July 22: While Labanc may have CSKA’s interest, it doesn’t appear to be mutual. His agent, Mike Curran, tells Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now that his client isn’t considering KHL offers and is fully healthy after last season’s shoulder surgery.
July 21: Free agent winger Kevin Labanc is attracting the interest of KHL club CSKA Moscow, as relayed by BelarusHockey.com.
Labanc, 29, has had a truly tumultuous couple of seasons. He once looked like a potential long-term top-six piece with the Sharks, but offensive struggles led to him walking as an unrestricted free agent last summer.
His poor platform season with San Jose (2-7–9 in 46 GP) predictably meant Labanc yielded little interest on the open market, forcing him to settle for professional tryout offers. He landed one from the Devils that led to an NHL contract, just not with New Jersey.
Instead, Labanc signed a one-year, league-minimum contract with the Blue Jackets shortly before the last season began. Initially, it looked like things were going well for Labanc to rehab his image as an everyday NHLer. He did well as a depth forward for Columbus, averaging a career-low 10:30 per game but still managing 12 points in 34 outings, better than the low production floor he’d hit in the Bay Area in previous years.
Then, he required shoulder surgery in February, ending his campaign. That limited his ability to extend his sample and means over the last two NHL seasons, he’s still only scored four goals and 21 points in 80 games – all the while finishing at a quite low 4.2% rate.
For a player known for his scoring upside, those underwhelming numbers overshadow the largely positive possession impacts he had in more of a two-way role with the Jackets last season. Labanc had a plus rating for the first time since his rookie season nine years ago, and the 5’11” winger had the shot attempt and possession quality numbers at even strength to back it up.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t look like it’ll be enough to land him anything more than a two-way contract or another NHL PTO offer as the offseason stretches into August or September. As such, overseas clubs, including CSKA, are beginning to add him to their list of targets.
CSKA already has nearly 800 games’ worth of NHL experience on its roster for 2025-26, mainly stemming from winger Denis Gurianov and defensemen Nikita Nesterov and Nikita Okhotyuk.