Montreal Canadiens goalie prospect Yevgeni Volokhin has signed a new three-year contract with his current club, Spartak Moscow of the KHL, covering this season and running through 2027-28. The 20-year-old was a 2023 fifth-round pick out of the MHL (Russia’s top junior hockey league) and has played pro hockey in each of the last two seasons. The 2023-24 MHL Goalie of the Year played in 28 KHL games during his age-19 season, posting a .901 save percentage despite playing behind a very poor team. He posted that save percentage alongside a 4-17-1 record.
Volokhin was traded to Spartak for monetary compensation in June, and has since been Moscow’s No. 3 goalie behind Dmitry Nikolayev and former Calgary Flame Artem Zagidulin. Volokhin saved 20 of 21 shots in his first KHL start of the season but struggled in his second. He has spent most of the season in the second-tier VHL, posting a .935 save percentage in 14 games. Due to this extension, the earliest the Canadiens will be able to sign Volokhin and get him to make his North American debut will be for the 2028-29 season. As Volokhin is a prospect under contract in Russia, the Canadiens will still hold the exclusive rights to sign him to an entry-level deal upon the expiry of his current contract with Spartak.
Other notes from the Eastern Conference:
- Philadelphia Flyers prospect Artem Guryev, who was acquired in the October trade involving Carl Grundstrom and the contract of Ryan Ellis, appears to have lost his spot with the club’s AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The 22-year-old was reassigned to the ECHL’s Reading Royals yesterday. Guryev began the season in Lehigh Valley but went scoreless through four games, prompting this reassignment. The 2021 fifth-round pick began his pro career in the AHL in 2023-24 but spent most of 2024-25 in the ECHL, so it’s possible he continues that trend in 2025-26. Guryev isn’t the only Flyers prospect in Reading: former University of Denver star scorer Massimo Rizzo, who scored 18 points in 46 games as an AHL rookie last season, has begun 2025-26 in North American pro hockey’s third-tier league.
- On Thursday, there were reports coming out of Buffalo that Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff was potentially set to test Jordan Greenway at the center position upon his return to the ice from an injury. It appears Ruff ultimately elected not to try Greenway, a career winger, in such an unfamiliar position, as he skated as a left winger in each of his two games played in 2025-26. The 6’6″ veteran forward has registered one assist in his two games back from injury, and it appears the choice was a good call from Ruff – Greenway’s play in his familiar left wing position has helped the Sabres collect three out of four possible points in the games he’s played in.