Matvei Michkov Suffers Injury
August 5: In an official statement from Russia’s hockey federation, Russia Hockey states that Michkov will miss just two weeks of action, rather than the two months that was initially reported.
They state that they plan on Michkov participating in a tournament that is set to begin on August 22nd, which makes this a far better timeline for Michkov than the one he appeared to be on just yesterday.
August 4: After suffering a lower-body injury in a KHL preseason game as the result of a hit from former NHL defenseman Alexei Emelin, top 2023 NHL Draft prospect Matvei Michkov will miss two months of game action, as reported by The Athletic’s Corey Pronman.
Michkov is likely to miss at least the first month of the KHL’s regular season, if not more.
Widely regarded as a surefire top-three talent in next year’s draft (if not top-two), Michkov is a bit of a controversial prospect for a lot of circumstances out of his control. Breaking into the KHL on one of the best teams in the league last season as a 17-year-old, Michkov was able to show what he can do professionally in the season before his draft year with five points in 13 games. His production in Russia’s junior league was equally as outstanding, racking up 51 points in just 28 MHL games.
But with Michkov under contract until 2026 with his KHL team (SKA St. Petersburg), and with the increased uncertainty about whether he’d even be able to leave the country if he got out of the contract, Michkov may go lower in the draft than his talent level suggests.
Hopefully, it’s not a severe loss of development time for Michkov, who remains one of the most electric prospects in hockey.
Offseason Notes: Necas, Celebrini, Barberio
Martin Necas is one of the biggest-name restricted free agents still out there on the market. The 2017 12th overall pick had a disappointing year in 2021-22, but in 2020-21 had the makings of a future star, scoring 41 points in 53 games, a 63-point pace. Necas didn’t have the game-by-game impact many expected him to have last year, though, and he was supplanted in the Hurricanes’ forward pecking order by fast-rising rookie Seth Jarvis. He needs a new contract, and despite many speculating that he may need a change of scenery, Hurricanes GM Don Waddell remains focused on ironing out an extension.
Per Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer, Waddell is nearing that goal. Waddell is quoted as saying that the team and Necas’ camp are negotiating on an “almost a daily basis” and that a deal is “getting close.” Waddell even takes it a step further, saying definitively that “it’s going to get done.” Despite a disappointing most recent season, it’s in the best interest for the Hurricanes to get Necas locked into an extension. While he’s mostly played as a winger in the NHL, Necas has prior experience as a center and could be in a position to seize a top-six center spot should Jesperi Kotkaniemi struggle in that role.
Now, for some other notes from across the NHL:
- Canadian forward Macklin Celebrini, a player currently projected to be a top prospect for the 2024 NHL draft, has committed to an NCAA school. Per NBC Sports Chicago’s Colby Cohen, Celebrini has committed to the Boston University, and will play there after spending next season with the USHL’s Chicago Steel. Celebrini has spent the past two seasons at minor hockey powerhouse Shattuck St. Mary’s, a school in Minnesota that has an impressive list of NHL alumni including Sidney Crosby, Kyle Okposo, and many others. Celebrini is expected to be a top player in the USHL before he heads to the NCAA.
- Yesterday, we covered how former NHL defenseman Mark Barberio had agreed to a mutual contract termination with his club, Lausanne HC. Now, we know where Barberio will be spending 2022-23. Per a team announcement, KHL club HC Dynamo Minsk has signed Barberio to a one-year deal. Barberio last appeared in the NHL in 2019-20, getting into 21 games with the Colorado Avalanche. 2022-23 will mark his return to the KHL after spending six games with HC Ak Bars Kazan last season, where he scored three points.
Minor Transactions: 08/03/22
It’s been a busy start to the month of August, with the Calgary Flames and New Jersey Devils both getting some of the biggest RFAs left on the board signed within the past 48 hours. It’s busy elsewhere in the hockey world, too, and former (or possibly future) NHLers are making their way around the minor leagues in North America and professional leagues in Europe. We’ll keep track of those moves today right here.
