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Dmitri Simashev

Pacific Notes: Prosvetov, Mammoth, McCarthy

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Earlier this month, goaltender Ivan Prosvetov was released from his KHL contract to pursue an NHL opportunity.  It appears that opportunity might be coming with Calgary as Sport-Express’ Mikhail Zislis reports that the Flames are the main contender to sign the 26-year-old.  Prosvetov posted a 2.32 GAA and a .920 SV% in 38 games with CSKA Moscow this season.  He has 24 career NHL appearances under his belt between Arizona and Colorado plus another 146 outings at the AHL level.  With Daniel Vladar eligible for unrestricted free agency, Prosvetov, if he ultimately signs, could have a chance to battle with Wranglers veteran Devin Cooley for the backup spot behind Dustin Wolf next season.

Elsewhere in the Pacific:

  • The European Assignment Clauses that the Mammoth gave to Daniil But and Dmitri Simashev this week are a little different than usual. Belle Fraser of the Salt Lake Tribune relays that the two are only able to execute that clause after the first 18 months of the contract, or January 1, 2027.  That ensures that Utah will have full developmental control over the first rounders for the first year and a half in North America but if the two aren’t full-fledged NHL regulars by then, they will then have the opportunity to return home if they desire.
  • The Sharks have signed AHL head coach John McCarthy to a contract extension, reports David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period (Twitter link). The 38-year-old has been a fixture with the Sharks going back to his playing days which started back in 2009 and ended in 2018 when he retired from playing to become an assistant with the Barracuda.  McCarthy has been in charge of the Barracuda for the past three seasons with the team making the playoffs for the first time in that stretch this year.

Mammoth Sign Dmitri Simashev To Entry-Level Contract

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11:31 a.m.: Simashev’s deal includes a base salary of $855K, a signing bonus of $95K, and up to $1MM of Schedule “A” performance bonuses each season for a cap hit of $950K, per PuckPedia. Notably, the contract includes a European Assignment Clause, meaning Simashev could trigger a loan back to Yaroslavl next season if he’s not on the NHL roster.

11:04 a.m.: The Mammoth announced today they’ve signed their top defense prospect, 2023 sixth overall pick Dmitri Simashev, to a three-year entry-level contract. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Simashev was technically selected by the Coyotes two years ago but had his signing rights transferred to Utah when Arizona’s hockey operations assets were sold to Smith Entertainment Group last summer to establish the Mammoth franchise. A 6’5″, 207-lb stay-at-home defender, he was widely expected to sign his entry-level deal with Utah shortly after his season in his native Russia ended.

This season was his second full professional campaign with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the Kontinental Hockey League, and it ended in a Gagarin Cup championship for the 20-year-old. He was a bottom-pairing fixture for Lokomotiv, averaging just under 16 minutes per game in the regular season, and suited up in all 21 postseason contests for them while recording one assist and a minus-one rating.

While Simashev may have a future in Salt Lake as a high-end shutdown piece in the top-four, he doesn’t have the offensive upside we’ve come to expect out of defensemen selected that high in the draft. Over the last two regular seasons in Yaroslavl, he’s been limited to a 5-6–11 scoring line in 122 games. His +19 rating during that time is promising, though, especially considering his limited minutes.

In his 2025 prospect pool rankings, The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler labeled Simashev as the second-best prospect in Utah’s system and called him “a potential top-four defenseman who can play minutes and drive results with his defensive play, length and skating.” Whether the lefty makes the immediate jump to the NHL next season remains to be seen – but at his peak, he’s likely averaging north of 20 minutes per game for the Mammoth with heavy penalty-kill deployment.

At first glance, it seems likely he’ll start his professional career in North America with the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners. The Mammoth have their left side on defense locked in for next season with Mikhail Sergachev, Olli Määttä, and Ian Cole, with Juuso Välimäki still in the mix as a potential healthy extra as well. Cole and Välimäki are slated for unrestricted free agency in 2026, though, paving the way for Simashev to graduate to full-time NHL minutes a year from now after a season of adjustment in the minors.

“It feels amazing. I had a goal to win the Gagarin Cup and then go to the NHL and try to be the best player I can be,” Simashev told Utah freelance beat writer Craig Morgan. “I watched highlights of every Utah game. I know every player in Utah and how they play. Coming to Utah, for me, it’s basically like a dream.”

