Penguins’ Vasiliy Ponomarev Expected To Sign In KHL

The Pittsburgh Penguins could soon lose a promising young winger. 23-year-old Vasiliy Ponomarev is expected to sign in the KHL after not being guaranteed NHL playing time next season from Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas, shares Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey Now. Dubas adds that Ponomarev has switched his Russian representation and is in the midst of working out a KHL deal. The GM also added that Pittsburgh will issue a qualifying offer to the young forward, and thus will retain his rights for the duration of his European stay.

Ponomarev’s KHL rights were traded to Avengard Omsk on Wednesday. He made his pro debut in the Moscow Spartak pipeline in 2021-22, stepping into 14 KHL games and recording two points with the club. He also appeared in 21 games in the VHL – Russia’s second-tier pro league – that season and scored 13 points. It was all a part of Ponomarev’s brief return to Russian hockey after he was drafted out of Canada’s QMJHL in 2020. He returned to America at the tail end of the 2021-22 campaign, and spent his first 29 AHL games supporting the Chicago Wolves in a push to the Calder Cup championship. He scored 16 points in those appearances.

Ponomarev kept the good times rolling in his first full season in the AHL, netting 24 goals and 46 points in 64 games with the Wolves – and adding one goal and one assist in his the first two NHL games with the Carolina Hurricanes. But the Hurricanes ultimately opted against the gritty Russian – and loaned him to the Tuscon Roadrunners, then traded him to the Pittsburgh Penguins, partway through the 2023-24 campaign. Ponomarev has since appeared in 59 games with the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, where he’s recorded 16 goals and 42 points. He also appeared in seven games in the NHL lineup this season, but didn’t manage any scoring.

At 23 and with a history of international travel between seasons, news of a return to the KHL won’t entirely rule out Ponomarev’s chances at playing full-time for the Penguins one day. He’s been a productive and physical forward at the AHL levels, but has so far received minimal opportunity to do the same in the NHL. A move back to Russia will mark a chance to play in a league somewhere between North America’s pros – and a chance for Ponomarev to prove he can be a top-end center on a productive pro club.