- After splitting last season between the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Chicago Wolves, former Colorado Avalanche defense prospect Chris Bigras will try his hand in Europe for the first time. Per the team, the KHL’s only Kazakhstani club, Barys Nur-Sultan, has signed him to a one-year deal for the 2022-23 season. Bigras hasn’t suited up for an NHL game since he appeared in 15 with Colorado during the 2017-18 season.
- Defenseman Cole Hults is heading to the Italian club HC Bolzano in the ICEHL after just two seasons in the AHL, per a team release. Hults played in 54 games last season with the Tucson Roadrunners while under contract with the Arizona Coyotes, registering 17 points. He’ll join his older brother Mitch on the team.
This page will be updated throughout the day
Nick Merkley Signs In KHL
Fresh off of a successful AHL season, 2015 first-round pick Nick Merkley is headed to Europe. The Calgary native has signed a one-year contract of KHL side Dinamo Minsk, per a team announcement.
Merkley, 25, has been a talented, high-end scorer at every level of hockey he’s played in besides the NHL. At the AHL level, Merkley has 157 points in 201 career games. At that level, he’s a line-driving playmaker with a knack for setting up his linemates and finding his way onto the scoresheet. At the NHL level, Merkley has struggled to make his mark, and his lack of size (he’s just five-foot-ten, 195 pounds) combined with his lack of breakaway skating talent has combined to make him ineffective in an NHL role.
Merkley was actually part of a trade last season, being shipped from the San Jose Sharks organization to the New York Rangers, in exchange for depth defenseman Anthony Bitetto. Merkley heads to the KHL, one of the most challenging leagues in the world outside of the NHL, with at least some success in Europe on his resume. Merkley played 19 games for Assat Pori of the Finnish Liiga in 2020-21, scoring a healthy 13 points in 19 games in what can sometimes be an overly conservative league.
Merkley joins a Dinamo Minsk side that is eager to improve its offensive attack after a middling 2021-22 campaign, a season where they finished in the middle of the KHL standings. Merkley will join fellow former NHLers John Gilmour, Alexei Emelin, Ryan Spooner, and Nikolai Zherdev in Belarus, with the hope that a productive campaign there can earn him a chance at another NHL training camp and perhaps the opportunity to finally emerge as the type of regular NHL-er he was projected to become at the 2015 draft.
Alexander Nikishin, Fyodor Svechkov, Nikita Chibrikov Traded In The KHL
In what has been a quiet day for North American hockey so far, a blockbuster trade went down over in the KHL, involving Alexander Nikishin, one of the Carolina Hurricanes’ top prospects. In exchange for sending the young defenseman to SKA St. Petersburg, Spartak Moscow receives forwards Fyodor Svechkov, Nikita Chibrikov, Pavel Kukshtel, and Maxim Krovyakov, defenseman Nikita Sedov, as well as the KHL rights to forwards Mikhail Maltsev, German Rubtsov, Ivan Morozov, and Kirill Marchenko. The deal was announced by Spartak Moscow on Twitter, and confirmed in North America by The Athletic’s Corey Pronman, who adds that its expected Nikishin will sign an extension with SKA.
Though the trade does not contain any one superstar player in the KHL, it’s a trade of plenty of young talent for one very talented young player. Outside of Sedov, Moscow is receiving players with little to no KHL experience, but mostly all standouts in the lower VHL and MHL levels in Russia. Sedov, on the other hand, does have KHL experience, getting into 67 games at the KHL level over the past two seasons between SKA and Sochi, but like the rest of the players in this trade, is quite young, at just 21 years of age. One thing worth considering when looking at the size of the haul that Spartak is receiving, is that some of these players, like Svechkov and Chibrikov, have very real NHL futures and could head to North America when their contracts expire. Thus, while Spartak receives a bevy of young talent, it’s a group they will have to comb through to see who will be their building blocks. Regardless, they will be able to hold onto their KHL rights should the players leave for another league. By making this trade, SKA parts with a lot of talent, but receives a reliable young defenseman who is expected to sign an extension, which should give some predictability for the organization.
