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Vladislav Firstov

Minor Transactions: 6/5/24

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While the bulk of signings in the NHL is still at least a month away, activity around the hockey world has picked up in recent weeks.  Here’s a rundown of recent moves with an NHL association.

  • After having his contract terminated by Minnesota last month, winger Vladislav Firstov has returned to the KHL as Torpedo announced they’ve signed him to a one-year deal. The 22-year-old spent most of this season in Russia on loan but once that campaign ended, he suited up in ten games with AHL Iowa, picking up two goals and two assists.  However, he clearly wanted to stay at home for next season, leading to his release by the Wild.
  • The Canadiens’ AHL affiliate in Laval announced they’ve signed forward Israel Mianscum to a two-year contract. The 21-year-old spent his five-year junior career with QMJHL Sherbrooke and was quite productive in his overage year, tallying 35 goals and 52 assists in 61 games, both career bests.  Overall, he had 215 points in 264 major junior contests.
  • The Jets have invited Cornell forward Kyle Penney to their upcoming development camp, reports Mark Divver of the New England Hockey Journal (Twitter link). The 23-year-old is coming off a strong year with the Big Red, one that saw him collect 10 goals and 18 assists along with a plus-30 rating in 35 games.  Penney has one season of college eligibility remaining.
  • The Panthers’ AHL team in Charlotte announced they’ve re-signed defenseman Mitchell Vande Sompel to a two-year deal. The Checkers acquired the 27-year-old at the AHL trade deadline and he was a regular for them down the stretch where he had five points in 16 games.  Vande Sompel was originally a draft pick of the Islanders, spending five years in their system before moving on in 2022.
  • Kings prospect Matthew Mania is on the move in the OHL as Flint announced that they’ve acquired the defenseman as part of a six-player, nine-pick trade. The 19-year-old was a fifth-round pick last year, going 150th overall and is coming off an injury-riddled season that limited him to just 45 games where he had four goals and 19 assists.  Los Angeles has until June 1, 2025 to sign Mania to an entry-level deal or lose his rights.

Vladislav Firstov Clears Unconditional Waivers, Released By Wild

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Wednesday: Firstov cleared waivers today, per CapFriendly.  The Wild wasted little time releasing him as John Shipley of the Pioneer Press notes that the deal has already been terminated.

Tuesday: The Wild have placed forward prospect Vladislav Firstov on unconditional waivers with intent to terminate his contract, the team announced Tuesday. The Athletic’s Michael Russo was the first to report the news.

It’s likely a mutual termination to allow Firstov to return to Russia next season. The 22-year-old spent most of the last two seasons on loan to Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod of the Kontinental Hockey League but was briefly brought to North America to close 2023-24 with AHL Iowa.

He had two goals and two assists in his 10-game stint with the club, his first since a lone appearance at the beginning of 2022-23 before heading to the KHL. Firstov had one season remaining on his entry-level contract and would have been a restricted free agent in 2025, but if he clears waivers tomorrow, he’ll become an unrestricted free agent immediately.

All told, the 2019 second-round pick will have played just 19 games in the Wild organization, all coming with Iowa. He totaled two goals and six points in parts of three seasons after turning pro out of UConn in 2022. A move back to Torpedo seems likely for Firstov, who did well with 28 goals, 61 points and 110 PIMs in 114 games over the past two seasons.

With Firstov set to be off the books next season, the Wild are down to 35 out of the maximum 50 standard player contracts signed.

Wild Reassign Vladislav Firstov To AHL

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The Wild reassigned forward prospect Vladislav Firstov to AHL Iowa on Sunday, per a team announcement. The 22-year-old returns to North America after spending most of the last two seasons on loan to Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod of Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League.

Firstov inked his entry-level contract with the Wild in March 2022, nearly three years after they selected him in the second round of the 2019 draft. The left winger had a highly unusual development path, playing his youth hockey with his local Russian club before heading to North America to suit up for the USHL’s Waterloo Black Hawks in his draft year. Firstov then headed to the University of Connecticut for three seasons after being drafted, also suiting up for Russia at the 2021 World Juniors. The 6-foot-1, 181-lb winger barely played for the Wild organization inking his ELC, however. He logged two assists in eight games for AHL Iowa to close out the 2021-22 season after signing and played just one game to kick off 2022-23 before the Wild loaned him to the KHL at the player’s request.

The move has proven beneficial for the speedy forward, who’s emerged as a top-six threat for Torpedo. Over the past two seasons, Firstov logged 28 goals, 33 assists, 61 points, and a +12 rating in 114 games, routinely averaging north of 15 minutes per game. His 17 goals and 35 points ranked third on Nizhny Novgorod this season. The Yaroslavl native also recorded a team-high 68 PIMs in 2023-24 and has overall displayed upside as a bottom-six grinder with strong possession numbers overseas.

Firstov now gets a shot down the stretch to show if he can translate his strengths to North American ice with Iowa. Unfortunately for the Wild, they likely won’t see him in postseason action – Iowa ranks last in the AHL’s Central Division with a 20-33-5 record and is nine points back of a playoff spot.

