International Notes: Okulov, Spooner, Djoos, Chlapik

KHL winger Konstantin Okulov has been on the NHL radar over the past couple of years with Montreal and Toronto among the teams to show interest in him at the time.  As Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman notes in his latest 31 Thoughts column, NHL teams are once again showing interest in the 26-year-old who is coming off of his best season thus far.  He notched 18 goals and 31 assists in 55 regular season games to lead CSKA Moscow in scoring while chipping in with 20 points in 23 playoff contests, enough to tie for the league lead.  If he does sign this summer, he’ll still be subject to the entry-level system and will be capped on a one-year deal before becoming UFA-eligible in 2022.

Other news from the international hockey world:

• Ryan Spooner has decided to not try to catch on in the NHL again this summer but is making a change. After spending the last two years with Dinamo Minsk, he has signed a one-year deal with Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg, another KHL team, per a team announcement.  The 29-year-old has 167 points in 325 career NHL games and has been productive overseas, collecting six goals and 33 assists this season.
• Red Wings defenseman Christian Djoos is on EV Zug’s shortlist of players to try to sign for next season, Zug’s sports director Reto Klay told Zentralplus’ Andreas Ineichen. The 26-year-old was claimed off waivers just before the season started and held his own with 11 points in 36 games while averaging a little over 15 minutes per night.  That type of production may be hard to justify tendering the $1MM qualifying offer that’s required this summer which would put Djoos on the open market.  He may be sensing that outcome already if he’s entertaining the prospect of playing in Switzerland.
• Former Senators prospect Filip Chlapik didn’t waste much time making his way back to Sparta Praha as the team announced that he signed a two-year deal with them. The 23-year-old spent parts of four seasons in Ottawa, notching five goals and six assists in 57 games but seeing the writing on the wall about where he was in the pecking order for a recall, he requested and was granted his unconditional release back in February.  He won’t be returning to North America for a little while longer at least.