Simashev is too old to be slide-eligible, so his deal goes into effect next season regardless of how many NHL games he plays. He’ll be a restricted free agent following the 2027-28 campaign.

International Notes: Radulov, Simashev, Forsell, Kämpf

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According to a report out of Russia, Alexander Radulov is transferring from Lokomotiv Yaroslavl to SKA St. Petersburg only a day after winning the second Gagarin Cup championship of his career and being named the playoffs’ MVP. The news confirms that Radulov will suit up in his fourth consecutive KHL season after leaving the NHL after the 2021-22 season.

It’ll be a one-and-done year for Radulov. He joined Lokomotiv after two years as captain for the Ak Bars Kazan, scoring 41 goals and 97 points in 120 games from 2022 to 2024. His scoring dissipated this year, putting together an 18-goal, 34-point season in 60 contests.

Still, Radulov left some gas in the tank for the postseason. He finished fourth in playoff scoring with seven goals and 16 points in 21 games, leading the next closest on Lokomotiv by two points. He’ll join a St. Petersburg club that hasn’t advanced past the quarterfinals in two years and has former NHL players such as Mikhail Grigorenko, Valentin Zykov, and Nikita Zaitsev on the roster.

Other international notes:

  • Confirming a report from a month ago, Utah Mammoth prospect Dmitri Simashev said he’ll be coming to North America next season (Tweet Link). Alongside Radulov and fellow Utah prospect Daniil But, Simashev became a first-time winner of the Gagarin Cup yesterday. Still, his offensive struggles continued throughout the KHL postseason, tallying only one assist in 21 playoff contests with a -1 rating. There shouldn’t be any guarantees that Simashev will make the Mammoth’s roster out of training camp in September.
  • Per a report from Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic, the Vancouver Canucks are content with letting 2021 seventh-round pick, Lucas Forsell, join a different organization this summer. Vancouver selected Forsell with the 201st overall pick of the 2021 NHL Draft, and he’s been playing SHL’s Färjestad BK since. Still, it’s unlikely Forsell will gain much traction once his contractual rights expire on June 1st, given he’s failed to score more than 10 points in any SHL season since being drafted.
  • Team Czechia couldn’t defeat Team Sweden today despite having an extra reinforcement. TSN’s Chris Johnston reported yesterday that Toronto Maple Leafs forward David Kämpf joined his home country for the quarterfinals. He managed one shot on net in 17:09 of ice time with a -1 rating in the loss.

Utah Hockey Club Notes: Cooley, But, Simashev, Maccelli, Ingram

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After managing a 38-31-13 record in their first season in franchise history, the Utah Hockey Club will be an exciting team to follow this upcoming offseason. They have abundant financial flexibility, and some of those dollars will undoubtedly go to a player they’ll look to build around for the long haul.

Brogan Houston of Deseret News shared a note from Utah General Manager Bill Armstrong earlier, indicating the team will look to begin extension negotiations with center Logan Cooley this summer. Cooley becomes eligible for an extension on July 1st, as he enters the last season of his three-year entry-level contract signed in 2023.

There’s no questioning the desire for an extension from Utah’s perspective. Cooley has been flat-out electric since jumping from collegiate to professional, scoring 45 goals and 109 points through his first 157 contests, with a 19-point improvement year-on-year. All four of Utah’s top-scoring forwards are signed to contracts at or below $7.15MM per year, so they may be ready to make Cooley their highest-paid player as well.

Other updates out of Utah:

