynamo Moscow) and
CSKA-Red Army (the junior team of
CSKA Moscow) with Dynamo picking up the 6–2 victory. The 2010 Challenge Cup (), the
all-star game of the MHL, was played on February 6 in the
Ice Palace in Saint Petersburg. The Western Conference team defeated the Eastern Conference team 6–4. The last matches of the regular season were played on March 8, 2010.
Steel Foxes (the junior team of
Metallurg Magnitogorsk) won the Eastern Conference regular season and the overall MHL regular season with 135 points in 54 games.
Soviet Wings won the Western Conference regular season with 119 points in 66 games. The playoffs started on March 13, 2010. No teams of the Western Conference made it past the round of 16 of the playoffs.
Steel Foxes and
Kuznetskie Medvedi (the junior team of
Metallurg Novokuznetsk) reached the playoff finals for the
Kharlamov Cup. The first game of the best-of-five series between these two clubs was played on April 21, 2010. Steel Foxes won the first ever
Kharlamov Cup after defeating Kuznetsk Bears 3–2 on April 26, 2010 and winning the series 3–1.
Belye Medvedi (the junior team of
Traktor Chelyabinsk) and
Tolpar (the junior team of
Salavat Yulaev Ufa) lost the semi-finals series of the playoffs and played in a two-legged tie for the third place. The first match of the tie was played on April 20, 2010 on Belye Medvedi's home ice and the second leg on April 24 on Tolpar's home ice. Tolpar won both games, first 4–2, second 5–2 and clinched third place of the first season of the MHL.
2010–11 season The number of teams was expanded from 22 in the inaugural season to 29 in the second season. 8 new teams joined the league while
Dynamo Moscow's junior team left the league.
Sheriff, the junior team of
HC MVD in the inaugural season, was moved to
Tver and would serve as the junior team of
UHC Dynamo in the second season. Phoenix was renamed to
MHC Khimik.
MHC Krylya Sovetov was reunited with
PHC Krylya Sovetov (playing in the
VHL) and the MHL team of the newly reunited club was moved to
Dmitrov. Among the new teams were teams from
Belarus (
Minskie Zubry (then the junior team of
Dinamo Minsk) and
MHC Yunost (the junior team of
Yunost Minsk)) and
Latvia (
HC Riga (the junior team of
Dinamo Riga)), thus making the league international. Both conferences were divided into 2 divisions each. The regular season started on 4 September 2010 in
Magnitogorsk with a match for the Opening Cup between last year's
Kharlamov Cup playoff finalists
Steel Foxes and
Kuznetskie Medvedi. Steel Foxes won the match with 8 goals to 1. The 2011 Challenge Cup took place in
Ufa on 12 February 2011. As in 2010, the match pitted the best players of the Western Conference on one side against the best players of the Eastern Conference on the other side. In the West, MHC Khimik won the regular season, while in the East,
Tolpar Ufa was the winner. The playoffs were for the first time separate in each conference, with the two winners meeting in the
Kharlamov Cup final. In the final, the
Red Army team from
Moscow defeated the
Steel Foxes from Magnitogorsk with a 4–0 sweep.
2011–12 season For the 2011–12 season, a second division named
MHL-B was established, which features mostly junior teams of
VHL teams. A relegation and promotion system is in place between the MHL and MHL-B. The number of MHL teams was expanded from 29 to 32. One team,
Krylya Sovetov, left the league, while 4 new teams joined:
Tatranskí Vlci from
Spišská Nová Ves,
Slovakia (the junior team of
Lev Poprad),
Kapitan Stupino from
Stupino,
Snezhnye Barsy from
Astana,
Kazakhstan (the junior team of
Barys Astana) and
Mamonty Yugry from
Khanty-Mansiysk (the junior team of
Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk). Minskie Zubry were renamed to
Dinamo-Shinnik and moved to
Babruysk. Sheriff was renamed to
MHC MVD and moved from
Tver to
Balashikha. The 2012 Challenge Cup took place in Magnitogorsk on 11 February 2012. The first ever Future Cup () took place in
Chelyabinsk on 13 March 2012 and featured the best under-18 players (not born before 1 January 1994) of both the MHL and the
MHL-B division. The regular season winners were the
Omsk Hawks (the junior team of
Avangard Omsk) in the East and
Almaz Cherepovets (the junior team of
Severstal Cherepovets) in the West. Omsk Hawks also made it to the
Kharlamov Cup final, where they defeated the
Red Army team from
Moscow with a 4–1 series win.
