Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

KHL

Bruins’ Daniil Misyul Signs With KHL’s Lokomotiv Yaroslavl

at CDT | by 2 Comments

Bruins pending RFA defenseman Daniil Misyul has opted to return to his native Russia for the 2025-26 season. He’s signed a one-year deal with the Kontinental Hockey League’s Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, per a league release. Boston can retain Misyul’s NHL rights through 2027-28 if they issue him a qualifying offer by the June 30 deadline.

Misyul did not appear in an NHL game for the Bruins after being acquired from the Devils in exchange for depth forward Marc McLaughlin at the trade deadline. He played out the season with AHL Providence, recording a goal, 27 PIMs, and a minus-two rating in 11 appearances. He totaled a 1-8–9 scoring line with a -10 rating in 58 AHL games on the year across Providence and Utica.

A third-round pick by the Devils in 2019, Misyul just completed the two-year, entry-level contract he signed with New Jersey in 2023. The 6’3″, 196-lb lefty made his NHL debut for New Jersey this season before the trade. He logged a minus-one rating, one shot attempt, one block, and one hit in 12:23 of ice time in an 8-5 loss to the Lightning on Oct. 22.

The Belarus native had spent his entire professional career in Russia with Lokomotiv before coming to North America two years ago. He recorded 21 points and a +28 rating in 184 games with the club throughout five seasons and won a silver medal with Russia back at the 2020 World Juniors. Yaroslavl is coming off its first Gagarin Cup title and first championship since winning the Russian Superleague in 2003. Their 2025-26 roster includes former NHLers Byron Froese, Mac Hollowell, Alexei Melnichuk, Alexander Radulov, and Alexander Yelesin in addition to Predators 2024 first-round pick Yegor Surin.

Chris Driedger Signs With KHL’s Traktor Chelyabinsk

at CDT | by 2 Comments

Pending UFA goaltender Chris Driedger signed a one-year contract with Russia’s Traktor Chelyabinsk of the Kontinental Hockey League on Tuesday, per a team release.

Driedger, 31, didn’t see NHL ice in 2024-25 for the second time in three seasons. The longtime No. 2/3 netminder was signed by the Panthers last offseason, his second tour of duty with the club, to serve as an insurance option behind backup Spencer Knight. He wasn’t needed due to the young netminder’s emergence, and even though Florida traded Knight to the Blackhawks in the Seth Jones deal, they acquired Vítek Vaněček from the Sharks to be their new backup shortly thereafter and didn’t need Driedger’s services. They then sent him to the Jets for Kaapo Kähkönen in a swap of experienced third-stringers at the trade deadline.

Between Florida’s and Winnipeg’s AHL affiliates, the Charlotte Checkers and Manitoba Moose, Driedger logged a highly underwhelming 3.03 GAA and .877 SV% with an 11-9-4 record in 25 appearances. It was the worst save percentage he’d put up over that large a sample of his entire career, both professional and junior. It’s unsurprising to see the 6’4″ netminder head overseas in search of career and financial stability as a result with an NHL offer far from guaranteed this summer.

For a brief period, Driedger was one of the better backups in the league. During his first stint with the Panthers, he had a 21-8-4 record, .931 SV%, 2.07 GAA, and four shutouts in 35 appearances in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons. While he was set to be an unrestricted free agent the following summer, the Kraken selected his signing rights in their expansion draft and promptly signed him to a three-year, $10.5MM deal. He dealt with frequent injuries in his first year though, and after managing a .899 SV% in 27 games in Seattle’s first season, he had ACL surgery that robbed him of most of the 2022-23 campaign. Upon returning, he was played almost exclusively with the Kraken’s AHL affiliate in Coachella Valley.

The Winnipeg native’s NHL career is now likely behind him. If that’s the case, the 2012 third-rounder wraps it up with 67 games to his name, during which he posted a 31-24-5 record, five shutouts, a 2.45 GAA, .917 SV%, and saved 16.0 goals above average. He also has a .910 SV% in 217 AHL games across 10 seasons.

Driedger will likely form a platoon in Chelyabinsk with 25-year-old Sergei Mylnikov, who posted a .920 SV% in 21 games for Traktor last year. Driedger is the replacement in Chelyabinsk for former NHLer Zachary Fucale, who spent the last two seasons with the club and led the KHL with nine shutouts this year but signed a two-year contract with Belarusian side Dinamo Minsk earlier this month.

Meanwhile, the Jets will look to add a different veteran depth option behind Connor Hellebuyck and Eric Comrie for 2025-26. They have youngsters Thomas Milic and Domenic DiVincentiis under NHL contract next year, but neither has the track record to confidently be penciled in as a No. 3 option/AHL starter.