  • Just over two weeks ago, Armstrong suggested that Utah’s two 2023 first-round selections, Daniil But and Dmitri Simashev, might debut for the team next season. In a follow-up, Cole Bagley of KSL Sports received confirmation from Armstrong today that the team would begin contract negotiations with the pair once their KHL season had concluded. Those negotiations could start relatively soon, given that their current team, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, will play Avangard Omsk in Game 7 of Round Two of the Gagarin Cup playoffs on Wednesday.
  • After notching 78 assists in his last 146 games, much was expected from Matias Maccelli this season. Unfortunately, the 2024-25 season became one to forget, as Maccelli finished with eight goals and 18 points in 55 contests, becoming a frequent healthy scratch. The diminished production sparked trade rumors regarding Maccelli around the deadline, and that doesn’t appear likely to fade this offseason. Concerning Maccelli’s future with the organization, Belle Fraser of The Salt Lake Tribune quoted Armstrong saying, “We’ve got some evaluation to do. Your team becomes better every year. There are certain things that happen — sometimes your players have to keep up, sometimes roles change.“
  • Fraser also received a quote from Armstrong about netminder Connor Ingram’s status, who entered the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program on March 9th. Armstrong said, “A lot of it is unknown. When players go into the program, we don’t have any contact with him so it’s hard for us to speculate. The good news for us as we sit here in this room is we know he is in a good place at the program. We wish him the best.” Ingram’s starting status for Utah’s 2025-26 season is uncertain, but he is signed through next season with a cap hit of $1.95MM.

Armstrong: Simashev, But Could Debut For Utah Next Season

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The Utah Hockey Club could only be a summer away from seeing their top two prospects debut. In a report from Belle Fraser of The Salt Lake Tribune, team General Manager Bill Armstrong believes there’s a good chance defenseman Dmitri Simashev and forward Daniil But will join the roster next season.

Both players are rostered on the KHL’s Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, helping sweep their opening round matchup against the Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod in this year’s Gagarin Cup playoffs. Unfortunately, the former isn’t coming off a promising season and could benefit from another developmental year overseas.

Simashev was considered a lengthy reach at the time of his selection. He was ranked as the 19th best European skater by the NHL Central Scouting Bureau before the draft. However, the Arizona Coyotes selected Simashev with the sixth overall pick. He’s been rostered with Lokomotiv since, scoring five goals and 16 points in 119 regular season contests.

It’ll be interesting to see how Utah utilizes him if he were to make the jump to North America. The team already has six defenseman signed to NHL contracts for the 2025-26 season, and it doesn’t make sense to bring him over just to practice with the NHL squad.

Meanwhile, But has shown more promise between the two. Selected 12th overall in the same draft, But is coming off a season where he scored nine goals and 28 points in 56 games, which is good for seventh on the team in scoring.

Luckily, no matter how well their game translates to the NHL level in the immediate future, both have professional size and are willing to play physically. Still, Utah may have to thin out the roster this summer to create space for the pair.

Snapshots: Bjork, Simashev, World Juniors

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While former college hockey star Anders Bjork finished his season on a high note after a trade to the Chicago Blackhawks, scoring five points in his last four games and eight in 13 games overall, it seems Chicago won’t be issuing a qualifying offer. The Athletic’s Scott Powers reports that the Blackhawks “aren’t planning to give a qualifying offer,” though that “doesn’t mean the Blackhawks won’t necessarily re-sign” Bjork, just that they don’t want to issue a qualifying offer at a value of $1.8MM. (subscription link)

Set to turn 27 in August, Bjork spent most of last season in the AHL with the Rochester Americans, the longest stretch he’d spent in the minor leagues in his career. He’d previously been mostly an NHL option, with AHL stretches limited to just a handful of games. He didn’t overwhelm with Rochester, scoring 25 points in 42 games, and was eventually traded to Chicago for future considerations. Bjork showed some life under head coach Luke Richardson in Chicago, and that solid run of eight points in 13 games should serve him well heading into the open market, even if he may not receive a contract at the same value as his qualifying offer.

Some other notes from across the NHL:

  • Russian blueliner Dmitri Simashev was recently ranked 19th in Bob McKenzie’s final draft rankings of the cycle for TSN, though he could end up going even higher than that at the draft next week. As relayed by CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal, Simashev’s agent Dan Milstein says 24 of the NHL’s 32 teams have asked for a meeting with Simashev at the draft in Nashville. He’s a rangy six-foot-four blueliner currently under contract in the KHL through 2024-25. He’s widely regarded as a high-upside prospect with tantalizing physical tools, and in a draft thinner on defenseman compared to forwards, Simashev could be a fast-rising prospect.
  • Hockey Canada, the CHL, and the IIHF announced today that the 2025 World Junior Championships will be played in Ottawa, Ontario. The Senators’ home arena, Canadian Tire Centre, will serve as the event’s primary location with the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s’ TD Place as the secondary venue. Canada has won three of the last four WJC events and will hope to take home the gold medal on their home turf just as they’ve done the past two events.

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