Rumours were swirling earlier in the season that the Philadelphia Flyers would be one of the finalists in the Maxim Shabanov sweepstakes, however those were refuted almost immediately.
Fast forward several months later and it sounds like the skilled Russian forward is expecting to leave the KHL to join the NHL and the Flyers remain a favourable destination, according to Anthony SanFilippo. He also notes that he’s weighing options on either sticking around in the Russia, signing with the Flyers, or signing with the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Flyers have become a factory of Russian players and prospects over the last few years, headlined by the most obvious choice in Matvei Michkov. The Flyers have also drafted or brought over Egor Zamula, Ivan Fedotov, Egor Zavragin, Ilya Pautov, and Belarusian Aleksei Kolosov. They also traded for Denis Gurianov and Andrei Kuzmenko in consecutive trade deadlines.
We touched on the topic when it was initially mentioned to start the season where the Flyers were amongst 4 teams that were linked to Shabanov. Based on the aforementioned report, it sounds like there’s Pittsburgh Penguins, Tampa Bay Lightning, and New York Islanders are no longer in the running, which is a boon for the Flyers.
What might help even more is that Shabanov can play down the middle as he’s listed as both centre and winger. Even if he prefers to play on the wing – and there’s certainly a log jam of wingers currently on the roster – Shabanov’s skill set is not to be ignored and he could drastically help the dormant Flyers offense.
For his efforts this season, Shabanov finished as an MVP finalist alongside Josh Leivo and Artyom Galimov after scoring 23 goals and 67 points in 65 games. He also added 10 goals and 20 points in 21 playoff games for Traktor Chelyabinsk, who fell in the Gagarin Cup Final to Lokomotiv Yaroslavl.
Shabanov is still only 24 years old, stands in at 5’8 and 156 pounds but has produced on a yearly basis for Traktor Chelyabinsk. He notched 25 goals and 50 points last year after nabbing 31 points in his rookie season the year prior. While he may be more of a diminutive forward, he possesses all the skill that the Flyers are searching for.
SanFilippo mentions that a Flyers source denoted the same thing that he has heard in regards to his interest in coming to the NHL and weighing out his options with the Flyers near the top of the list. Ultimately the decision rests with him but it will be interesting to see if the Flyers can not only edge out the KHL but also the venerated Golden Knights.
GM Daniel Brière and company are set for an important off-season that already started with a bang when they hired Rick Tocchet to be their next head coach. They also have a slew of RFAs to sign as well as 7 picks in the first 2 rounds of the upcoming draft to contend with on top of Shabanov’s services being added to the mix.
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