Hurricanes Expected To Sign Stanislav Yarovoi

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Hurricanes appear to be closing in on a contract with one of their 2023 draft picks.  Championat’s Anton Nekrasov reports that Carolina is close to signing winger Stanislav Yarovoi to an entry-level deal.

The 21-year-old was a late fourth-round selection, going 126th overall.  However, he’ll turn 22 before September 15th meaning that his contract should be a two-year agreement if and when he signs.

Yarovoi’s offensive numbers don’t exactly jump off the charts.  In his draft year, he had nine goals and seven assists with Vityaz Moscow of the KHL and he hasn’t reached that plateau since then at the top level in Russia.  He also had a dozen points in five junior-level games that year.

This season, he played in 49 games with Vityaz, tallying nine goals along with just three helpers.  His playing time was down a bit from 2023-24 as he logged 13:16 per night of playing time.

Heading into the 2023 draft, Yarovoi was noted for bringing some above-average defensive elements to his game, traits that should endear him to Carolina’s coaches as the checking gets a little tighter in North America.  Assuming a contract gets done, Yarovoi seems unlikely to crack the roster of the Hurricanes right away which would make him a candidate to start with AHL Chicago.  However, we often see Russian prospects get European Assignment Clauses to allow them to play at home a little longer so that could potentially be on the table as well.

Hurricanes Linked To Amir Miftakhov

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

With veterans Dustin Tokarski and Spencer Martin set to be unrestricted free agents next month, the Hurricanes are expected to make a move to add some depth at the goaltending position.  That move could be coming soon as Championat’s Rustam Imanov reports that netminder Amir Miftakhov has rejected extension offers from KHL Ak Bars Kazan and is in the final stages of talks with Carolina about a contract for the upcoming season.

The 25-year-old was a sixth-round pick by Tampa Bay in 2020, going 186th overall.  He signed an entry-level deal with them the following year and split the 2021-22 season between AHL Syracuse (22 games) and ECHL Orlando (five appearances).  However, Miftakhov wanted to return home instead of staying in the minors and had the final two years of his contract terminated in July 2022.

Since then, Miftakhov has played in the KHL.  This past season, he played in 30 games with Kazan, posting a strong 2.18 GAA and a .927 SV% along the way.  Those were largely in line with his career numbers of a 2.19 GAA and a .922 SV% in 82 outings over parts of five seasons at that level.

While that performance probably isn’t going to be enough to give him a shot at a full-time spot with the Hurricanes (assuming a deal gets finalized), it could give him a chance to be the starter at AHL Chicago, putting him in line to be the first goalie recalled if injuries arise to Frederik Andersen or Pyotr Kochetkov.  It appears that opportunity might be enough for Miftakhov to give playing in North America another shot.

Metropolitan Notes: Orlov, Flyers, Hollowell

at CDT | by 6 Comments

The expectation is that Hurricanes defenseman Dmitry Orlov will test the open market next month, reports Pierre LeBrun in his latest column for The Athletic (subscription link).  The 33-year-old was somewhat of a surprise signing two years ago when he joined Carolina, eschewing a longer-term offer to accept a two-year, $15.5MM deal, one that was above-market at the time.  Orlov averaged 20 minutes a game this season while chipping in with six goals and 22 assists, making it nine straight years that he has eclipsed the 20-point mark.  While he likely won’t beat his most recent price tag, he should generate some strong interest in free agency.

More from the Metropolitan:

  • While the Flyers have been suggested as a possible team interested in Golden Knights defenseman Nicolas Hague, Kevin Kurz of The Athletic relays (Twitter link) word from a team source that this is not the case. Hague is a pending restricted free agent and with the expectation that he’ll be looking for a fair bit more than his $2.7MM qualifying offer, he has become a speculative trade candidate.  Philadelphia already has four left-shot blueliners signed for next season with Cameron York, another lefty, becoming a restricted free agent next month.
  • Pending UFA defenseman Mac Hollowell won’t be hitting the open market to see what North American options he might have. Instead, the 26-year-old has signed with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the KHL, the league announced.  Hollowell has been a productive player in the minors but outside of six appearances with Toronto in 2022-23, his NHL opportunities have been limited so he’ll try his hand overseas now.  He had a goal and 30 assists in 56 games with AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this season after a 44-point showing with Hartford in 2023-24.

Penguins’ Vasiliy Ponomarev Signs In KHL

at CDT | by 1 Comment

June 11: As expected, Ponomarev has indeed signed in the KHL after Avangard Omsk acquired his rights.  The team announced on its Telegram account that they’ve signed him to a three-year contract.  Ponomarev will still be RFA-eligible at the end of the contract so as long as he’s tendered a qualifying offer at the end of this month, Pittsburgh will still hold his NHL rights.

