Two Stanley Cup winners join the KHL — the KHL week in review
Saving the best to last, two teams announced high profile new imports with experience at the very pinnacle of the game. Elsewhere, a long-serving franchise legend signed a banger of a new deal, Barys triumphed on home ice and we saw the first women’s action of the summer.
Cup winners come to Dinamo and Vityaz
The week’s top trades brought two vastly experienced imports to the KHL. The 2022-2023 season will see two Stanley Cup winners plying their trade in Minsk and Balashikha respectively.
Canadian forward Cedric Paquette, who won the cup in 2020 with Tampa Bay, is joining Dinamo Minsk. The 29-year-old center is noted more as a bottom six warrior than a creative playmaker – his 448 NHL games brought a relatively modest 95 (51+44) points and 391 penalty minutes. Since helping the Lightning win the cup in 2020, he found himself passing through several teams in quick succession, culminating in an unhappy spell with the Habs last term. A move to an ambitious Minsk team could be the stimulus he needs to return to his earlier heights.
Fellow Canadian Scott Wilson, a champion with Pittsburgh in 2017, is also heading this way. The 30-year-old forward is joining Vityaz. Like Paquette, Wilson’s game is based on doing the hard graft: with the Penguins, he provided the physicality that enabled Evgeny Malkin and Phil Kessel to score the goals that won the cup. In recent seasons he has predominantly played in the AHL, but his hard-hitting style should be a good fit on the Vityaz roster.
Captain China signs mega deal
Kunlun Red Star’s Brandon Yip signed a franchise record four-year deal with the Chinese club. Long established as team captain, and a poster boy for hockey in China, the 37-year-old is set to complete his playing career with the Dragons. But this is not merely a reward for an aging star’s long service. On the contrary, Yip’s leadership on and off the ice ensures he will remain a key figure as the club continues its role in the growth of Chinese hockey.
Kunlun Red Star season preview: Sleeping Dragon
Canadian D-men sign up
As well as the long-term deal for Yip, KRS also added two more Canadian defensemen to the team. Kyle Wood, 26, played last season on Jaromir Jagr’s Kladno team in the Czech Republic, where he had 22 (8+14) points in 54 games. Leslie, 28, makes his first appearance outside of North America after seven seasons in the AHL.
Another Canadian is returning to the league. Defenseman Brandon Gormley, previously of Dinamo Riga and Lokomotiv, signed a one-year deal with HC Sochi. Last season the 30-year-old played 31 games for those two clubs, scoring 13 (1+12) points.
Winning start for Barys
Nur-Sultan hosted the President of Kazakhstan Cup and host club Barys became the final KHL team to start its pre-season games. And Andrei Skabelka’s team made it a winning start, lifting the trophy after edging Metallurg in the decisive game on Friday. That win was notable for a well-taken winning goal from Anthony Louis and an elegantly dispatched penalty shot by another summer signing, Jeremy Bracco. The Kazakhs can hope for good things from this season’s roster.
Barys wins home tournament for third year running
Women back on the ice
The Russian Women’s Hockey League is due to start its 2022-2023 season on Sep. 17. The action gets going with a repeat of last season’s grand final, defending champion KRS Shenzhen facing runner-up Tornado. Another early highlight sees Agidel Ufa take on Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod. Previously known as SKIF, Torpedo has partnered with Nizhny’s KHL team as it looks to build on last season’s regular season success. Meanwhile, pre-season is fully underway. Saturday saw the first warm-up game of the summer, with Chelyabinsk’s Beliye Medveditsy taking three-time champion Agidel Ufa to overtime before losing 2-3. Olga Sosina had a goal and an assist for Ufa, rising star Veronika Korzhakova was on target and Anna Shibanova potted the OT winner.
Coming up
It’s the final full week of pre-season, and that means three big tournaments as teams make their last preparations for the opening games. The action starts in St. Petersburg on Tuesday, where SKA welcomes Avangard, Severstal, Sibir and Sochi to the Puchkov Tournament. The following day, the Chelyabinsk Governor’s Cup starts, with Traktor, Metallurg, Avtomobilist and Barys in action. On Thursday, the Mayor of Moscow Cup gets underway. Group A involves Dynamo, CSKA and Amur, while group B features Spartak, Vityaz and Kunlun Red Star. Then on Friday Kazan hosts the TANECO Cup, featuring Salavat Yulaev, Lokomotiv and Neftekhimik alongside Ak Bars.
