July 27: After clearing and seeing his contract terminated, Aksiantsiuk has signed with Amur Khabarovsk of the KHL.
July 23: It will be one-and-done for Yauheni Aksiantsiuk’s time with the Stars as CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that the Stars have placed the winger on unconditional waivers for the purposes of terminating the remainder of his contract.
The diminutive 21-year-old was a sixth-round pick by Dallas back in 2020 after an impressive season with OHL Flint that saw him put up 33 goals and 45 assists in 58 games. He spent the 2020-21 campaign playing back home in Belarus where he struggled and then decided to return to North America, signing a three-year, entry-level deal back in June of 2021.
Aksiantsiuk spent most of last season with ECHL Idaho, notching 19 goals and 15 assists in 40 games with the Steelheads while adding two goals and two assists in eight AHL contests. Overall, those numbers aren’t terrible but when coupled with his tough showing back home the year before, there were certainly questions about whether or not he’d have much of an NHL future. Aksiantsiuk seems to have the same question as this termination – which can be completed on Sunday once he passes through waivers – will likely be followed up by a contract somewhere overseas.
Dallas won’t have any lingering cap charge from Aksiantsiuk’s termination while they will free up a contract slot, bringing them down to 41 out of the maximum of 50. That number will go up at some point this summer with the Stars having a trio of restricted free agents still to sign, winger Jason Robertson, defenseman Ben Gleason, and goaltender Jake Oettinger.
And if anyone can pronounce that name, you win a free month subscription to PHR! :D
@Gbear – I believe I saw him on the credits for a movie in the role of “Tim, the Magician!” :) And, if you’ll excuse me, I need to change the bandage on my tongue…
I knew I saw that name somewhere. :D
You may not have won the grand prize, but you still win the home version of PHR as a parting gift! :D
@Gbear – That’s even better news than seeing my PCPartPicker build about $50 less than it was yesterday! Jackpot City! :) Somewhere, the late Gene Rayburn is smiling down at us with pride! The late Alex Trebek might be giving us that look, though.
Hey, it’s no ’76 Pinto with white wall tires, but think of the hours of family fun that can be had with the PHR board game! :D
@Gbear – This might make you laugh/cry/or worse. We used to own a ’76 Pinto wagon. It was the best we could afford at the time and fit our needs. I don’t remember whether we had whitewalls, or not, though. One of the girls in high school had the regular two-door version, and for some reason, decided it would be a fun idea to see how many of her tennis teammates could fit in, including me, the volunteer assistant coach. Doing that with VW Beetles was passé, so we one-upped it.
Gene Rayburn only gave out the hottest wheels on those shows. ;)
Hmmm, getting squeezed into a Pinto with the girls tennis team? That sounds like you won the Grand Prize on the Dating Game! :)
@Gbear – Or, Wheels of Fortune! I couldn’t understand how so many of them were that near-sighted. I’ve never attended a reunion, mostly in fear of one of them wanting me to pay for the years of therapy they endured. I don’t think I *tried* that hard to make hockey fans out of them, either! :)