June 6: The Pittsburgh Penguins could soon lose a promising young winger. 23-year-old Vasiliy Ponomarev is expected to sign in the KHL after not being guaranteed NHL playing time next season from Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas, shares Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey Now. Dubas adds that Ponomarev has switched his Russian representation and is in the midst of working out a KHL deal. The GM also added that Pittsburgh will issue a qualifying offer to the young forward, and thus will retain his rights for the duration of his European stay.

Ponomarev’s KHL rights were traded to Avangard Omsk on Wednesday. He made his pro debut in the Moscow Spartak pipeline in 2021-22, stepping into 14 KHL games and recording two points with the club. He also appeared in 21 games in the VHL – Russia’s second-tier pro league – that season and scored 13 points. It was all a part of Ponomarev’s brief return to Russian hockey after he was drafted out of Canada’s QMJHL in 2020. He returned to America at the tail end of the 2021-22 campaign, and spent his first 29 AHL games supporting the Chicago Wolves in a push to the Calder Cup championship. He scored 16 points in those appearances.

Ponomarev kept the good times rolling in his first full season in the AHL, netting 24 goals and 46 points in 64 games with the Wolves – and adding one goal and one assist in his the first two NHL games with the Carolina Hurricanes. But the Hurricanes ultimately opted against the gritty Russian – and loaned him to the Tuscon Roadrunners, then traded him to the Pittsburgh Penguins, partway through the 2023-24 campaign. Ponomarev has since appeared in 59 games with the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, where he’s recorded 16 goals and 42 points. He also appeared in seven games in the NHL lineup this season, but didn’t manage any scoring.

At 23 and with a history of international travel between seasons, news of a return to the KHL won’t entirely rule out Ponomarev’s chances at playing full-time for the Penguins one day. He’s been a productive and physical forward at the AHL levels, but has so far received minimal opportunity to do the same in the NHL. A move back to Russia will mark a chance to play in a league somewhere between North America’s pros – and a chance for Ponomarev to prove he can be a top-end center on a productive pro club.

Mac Hollowell Signs In Russia

at CDT | by 1 Comment

June 11: Yaroslavl made Hollowell’s addition official today, announcing a one-year deal for the defender on their Telegram channel.

May 29: Pending Group VI unrestricted free agent defenseman Mac Hollowell “is in the final stages of negotiations” to join Russia’s Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the Kontinental Hockey League, Andrey Pchelintsev of Sovsport.ru relays.

Hollowell, 26, hasn’t played in the NHL since receiving a six-game trial with the Maple Leafs in the 2022-23 campaign. He spent this season on a two-way deal with the Penguins after also becoming a Group VI UFA last summer, but he cleared waivers during training camp and went the entire year without a call-up.

The 5’10’, 176-lb righty thus played out his sixth minor-league season with AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, leading their defensemen in scoring with 31 points (1 G, 30 A) in 56 games along with a minus-three rating. Pittsburgh was his third NHL organization. He was initially drafted by current Penguins GM Kyle Dubas in 2018 in the fourth round when he was at the helm in Toronto, playing four years in their system before being non-tendered in 2023. He signed a two-way deal with the Rangers that summer but was stashed with their AHL affiliate in Hartford for the entirety of the campaign before inking his most recent two-way agreement with Pittsburgh.

Without a clear pathway to NHL minutes, the Ontario native will look for an expanded role in one of the top leagues in the world. Lokomotiv is fresh off its first Gagarin Cup championship in franchise history. However, they’ve already lost a piece of their back end to the NHL in the form of 2023 No. 6 overall pick Dmitri Simashev, who signed his entry-level contract with the Mammoth yesterday. Hollowell, an adept puck-mover with a career 0.56 points per game rate in 244 AHL games, would be an impact pickup for a club with just three defenders under contract for next season at the time of writing.

Egor Sokolov Linked To CSKA Moscow

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Winger Egor Sokolov is set to be a Group VI unrestricted free agent this summer. After spending this season under contract with the Mammoth, it doesn’t appear he’ll return to the organization for 2025-26. Sokolov is expected to sign a contract with CKSA Moscow of Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League, according to Sport24.ru.

Utah acquired Sokolov’s signing rights in exchange for those of forward Jan Jeník in a trade with the Senators shortly after free agency opened last summer. A restricted free agent at the time, Sokolov put pen to paper on a one-year, two-way deal with the Mammoth days later that paid him a $190K minors salary.

Sokolov had hoped to get another NHL try in Salt Lake City after appearing in 13 games for Ottawa across the 2021-22 and 2022-23 campaigns. However, the 6’3″, 222-lb Russian cleared waivers and spent the entire season in the minors for the second straight year.

