I’ll be honest – when I was looking for a topic to write about today, I was thinking I might touch on OSU hockey, but that’s complicated when the women’s team doesn’t start their schedule until this weekend, and the men’s team won’t hit the ice until October 7th. Perhaps we’ll circle back next week.
Instead, perhaps because I got asked to write about the KHL for the main hockey hub, I’ve been looking to the East, and decided it was worth checking in on Our Boys Over There.
(And, y’know, I’m calling it the Tsar report because it’s a 20 foot long cannon, and how cool is that?)
Right now, the Blue Jackets have three players who have committed to lockout deals in the KHL, but more may follow if we don’t see a break in the CBA negotiations. These posts will go up weekly to let you know where things are at and to update stats for players as appropriate so we can track how they’re performing.
AA signed with the reborn Lokomotiv Yaroslavl last week, and has joined them for three games, registering 1 assist and 2 PIMs. The team will be playing two games over the weekend against Severestal and Vityaz, then taking on Alex Ovechkin’s Dynamo team October 2nd before taking a few days off.
Bob signed with SKA St. Petersburg, and has received his IIHF transfer card, but has yet to appear in game action. They’ll face Salavat Yulaev tomorrow and AK Bars on Monday, so perhaps we’ll have more to report by next week.
Niki6 signed with his former KHL club, Avangard Omsk, on Monday, so it will probably take a few days before the IIHF clears him to play. He’s likely to miss the upcoming games against Mettalurg Novokuznetsk and Amur this weekend as a result. If he doesn’t play against Sibir on October first, it seems likely that he’ll get to play D against AA when Avangard hosts Lokomotiv on October 6th.
Finally, in “I guess they do still own his rights, but…” news, former Jackets prospect Maksim Mayorov was traded from AK Bars to Atlant, where he’s appeared in 1 game and registered 4 PIMs.
That’s the current list, but as soon as we hear news of any other KHL signings or anything else going on with hockey in Columbus, we’ll make sure to keep you up to date!