The club was founded in 1946 as CDKA (Centralnyy Dom Krasnoy Armii). The very first match in the history of national championships was held on December 22, 1946, and the Red army team took part in it. Since that time CSKA has been considered one of the oldest teams in the country.

Goalkeeper D.Petrov; defenders V.Nikanorov, V.Venevtsev, A.Starovoitov, P.Korotkov (playing coach); forwards E. Babich, V. Bobrov, A. Vinogradov, A. Gusev, P. Zenkin, M. Orekhov, V. Menshikov, L. Stepanov were the part of the Red army team which took 2nd place in the first USSR championship.

The following season, the roster was updated: goalkeepers B.Afanasyev, G.Mkrtychan; forwards A.Tarasov, V. Davydov entered the team.
CDKA became the champion of the USSR: playing coach Anatoly Tarasov led the team to victory. Vsevolod Bobrov, the forward of CDKA, achieved phenomenal results in the games of the second USSR championship: he scored 52 goals in 18 games. This result remained a record of the championships of the following 14 years.

In the 50s of the last century, the the Red army team became the champion of the country six times, winning the championship in 1950, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958 and 1959.

Also in the 50s, the USSR national team took part in the Winter Olympic Games for the first time. The hockey team became Olympic champion, thus destroying the myth of the invincibility of Canadians. Many CSKA players were in that team: Mkrtychan, Puchkov, Sologubov, Shuvalov, Injections, Sidorenkov.

The winning streak of CSKA began in 1956, and continued in the 60s.

The 70s were marked by the first confrontation between the USSR and the NHL in the history. The Soviet Union was represented by CSKA as the best club of the country and Europe at that time.

The first full-time confrontation was in the 1975/1976 hockey season, and ended with the CSKA victory — they won twice in 4 games, once they played draw and lost just once.

It’s worth to remark that the Red army team took part in eight Super Series (1975/76, 1979/80, 1985/86, 1988/89, 1989, 1989/90, 1990, 1990/91), and the statistics of this games with North American clubs impresses.

Opponents had 36 matches in which CSKA won 26 times, played 2 draws and lost 8 games. The difference between goals and goals allowed is also in favor of CSKA: 150 goals and 107 goals allowed.

In the 70s, Vladimir Petrov — Boris Mikhailov — Valery Kharlamov, a unique in it’s talent attack line of players, was formed in CSKA.

Boris Mikhailov, the captain of CSKA and the USSR national team, is a legend of national hockey in all respects. He became the top scorer of the championship three times and is the champion in scored points (652).

In the 70s Boris Aleksandrov, Viktor Zhluktov, Yuri Blinov, Gennady Tsygankov, Sergey Babinov, and also the legendary goalkeeper Vladislav Tretiak, recognized as one of the best goalkeepers in the XX century, debuted in CSKA.

The 80s were a golden time for CSKA — in that decade almost all the championships were won, and all the games with NHL clubs in Moscow were successful.

The national team of the Soviet Union confirmed its high level.

Sergey Makarov, Vladimir Krutov, Igor Larionov, Valery Kamensky, Vyacheslav Fetisov, Vyacheslav Bykov, Andrei Khomutov, Alexander Mogilny, Sergey Starikov, Igor Stelnov, Alexey Gusarov — all these great athletes input their names not only in the history of the club but the Soviet hockey.

The 90s were not easy both for the club and for the country, but this decade wasn’t scant for hockey talents.

Sergey Fedorov, Evgeny Davydov, Pavel Bure, Vyacheslav Butsaev, Vyacheslav Kozlov, Andrei Kovalenko, Oleg Belov, Vladimir Malakhov, Alexey Zhitnik, Ilya Byakin, Sergey Zubov, Igor Kravchuk, Nikolai Habibulin, Maxim Mikhailovsky, Sergey Brylin performed CSKA in these years.

Alberta Leschev made his debut at CSKA in the 1991 season, and in 2009 he played the 800th match in his career!

In 2000 a lot of talented player, who demonstrated attacking hockey and became favorites of fans, graduated from the club’s sport school.

This years the club was associated with the names of young stars: Parshin, Shirokov, Nikulin, Mozyakin, Pronin, Khomitsky, Zherdev, Korneyev and many others. At the end of the decade, CSKA gained a new face and was moving towards the restoration of the club traditions.

A lot of new young victories-hungry hockey players (Dmitry Monya, Mikhail Pashnin, Maxim Goncharov, Vyacheslav Kulemin, Nikita Filato) appeared in the team. Veterans of army hockey, such as Albert Leshchev, who joined the club in 2009, helped them. In 2010, Vyacheslav Kozlov — another star hockey player, one of the best Russian NHL players, two-time Stanley Cup winner and a member of the famous «Russian Five» returned to CSKA.

The period from 2014 to the present time is the most successful in the post-soviet history of the club.

In the 2014/15 season, the team won the first gold medals of the russian championships since 1989, adding to them the Continent Cup for winning the regular KHL championship.

In the 2015/16 season, CSKA won the regular championship again and reached the Gagarin Cup final, but lost to «Metallurg» (Magnitogorsk), receiving only silver medals.

The following year, CSKA became three-time winners of the Continent Cup, but lost to «Lokomotiv» in the second round of play-offs.

In 2017, Igor Nikitin became the head coach of the team. The club was replenished with a number of promising KHL players and returned players from abroad. In February 2018, 8 CSKA hockey players became the Olympic champions in the national team: Ilya Sorokin, Alexey Marchenko, Bogdan Kiselevich, Nikita Nesterov, Ivan Telegin, Sergey Andronov, Mikhail Grigorenko and Kirill Kaprizov, who became the author of the «golden» goal in Pyhenchan. In the play-off, CSKA reached the final of the Gagarin Cup for the second time, but got only silver medals again.

The club strengthened the roster in the offseason period and entered the season 2018/19 in the rank of the main favorite in the fight for the Gagarin Cup. CSKA had no equals in the regular season: the club won 53 of 62 matches, set a new league record and won the Continent Cup for the fourth time. In the play-off CSKA , alternately cutting down «Vityaz», «Dynamo Moscow» and SKA, for the third time reached the Gagarin Cup final, where they beat «Avangard» (Omsk) in four games and raised the treasured bowl of the Gagarin Cup over their heads.

To the beginning of the 2019-20 season CSKA not only saved championship squad but even could strengthen it. In 62 games of the regular season CSKA players had 45 wins, took first place and became five-time Continental Cup winners. CSKA scored more goals than any other team (202) and missed only 99 goals, also the best result in the league. In the first round of the playoffs CSKA beat Torpedo in four games.

Despite the fact that the remainder of the season was canceled, Russian Hockey Federation decided to determine champion of Russia and also silver and bronze medalists. CSKA was named champion in the 2019-20 season. This title is third (and second in a row) for the club in modern history of the country.