One of the KHL's newcomers for next seaon, Slovakian side Slovan Bratislava, fears the jet lag inolved with the massive distances required to travel for some games, but is confident of making the playoffs irrespective.
Slovan is one of three new faces in the Russian-dominated hockey league for the 2012-13 season.
It will play with fellow debutants Donbass Donetsk of Ukraine and Lev Prague of the Czech Republic in one of the two Western Conference divisions, but KHL rules mean Slovan must face off twice against each representative of the other three divisions.
That means the team will have to make the 10,000-kilometer trip to deep Siberia in order to play Khabarovsk side Amur, the longest of several long-haul destinations including Novosibirsk and Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan.
That's a far cry from the matches the team had been accustomed to in the local Slovak Extraliga, all held mercifully in the same country, not to mention time zone.
"The first season will be difficult for us of course," Slovan general manager Maros Krajci told the sport.sk site. "There are a lot of new things we will meet for the first time, such as long trips, regeneration, the time shift, which can be up to eight to 10 hours."
Krajci said he had faith his team could cope, however.
"We know that it will not be easy, but we have to deal with it. And we believe that we can meet the primary objective, which is getting to the playoffs. ... It will be a separate competition then."
The team, meanwhile, is happy with the results of its first KHL entry draft on Saturday in Chelyabinsk, where it participated with Donetsk Donbass and Lev Prague after a lottery was held to allocate their position.
"We went mostly for Slovak players," said Krajci. "We just missed the defender Martin Gernat, who was chosen by [Salavat Yulaev] Ufa. Otherwise, we are satisfied; we managed to get the main ones we wanted."
Slovan is a seven-time Slovakian champion, with its last triumph coming in 2008.
Representing Czechoslovakia, the team won three Spengler Cups in a row between 1972 and 1974.
With 26 teams, the 2012-13 KHL season will be the biggest in the competition’s five-year history, surpassing the 24 teams in its debut season.