The 2020 second-round pick by the Sens played in all 72 games for Utah’s AHL affiliate in Tucson, finishing third on the team with a 22-22–44 scoring line but posting a club-worst -20 rating. It marked Sokolov’s second straight year with declining minor-league production after he notched a career-high 38 assists and 59 points in 70 games with the Belleville Senators in 2022-23.

While Sokolov had legitimate top-nine upside a couple of years ago, that’s likely gone with his AHL development stalling out. Instead of continuing in his current role as a top-nine minor-league piece, he’ll return home to play in Russia for the first time since 2016-17. He played junior hockey with QMJHL Cape Breton for three years before turning pro with the Senators in 2020.

West Notes: Rossi, Hyman, Yegorov

at CDT | by 9 Comments

In another update on the tumultuous relationship between Marco Rossi and the Minnesota Wild, Joe Smith and Michael Russo of The Athletic offered some hypothetical landing spots for the former ninth-overall pick of the 2020 NHL Draft.

The pair of reporters listed the Vancouver Canucks, Philadelphia Flyers, Buffalo Sabres, Carolina Hurricanes, Calgary Flames, Utah Mammoth, and Winnipeg Jets, in that order, as the likeliest landing spots for Rossi if the Wild trade him. Furthermore, Smith and Russo believe the Canucks can offer the most compelling trade package of the listed teams.

They asserted that the 15th overall selection of the 2025 NHL Draft would have to be the headliner of the deal, and they’ve heard reports that Vancouver would be willing to move the pick in the right trade. As a secondary portion, Smith and Russo said one of Victor Mancini, Sawyer Mynio, Nils Höglander, or Arturs Silovs would be enough of a sweetener to get the deal across the finish line.

Other notes from the Western Conference:

  • In a disastrous outcome for player and team, the Edmonton Oilers have already lost Zach Hyman for the Stanley Cup Final due to wrist surgery. According to Jason Gregor of the Daily Faceoff, due to the severity of the injury in which Hyman dislocated and tore several ligaments in his wrist, there’s no guarantee he’ll be ready for training camp in September either. It’s more unfortunate news for Hyman, who was a sparkplug for the Oilers this postseason, scoring five goals and 11 points in 15 games with 111 hits.
  • The Calgary Flames will have to wait a few more years for one of their goaltending prospects to make his way to North America. Earlier today, Ryan Pike of Flames Nation reported that the Flames’ sixth-round pick of the 2023 NHL Draft, Yegor Yegorov, has signed a two-year deal with the KHL’s Spartak Moskva. Still, with Dustin Wolf in the net for the foreseeable future, Calgary isn’t in a rush for another netminder, given they can hold his contractual rights indefinitely as a Russian draftee.

West Notes: Robertson, Eklund, Ducks, Biro

at CDT | by 8 Comments

As a result of extensions handed out to Wyatt Johnston and Mikko Rantanen, the Stars enter the summer with less than $5MM in cap room, per PuckPedia, with several roster spots to fill.  Obviously, they’ll need to trim some salary somewhere but instead of looking to move some of their pricier role players, Daily Faceoff’s Jeff Marek posits the idea of moving Jason Robertson.  The 25-year-old has one year left on his contract with a $7.75MM cap hit and will be an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent next summer in line for a sizable raise.  While losing him would undoubtedly be a big hit to their roster as an 80-point player for three straight years now, it could also allow them to recoup some of the draft capital they moved out when they loaded up at the trade deadline and add some flexibility to round out their group this summer.

Elsewhere out West:

  • In his latest piece for NBC Sports Bay Area, Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now examines what a William Eklund extension could look like. The winger is eligible for a new deal as of July 1st and after a solid 58-point effort this season, the Sharks will likely want to see if an early agreement can be reached.  In terms of recent comparable long-term deals, he suggests Calgary’s Matthew Coronato (seven years, $6.5MM per season) and Utah’s Dylan Guenther (eight years, $7.14MM per year) could stand as a reasonable starting point in discussions.
  • While the Ducks have a pair of restricted free agents that are popular speculative offer sheet candidates in Mason McTavish and Lukas Dostal, Derek Lee of The Hockey News explains why they shouldn’t be worried about it. With more than $38MM in cap space this summer per PuckPedia and increasingly high offer sheet thresholds, the price point where Anaheim might be inclined not to match a hypothetical offer sheet is likely much higher than any other team is willing to pay.
  • Pending Kraken UFA forward Brandon Biro is expected to sign with KHL Vityaz, relays Mikhail Zislis of Sport-Express. The 27-year-old signed with Seattle in free agency last summer after seeing just five NHL games with Buffalo.  However, Biro didn’t see any time at the top level this season, instead collecting just six goals and 28 assists in 54 games with AHL Coachella Valley.

Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

scroll to top