2012–13 season For their fourth season, the MHL expanded to
Czech Republic and
Hungary, with the junior team of
HC Energie Karlovy Vary and
Patriot Budapest joining. The two Russian teams
Kristall Berdsk and
HC Oktan Perm were promoted from
MHL-B, while
Ladya Togliatti (the junior team of
Lada Togliatti) and
HC Olimpiya Kirovo-Chepetsk were relegated. Slovak team Tatranskí Vlci withdrew from the league. These changes brought the number of teams up to 33, representing 6 countries. The Omsk Hawks once again made it to the
Kharlamov Cup final, where this time they defeated
MHC Spartak (the junior team of
Spartak Moscow) from
Moscow in 7 games, winning the seventh game in
overtime thanks to
Kirill Rasskazov. Omsk Hawks also became the first team ever to not only win 2 Kharlamov Cups, but also the first team to ever repeat as Kharlamov Cup champions.
2013–14 season For the fifth season, the league expanded to 40 teams, divided into two conferences with two divisions each. New teams are the junior team of
EC Red Bull Salzburg from
Austria,
Molodaya Gvardia from
Ukraine (the junior team of
HC Donbass) and
Dinamo Saint Petersburg. Ladya Togliatti, Olimpiya Kirovo-Chepetsk,
Junior Kurgan (the junior team of
Zauralie Kurgan) and
HC Chelny were promoted from MHL-B. Oktan Perm was renamed to "Molot". In September, after the season had already started, Patriot from Hungary withdrew from the league, leaving only 39 teams to play the season.
MHC Spartak achieved redemption this season after falling just short the season before by winning the
Kharlamov Cup defeating their rivals, the
Red Army team from
Moscow, 4–3 in the final.
2014–15 season For the sixth season, the league went through a number of changes, with 2 teams joining the league and 2 teams leaving, each for different reasons. Due to the
War in Donbass, the league stated that Molodaya Gvardia would miss this season.
JHC Bars (then the junior team of
Ak Bars Kazan) left the league to join the
Supreme Hockey League (VHL). Their place as Ak Bars Kazan's junior team would be taken by
Irbis. New teams joining the league were an expansion team from
Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk called the
Sakhalin Sharks as well as
Berkuty Kubani Krasnodar from
Krasnodar, who were promoted from MHL-B.
Chaika (the junior team of
Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod) won the
Kharlamov Cup for the first time after defeating
SKA-1946 (one of the junior teams of
SKA Saint Petersburg) with a 4–1 final series win.
2015–16 season For the seventh season, the league once again went through some big changes, with both a small number of teams joining the league, but also with a huge number of teams leaving. Those teams leaving included
MHC Khimik, who left the league to join the
Supreme Hockey League (VHL), the junior team of
EC Red Bull Salzburg, the junior team of
HC Energie Karlovy Vary,
Belye Tigry,
Berkuty Kubani Krasnodar,
Junior Kurgan,
Dinamo-Shinnik and
JHC Yunost (the junior team of
Yunost Minsk). Meanwhile, new teams joining the league included the
Russia U18 squad as well as
Sarmaty from
Orenburg (the junior team of
Yuzhny Ural Orsk) and
Dinamo-Raubichi (then the junior team of
Dinamo Minsk) from
Minsk,
Belarus. Chaika returned to the
Kharlamov Cup final, but were not able to repeat as champions, with
Loko Yaroslavl (the junior team of
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl) winning the series, 4–1. The first ever (and so far only) Super Cup () took place on 30 April 2016 in
Uchaly. It was the trophy awarded to the winner of the game between the winner of the
Kharlamov Cup (the MHL champions) and the winner of the
Regions Cup (the
MHL-B champions) and was won by
Loko Yaroslavl 5–1 against
Gornyak Uchaly.
2016–17 season For the eighth season, the number of teams in the league was at 31 teams, representing 3 countries (28 from Russia, 2 from Kazakhstan and 1 from Latvia). Teams that left the league were Olimpiya Kirovo-Chepetsk, Dinamo-Raubichi, Russia U18 and the Sakhalin Sharks. Meanwhile, the teams that joined the league were
Sputnik Almetyevsk (the junior team of
Neftyanik Almetyevsk), expansion club
Taifun from
Ussuriysk (the junior team of
Admiral Vladivostok),
Altay Oskemen from
Ust-Kamenogorsk,
Kazakhstan (the junior team of
Torpedo Ust-Kamenogorsk) as well as
Krylya Sovetov who were returning to the league after being inactive for five years. While
Reaktor (the junior team of
Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk) dominated both the regular season and the first three rounds of the playoffs, they were not able to continue their success in the
Kharlamov Cup final, with the
Red Army team taking the series in a 4–0 sweep, winning their second Kharlamov Cup.
2017–18 season Season nine featured some minor changes with only 2 teams joining the league. Those teams were
KRS Junior (the junior team of
Kunlun Red Star) from
Beijing,
China (though they play their home games in
Riga, Latvia) and returning
Kapitan Stupino (which became the junior team of
HC Sochi), thus bringing the number of teams in the league up to 33 once again, this time representing only 4 countries. Meanwhile, MHC MVD was renamed to
MHK Dynamo. ==International matches==