In late May, the Sharks and winger Andrew Poturalski agreed to mutually terminate the final season of his contract, allowing him to pursue an option overseas. That opportunity has now come to fruition as Avangard Omsk of the KHL announced (Twitter link) that they’ve signed Poturalski to a one-year contract.
The 31-year-old has been a prolific scorer at the AHL level but it has not translated into many NHL opportunities. Last season, Poturalski was the top point producer in the AHL with 30 goals and 43 assists in just 59 games with AHL San Jose but he only got a chance to play in three games with the Sharks, something he voiced some frustration about after the season.
For his career, Poturalski has played in 527 AHL games over parts of ten seasons, notching 161 goals and 332 assists. The bulk of that production has come over the last five years when he led the league in scoring three times. That included a 101-point showing in 2021-22, the first player at that level to crack 100 points since the 2009-10 campaign when a pair of Hershey players reached that plateau.
But for all that production in the minors, Poturalski has seen action in just nine NHL contests over four seasons where he has a trio of assists. Instead of continuing to be a top threat in the AHL and hoping for a chance at some point in the NHL, he walked away from a guaranteed $500K payment from the Sharks and will try his hand at something different as he makes the jump overseas for the first time.
Potsy should’ve signed with the Sabres two Summers ago, would’ve got in some games when Quinn went down with injury. Seems like he really misread the situation in San Jose. As a fellow Williamsville, NY native, I’ve been rooting for Potsy for years to get his chance. Must’ve been disheartening for him to see the Sharks chase and sign Colin Graf at the end his college career in the Spring of 2024, who ended up gobbling up the minutes Potsy might’ve earned had Graf signed elsewhere. Chosing the Kraken prior to choosing San Jose, also was not the best call for his career. Hope things work out in Russia, there’s no Mighty Taco Drive-Thru’s there though. Might be time for a new agent.