From an NHL perspective, the players of note include Nikishin, Svechkov and Chibrikov – very real NHL prospects under contracts in Russia. A third-round pick of the Hurricanes in 2020, Nikishin has spent parts of the past three seasons at the KHL level with Spartak, totaling nine goals and 11 assists in 95 games as a defenseman, and even appeared in six games on Russia’s Olympic team this winter. Signing an extension overseas does complicate things for Carolina, but doesn’t foreclose any possibility of the young blueliner ever coming to North America. If anything, playing regularly for one of the better teams in Russia’s top league should greatly assist in his development.
Svechkov was the Nashville Predators first-round selection, 19th overall in 2021. The forward made his KHL debut in 2021-22, getting in four games, but was primarily a dynamic playmaker for SKA’s VHL team, where he had nine goals and 22 assists in 30 games. The 50th overall selection in 2021, to the Winnipeg Jets, Chibrikov is another dynamic forward who spent time at the KHL, VHL, and MHL levels this season with SKA. The majority of his time was also spent with Svechkov in the VHL, where he had an impressive 15 goals and 16 assists in 28 games.
The amount of talent in this transaction is surely eye-popping and does have NHL impact, not only with these three but also with the players who’s KHL rights were traded. What the exact impacts on these players and their respective NHL clubs winds up being is yet to be determined, but does provide an interesting wrinkle in their development.
Tyler Graovac Re-Signs In KHL
After a relatively successful debut in the KHL, Tyler Graovac is going to stay overseas. The free agent forward has signed a new contract with Vityaz Podolsk for the upcoming season, ruling out any return to North America this summer.
Graovac, 29, last played in the NHL during the 2020-21 season, when he suited up for 14 games with the Vancouver Canucks. The 6’5″ forward scored three goals during that short stint, while also putting up nine points in nine games while on loan to the Manitoba Moose. Prior to that, he had played in 70 other NHL games, most notably during 2016-17 with the Minnesota Wild, when he appeared 52 times.
The 2011 seventh-round pick spent last season with Dinamo Minsk, scoring 26 points in 44 games, while averaging over 17 minutes a night. That’s way more playing time than he ever experienced in the NHL, where he was limited to fourth-line duty even at the best of times. It appears as though his time at that level is in the past, with this new contract moving him even further away from his last appearance.
Sasha Chmelevski Signs In KHL
The San Jose Sharks no longer have to worry about negotiations with Sasha Chmelevski but it’s not because they’ve reached an agreement. Instead, the restricted free agent has signed a contract with Ufa Salavat Yulaev in the KHL, according to his agent Dan Milstein.
Because they gave him a qualifying offer this summer, the Sharks will retain Chmelevski’s rights for the time being, though it is unclear what his plans are moving forward. The 23-year-old forward played in 19 NHL games this season scoring eight points in the process and was a strong performer at the minor league level.
Originally selected in the sixth round of the 2017 draft, making it to the NHL was already an impressive feat. Now, with a handful of games under his belt, he’ll pursue a bigger opportunity elsewhere.
The Sharks will hold Chmelevski’s rights until his 27th birthday, which is still almost four years away. Whether he returns in that time or gets another chance with them at the NHL level, remains to be seen.
Dmitrij Jaskin Returns To KHL
After playing in just a handful of games this season, Dmitrij Jaskin is going back to Russia. The free agent forward has signed a new one-year contract with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL.
Jaskin, 29, played with Dynamo Moscow during 2019-20 and 2020-21, showing he could be a dominant offensive player at the KHL level. In 117 regular season games, he racked up 69 goals and 123 points, winning the MVP award in his first year there. That led to an NHL return this past season when he signed a one-year, $3.2MM deal with the Arizona Coyotes, though that went about as poorly as one could have hoped.
