Teams load up with early signings. Top transfers
In the first week of signings, several international players found themselves a new home, while SKA announced Igor Larionov as its new head coach.
Darren Dietz
From Avtomobilist to Dinamo Minsk
Two-time Gagarin Cup champion, Canadian defenseman Darren Dietz found himself a new home in Belarus as he inked a one-year deal with ambitious side Dinamo Minsk. The Belarusian had a great season last term, and they will want to improve—they already had two big signings to kick off their summer work. A veteran of eight KHL seasons, Dietz will maybe have a chance to recharge his career after his production slowed down with CSKA and Avtomobilist – he scored only one goal last season, still while playing with Avangard, and will want to up his production. In his KHL career, Dietz produced 243 points for Barys, CSKA, Avangard, and Avtomobilist, and he will be looking for more.
Zach Fucale
From Traktor to Dinamo Minsk
A bit more unexpected as a move, Fucale decided to part ways with Traktor and join Dinamo Minsk. The goalie had two very strong seasons in Chelyabinsk and seeing him with a different KHL jersey will be hard at first as he was synonymous with Traktor in the previous campaigns. The Belarusians will have a very effective goaltending duo, with Fucale joining Vasily Demchenko, who had an impressive seven shutouts last season in Minsk. With the acquisition of Dietz and Fucale, who signed a two-year deal, Dinamo Minsk looks like one of the best teams in the Western Conference—at least on paper. Most likely, the Bison aren’t done yet with summer moves, as they will need to replace at least Alexander Volkov and Roman Gorbunov.
Bobby Nardella
From SC Rapperswil (Swiss National League) to Torpedo
The Nizhny Novgorod side is changing its face for the new season, with Alexei Isakov replacing Igor Larionov behind the bench, but will most likely adopt a similar approach. To ensure a good start of the offensive game, they signed American defenseman Bobby Nardella off the Swiss top league. Nardella, 29, is the son of Bob, who other than his native North America spent several seasons in Italy and Germany, representing Italy twice at the Olympic Games. Nardella played two seasons in Sweden, with Djurgardens and HV71, totaling 62 points, before moving to Switzerland for the 2024-2025 campaign. With Rapperswil, Nardella had 19 points in 32 regular season games, going scoreless in two postseason appearances. He’s expected to play with the man advantage and score points for Torpedo in an offensive role.
Jean-Christophe Beaudin
From TPS (Finnish Liiga) to HC Sochi
Following a strong season in the Finnish Liiga with TPS, Quebec-born forward Jean-Christophe Beaudin is heading to the KHL, signing a one-year deal with HC Sochi. The 28-years-old offensive player was TPS’ fourth scorer last season, where he played with former Jokerit blueliner Oliver Lauridsen from Denmark. Before moving to the Liiga, Beaudin played two seasons with Wolfsburg in the DEL. The Black Sea franchise hopes to have found a top-six player in the Canadian forward, with the potential to be a key offensive player and maybe form a dynamic duo with his countrymate William Bitten, who joined last year from Spartak. Beaudin scored 42 (15+27) points in 57 games for TPS in the 2024-2025 campaign.
Reid Boucher
From Avangard to Avtomobilist
One of the top snipers in the league is changing jerseys—Boucher will line up for his third KHL team as he inked a one-year deal with Avtomobilist. In Yekaterinburg, he will be expected to be one of the team’s driving forces, joining a strong core of import players with Stephane Da Costa, Brooks Macek, and Nick Merkley in the offensive zone. The American forward scored 33 goals last year, and while he netted twenty more two seasons ago, he remains a powerful offensive weapon with a proven playoff experience—exactly what Avtomobilist lacked in the last couple of campaigns.
Igor Larionov
From Torpedo to SKA
The famed Professor changed his place of job, moving from Nizhny Novgorod to the Russian Northern Capital. In St. Petersburg, Larionov will have more responsibilities and pressure, but also more means to reach the team’s ambitious goals for the upcoming campaign. The coach reached the playoffs in each of his three seasons with Torpedo, and coached Team Russia at the 2021 WJC, losing the bronze medal game to Team Finland. He is now expected to lead SKA to another deep run in the Gagarin Cup after the team dismissed its previous head coach, Roman Rotenberg, after a first-round exit to Dynamo Moscow. SKA’s last title was in 2017—the St. Petersburg side will want to return into Cup contention.
