KHL

2015 first-round pick Denis Gurianov has lacked stability in recent years, suiting up for five NHL and AHL teams over the last two seasons. He headed from Nashville to Philadelphia at this year’s trade deadline in a swap of fringe NHLers, but his stay in the City of Brotherly Love will likely come to an end this summer. Speaking with reporters last week, GM Daniel Brière said he was unlikely to extend the pending UFA (via PHLY Sports’ Charlie O’Connor).

Now, we know where the 26-year-old might end up. According to a report from allhockey.ru (source translated from Russian), he’ll be returning home to Russia and is expected to sign with CSKA Moscow. He’s the second NHL player linked to the military-affiliated club this summer, joining Avalanche netminder Ivan Prosvetov.

It wasn’t all that long ago that Gurianov looked like a budding top-nine sniper with the Stars. At 12th overall, Gurianov was selected over other future stars in the 2015 class, like Islanders forward Mathew Barzal, Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho and Jets sniper Kyle Connor. He came over from Russia and signed his entry-level deal in 2016 but spent three seasons primarily with AHL Texas before breaking into the NHL lineup full-time in 2019-20. Despite averaging just 12:59 per game, he led the offensively challenged club in goals with 20 in 64 contests but ranked eighth in points (29) with only nine assists.

When the NHL reconvened for the bubble playoffs in late summer 2020 after COVID-19 ended the regular season prematurely, Gurianov didn’t miss a beat. He was among the Stars’ best playoff performers, recording nine goals and 17 points in 27 games – including an overtime goal against the Golden Knights that sent the Stars to their first Stanley Cup Final in 20 years.

His limited usage, sky-high 15.2 shooting percentage and middling possession metrics didn’t help his case in contract negotiations the following offseason. Stars GM Jim Nill inked him to a two-year bridge deal worth $5.1MM, which turned out to be a smart decision. Gurianov wasn’t awful over the life of the deal – he had 23 goals and 61 points in 128 games over the life of the deal and was a regular in a top-nine role – but didn’t repeat the goal-scoring value he provided during his rookie season. As expected, his shooting percentage regressed heavily to below 10% each year, and his -10.1 expected rating in 2021-22 was second-worst on the team behind shutdown center Radek Faksa (-12.9).

It was enough to convince the Stars to keep him around as a secondary point-producer, but it was becoming apparent he didn’t have a future as a top-six winger in the NHL. Nill gave him another mid-tier deal, inking him to a one-year, $2.9MM extension a few weeks before he would have reached restricted free agency in 2022. But under new head coach Peter DeBoer, Gurianov flamed out quickly in Dallas, managing only two goals and nine points through 43 games before the team decided to part ways. Nill found a taker on the trade market in the Canadiens, who picked him up in exchange for veteran winger Evgenii Dadonov at 50% salary retention, who had similarly disappointed in Montreal that year.

Nill is widely regarded as one of the best GMs in the league, and that trade is one of many reasons why. Gurianov didn’t turn things around all that much with the Habs, recording five goals and eight points in 23 games down the stretch despite being thrust into top-six minutes to try and reinject confidence into his game. He wasn’t extended a qualifying offer at the end of the season and became a UFA. Dadonov, meanwhile, remains in Dallas and had 10 points in 16 playoff games last season as the Stars advanced to the Western Conference Final.

It didn’t take Gurianov more than a couple of weeks to get another chance in the NHL, though, inking a one-year, one-way deal with the Predators worth $850K in mid-July 2023. A low-risk, low-investment signing for Nashville, it still didn’t pan out. Gurianov played sparingly, managing two points in 14 games, and saw extended time in the minors for the first time in five years. He did quite well with AHL Milwaukee, and his 12 goals and 30 points in 27 games made him one of two point-per-game players on the team alongside veteran Mark Jankowski.

His minor-league showing was strong enough to convince the Flyers to see if he could stick in an NHL role down the stretch, and they picked him up in exchange for depth forward Wade Allison on deadline day. To the masses, it seemed Gurianov’s rather one-dimensional game wouldn’t mesh with head coach John Tortorella’s style. The masses were right. Gurianov spent most of his time in Philly in the press box, only making four appearances for the Flyers and averaging less than 11 minutes per game. He didn’t get on the scoresheet, managed four shots on the goal and registered only one hit.

He’s eligible for unrestricted free agency outright this summer, as his June birthday means he’ll turn 27 before the market opens on July 1. His only previous KHL experience came with Lada Togliatti as a teenager in the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons, posting four goals and two assists in 55 games in a limited role. With CSKA, however, he’ll likely receive top-six minutes and would likely be one of their leading scorers next year. Gurianov joins a CSKA offense dotted with a few other former NHLers: reserve list players Vitaly Abramov (Senators) and Vladislav Kamenev (Avalanche) are both under contract for 2024-25, as are former Panthers winger Maxim Mamin and ex-Oilers forward Anton Slepyshev.

If this is it for Gurianov in the NHL, he finishes his career with 52 goals, 61 assists, 113 points and a -2 rating in 298 appearances over seven seasons.