Starting slow, he had one point in 12 games despite receiving reasonable ice time in his first month. Unfortunately, during a game against the Nashville Predators in November, Jaskin suffered a serious knee injury that ended his season.
Given that he is still just 29, there is at least a possibility of another return in the future, though Jaskin hasn’t really done anything to prove he can handle NHL minutes. In 315 games, he has 27 goals and 70 points, his last full season coming in 2017-18 with the St. Louis Blues. Since he has found so much success in the KHL, this latest departure may be the last time hockey fans in North America see the big winger.
Minor Transactions: 07/24/22
After a busy start to the weekend, it’s been a quiet Sunday morning around the hockey world. Kadri-watch is still on, what the Calgary Flames choose to do with newly-acquired stars Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar is an intriguing storyline, and where veterans like P.K. Subban and Phil Kessel end up is yet to be determined. Still, there has been some action in the minor leagues and overseas worth keeping tabs on, and we’ll track that here.
- Former Minnesota Wild prospect Bryce Misley is heading overseas, signing with Asiago of ICEHL in Italy (link). Originally a fourth-round pick of Minnesota in 2017, Misley spent four seasons at the University of Vermont, turning pro at the conclusion of his 2020-21 college season. 2021-22 was the forward’s first full professional season, scoring just three goals in 18 games with the Iowa Wild of the AHL, but impressing with the Iowa Heartlanders of the ECHL, where he had 11 goals and 19 assists in 46 games.
- Defenseman John Gilmour, a veteran of 37 NHL games with the New York Rangers and Buffalo Sabres, has changed teams in the KHL. After 47 games over two seasons with CSKA Moscow, Gilmour will suit up for Dinamo Minsk next season (link). The 29-year-old was a four-year standout at Providence College, winning a National Championship in 2015 before turning pro for the 2016-17 season, playing with the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack. He would make his NHL debut a year later, tallying five points in a career-high 28 games played for the New York Rangers. Gilmour spent the 2019-20 season in the Buffalo Sabres organization, splitting time between the Sabres and the Rochester Americans in the AHL, eventually heading to the KHL after that season.
- Keegan Lowe, a longtime AHL veteran, is headed to the Vaxjo Lakers of the SHL after spending last season playing for Bolzano in Austria (link). The defenseman began his career with the Edmonton Oil Kings and was selected by the Carolina Hurricanes in the third-round of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. Lowe would spend parts of seven seasons in the AHL between the Charlotte Checkers, St. John’s IceCaps, Bakersfield Condors, and most recently the San Diego Gulls in 2020-21. After the season in San Diego, Lowe departed North America for Austria, where he impressed with 20 points in 44 games on the blueline. The veteran also got into four games at the NHL level, two with the Hurricanes in 2014-15 and two with the Edmonton Oilers in 2017-18.
Tim Heed Signs In Switzerland
After spending one year in the KHL, Tim Heed is heading back to Switzerland. The veteran defenseman has signed a new two-year contract with HC Ambri-Piotta, likely ending any chance of him returning to North America.
Heed, 31, played 38 games for the San Jose Sharks in 2019-20, earning $960K on a one-way contract. With the uncertainty surrounding the 2020-21 season, however, he signed in Switzerland with HC Lugano and dominated the NL with 34 points in 47 games, leading the league in goals by a defenseman.
That led to an offer from the KHL, where he played for Spartak Moscow this season, still doing well with 26 points in 45 games. After terminating his contract, Heed is now headed back to Switzerland instead of trying his hand on this side of the pond, despite being a pretty successful depth defenseman during his time in San Jose.
Over 105 career games, Heed racked up 29 points and posted outstanding possession statistics–though those were heavily weighted by the offensive deployment he was given. As an offensive-minded player, he was an option on the powerplay but didn’t draw many tough assignments at even-strength, averaging just over 14 minutes a game during his time in the NHL.
With a two-year deal in place and his 31st birthday passing back in January, a return to North America seems unlikely at this point.