Oilers goaltending prospect Ilya Konovalov is on the move in his native Russia. His Kontinental Hockey League player rights were traded from Dynamo Moscow to Admiral Vladivostok today, per a team release.
Konovalov, 26, is coming off a pair of spectacular seasons in the Russian capital. The 2019 third-round pick posted a .921 SV%, 2.05 GAA, three shutouts and 21-12-3 record in 42 games last season.
Konovalov spent the 2021-22 campaign in North America after signing his entry-level contract with the Oilers, but struggled amid high expectations. He only got into 17 games with AHL Bakersfield with an .893 SV%, 2.73 GAA and 5-7-5 record. He didn’t see any NHL ice, and was returned on loan to Dynamo for 2022-23.
The Oilers issued Konovalov a qualifying offer when his ELC expired, but he opted to remain with Dynamo in 2023-24. They still hold his NHL signing rights through July 13 of next year, meaning they could bring him back next offseason without competition. He doesn’t yet have a contract for 2024-25 with Vladivostok, but if he ends up signing a one-year deal, that’ll be something to watch.
In 196 career KHL games, the 2019 KHL Rookie of the Year has a 2.11 GAA, .922 SV%, 20 shutouts, and a 96-66-18 record.
Other updates from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean:
- One of the longest-tenured players in the professional ranks worldwide has called it a career. Former Kings defenseman Tomas Zizka, who last played in the NHL before the 2004-05 lockout, officially announced his retirement today, per Hokej.cz. Zizka, 44, was a sixth-round pick of the Kings in 1998 and played 25 games with them in the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons, scoring twice and adding six assists for eight points with a -8 rating. He spent the balance of his career in his native Czechia aside from a brief stint in Russia in 2004-05, playing in parts of 22 Czech Extraliga seasons with Brno, Prague and Zlin. He’d spent the last two seasons in the third-tier 2. liga with Hokej Vyskov, where he was named to this year’s All-Star Game while posting 25 points in 44 games.
- The KHL’s Traktor Chelyabinsk officially announced the signing of free agent defenseman Steven Kampfer today. The club said last month that they’d reached an agreement to bring Kampfer to Russia, but it wasn’t set in stone until now. The 35-year-old is a veteran of 231 NHL games but hasn’t suited up at the game’s highest level since 2020-21. He spent all of last season in the minors, where he captained the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners while under contract with the Coyotes. It’ll be his second KHL season after suiting up for Ak Bars Kazan in 2021-22, when he was one of the league’s best defensemen with 30 points and a +7 rating in 46 games.