While Firstov signed his ELC in March 2022, the contract didn’t begin immediately, instead deferring to the 2022-23 campaign. The deal, which carries a cap hit of $925K, still has one season remaining and makes him an RFA in 2025. As such, Firstov will likely remain in Iowa next season and has an outside shot to compete for an NHL spot out of camp later this year.

West Notes: Hronek, Johansson, Firstov, Blackhawks

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With Elias Pettersson’s extension now in place, Canucks GM Patrik Allvin can shift his focus to signing his other key pending restricted free agent.  Speaking with Sportsnet 650 (audio link), Allvin confirmed that the team has offered an extension to defenseman Filip Hronek.  His first full season with Vancouver has been a successful one as the 26-year-old has already set career highs in assists (40) and points (45) while averaging a little under 24 minutes a night.  Hronek is owed a qualifying offer of $5.28MM but stands to earn considerably more than that on a long-term deal this summer with arbitration rights.  Hronek is only one year away from UFA eligibility so if these discussions don’t go well, he could simply elect to file for arbitration, take the award, and look to test the open market in 2025.

More from the West:

  • Wild forward Marcus Johansson skated at practice today as he works his way back from a lower-body injury, relays John Shipley of the Pioneer Press. The issue has held him out of the lineup for the last three games and it’s not yet known if that stretch will be extended as head coach John Hynes was unsure of Johansson’s availability for tomorrow.  The 33-year-old has 27 points in 61 games so far this season.
  • Still with the Wild, The Athletic’s Michael Russo notes (Twitter link) that prospect Vladislav Firstov’s KHL season has ended, suggesting that he could now return to AHL Iowa. The 22-year-old is in the second season of his entry-level deal but has spent pretty much that entire time at the KHL level with Torpedo.  This season, Firstov had 17 goals and 18 assists in 67 regular season games and while he’s unlikely to join Minnesota (unlike Marat Khusnutdinov whose NHL debut is likely to come this week), he could benefit from simply getting in some AHL contests.
  • The Blackhawks were quiet at the trade deadline as expected. However, they weren’t involved as a third-party salary retainer, a move that caught some by surprise.  GM Kyle Davidson told reporters including Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times that while he received some inquiries from teams about playing that role, he felt the late-round picks on the table weren’t worth losing the flexibility.  While those slots likely would have reset in July when free agency came around, the Blackhawks now will have the ability to retain on a pair of trades at draft time if that helps to bring in an extra asset or two.

Minnesota Wild Loan Vladislav Firstov To KHL; Recall Mason Shaw

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Jordan Greenway’s return to the Minnesota Wild lineup lasted just six shifts. The bruising forward managed to land four hits during that time, but after leaving with an upper-body injury he was quickly ruled out for the rest of the game. Head coach Dean Evason told reporters including Michael Russo of The Athletic after the game that Greenway would be evaluated today and won’t play tomorrow afternoon in Boston.

With that news, it makes sense that Mason Shaw is back in the AHL transaction portal and on his way back to the NHL level. Shaw had only been sent down a few days ago when it was clear that Greenway would be returning. More importantly, perhaps, is that the portal also includes Vladislav Firstov, who has been reassigned by the team to Torpedo Nizhny Novogrod of the KHL.

Firstov, 21, was a second-round pick of the Wild in 2019 and signed his entry-level contract in March. The young Russian forward hadn’t played in his home country for years, coming over to spend his draft year in the USHL and then the last three seasons at the University of Connecticut. After just one game with the Iowa Wild this season, he’s apparently on his way back overseas to continue his development in the KHL.

Notably, he remains under contract with the Wild, so this isn’t a long-term plan. But the team will lose at least a bit of control over his deployment and development this season as he plays in Russia. In eight games down the stretch with Iowa last season he managed just two assists, meaning he’ll have to wait even longer for his first professional goal in North America.

Minnesota Wild Sign Vladislav Firstov

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The Minnesota Wild have signed prospect Vladislav Firstov to a three-year entry-level contract, which will begin in the 2022-23 season. For the rest of this year, he’ll join the Iowa Wild on an amateur tryout.

Firstov, 20, recently finished his junior season at the University of Connecticut, and has decided to turn pro. Selected 42nd overall in 2019, he registered 23 points in 35 games this season for UConn. While he’s not an elite offensive player, there’s a good chance that with the right development, Firstov can be another NHL piece for the Wild to use in the coming years. The fact that he’ll get in a few games with Iowa to taste the professional level will only help in that goal, as he watches the organization chase down a Stanley Cup in the NHL.

Considering their cap situation starting next season, with huge buyout penalties for Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, the Wild will need players on entry-level contracts to contribute. There will be an opportunity for names like Firstov to jump into bottom-six spots, something that John Bucigross of ESPN believes he could handle. Still, there he’ll have to battle a lot of other prospects, as Minnesota’s system overall is filled with talent. Firstov ranked 18th in Scott Wheeler’s recent prospect pool list for The Athletic, which had the Wild as the No. 3 system in the NHL.

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