Although he decided to return home and play in the KHL this season, winger Grigori Denisenko hasn’t given up on playing in North America just yet. In an interview with Championat’s Lev Lukin, the 25-year-old indicated his dream is still to get back to the NHL. He hasn’t spent much time there lately, however, getting into just seven NHL games over the past two seasons with Vegas. He spent most of last season in the minors with Henderson and Milwaukee, collecting 17 goals and 21 assists in 65 games and rather than accepting a two-way deal as a Group Six unrestricted free agent and likely starting in the minors again, he’ll try to work his way back with a big season with Ak Bars Kazan.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- Speaking to reporters including NHL.com’s Dan Rosen at the media tour earlier this week, Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly provided an update on the 2028 World Cup of Hockey. They have whittled through expressions of interest from both North American and European cities and are about to begin the bidding process. The belief is that there will be round-robin games on both continents before moving to North America only for the medal round. Daly added that while they hope to have a qualifying round down the road, that won’t be in place for this particular event.
- UFA winger Jacob Perreault has a team for the upcoming season as the Bruins’ AHL team in Providence announced that they’ve signed him to a one-year deal. The 23-year-old was a first-round pick by Anaheim in 2020, going 27th overall but he has struggled considerably in the pros. Last season, he spent time with Montreal and Edmonton’s farm teams, collecting just three goals and 11 assists in 44 games, leading to a non-tender in late June. Perreault has made one NHL appearance, that coming back in 2021-22.
- After being non-tendered by Ottawa this summer, unrestricted free agent winger Tristen Robins has reportedly found a place to play. Inside AHL Hockey’s Tony Androckitis reports (Twitter link) that the 23-year-old is set to sign in Czechia with Kladno. Robins was a 2020 second-round pick by San Jose and was moved to the Sens as part of the Fabian Zetterlund trade at the deadline. Robins played in 56 AHL games last year, picking up eight goals and 16 assists. He has three career NHL games under his belt back in the 2022-23 season.