The protocol was signed by the representative from the Russian Ice Hockey Federation Vladislav Tretiak, the chairman of the KHL Gennady Timchenko and the board of Kunlun Red Star.

In mid-April, the president of IIHF, René Fasel, shared his opinion about the intention of the Chinese club to join the KHL, expressing hope that this would help China bring their hockey to a higher level.

[2] According to Roman Rotenberg, HC Kunlun Red Star applied to fulfill its obligations, but there was a coherent number of formalities for the final decision about team to be taken by June 2016.

All players are required to salute during the pre-game playing of the "March of the Volunteers", the national anthem of the People's Republic of China.

The attack appeared to be retaliation for a Kunlun hit in an earlier game that had left Barys forward Dustin Boyd with a broken leg.

[15] On 27 October 2016, Chinese-Canadian defenceman Zach Yuen, a Vancouver-born draft pick of the Winnipeg Jets, became the first player of Chinese descent to score in a league game, in a 1–0 win over Khabarovsk.

[18] Kunlun Red Star qualified for the 2017 KHL postseason and faced the defending Gagarin Cup champions Metallurg Magnitogorsk in the conference quarterfinals.

[31] On February 20, 2019, in the second last game of the season, Ying Rudi became the first native born Chinese player to score a KHL goal.

Forwards Andrew Miller,[37] Brandon DeFazio,[38] Gilbert Brulé,[39] Spencer Foo,[40] and Adam Cracknell[41] were joined by defensemen Jake Chelios,[42] Andrej Šustr,[43] and Trevor Murphy[44] as well as goaltender Jeremy Smith.

[45] Red Star would begin their season with a 6-game home stand in the city of Shenzhen with two games each against Salavat Yulaev Ufa, Barys Nur-Sultan, and Traktor Chelyabinsk.

Defensemen Ryan Sproul [16], Griffin Reinhart[17], and forward Devante Smith-Pelly[49] signed with the Chinese club on one year contracts.

Jeremy Smith earned his second shutout of the season and Chinese heritage player Jason Fram tallied two goals to secure the club's first win against Osmk in team history.

[57] On July 14, 2020, Kunlun Red Star notified the league that the club would base its operations in the Russian city of Mytishchi, outside of Moscow.

[58] Due to bureaucratic complications caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Kunlun was unable bring their import players to Russia for the start of the season.

[60] The Dragons were awarded their first win of the season on September 22 when their opponent, Yaroslavl Lokomotiv, failed to arrive in Mytishchi for the game due to travel complications from the ongoing pandemic.

Then, with less than 10 minutes on the clock in the third period, captain Luke Lockhart beat Ufa goaltender Juha Metsola to give Kunlun the lead.

[64] On October 25, Red Star forward Alexei Toropchenko set a club record for the fastest goal scored in a game, just 34 seconds into the first period, against CSKA Moscow.

Red Star improved their play marginally in the middle of the season but still finished with an abysmal 2–17–1 record over their final 20 games.

[71] Red Star General Manager Nikolai Feoktistov confirmed that the decision was made by the Chinese sporting authorities.

For this reason, Kunlun's roster was composed exclusively of players who were eligible to represent Team China in the Winter Olympics.

[72] On September 4, forward Alex Riche scored his first career KHL goal after two seasons with Red Star where he only managed to play 4 games due to injury.

His goal would complete an inspiring comeback against one of the league's top teams, Ak Bar Kazan, before Luke Lockhart broke the tie with less than ten minutes in regulation to secure the victory for the Dragons.

[77] One of the cuts, Russian goaltender Alexander Lazushin, had played for Kunlun sporadically since the 2018–2019 season and was unable to secure Chinese citizenship because of the breaks in residency.

[78] The Dragons would head into the Olympic break on a 14-game losing streak[79] but the KHL never resumed play after the winter games[80] and so the team would miss the post season for the fifth straight year.