Edmonton Oilers part ways with yet another Russian prospect

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Breaking news from Edmonton Oilers’ organization at a number of levels on Monday.

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Biggest news here is the unconditional waivers of  Kirill Maksimov . The big right-shot left winger has been considered a solid prospect for the club since he was drafted in the fifth round back in 2017. Most recently he ranked at the Oilers’ #19 hopeful on 2021 edition of the Cult of Hockey ‘s annual prospect series.

Maksimov played his rookie pro season in Bakersfield in 2019-20 before returning to Russia during the COVID season of 2020-21. There he saw limited action with CSKA Moskva (16 GP, 2-1-3) but performed well at the club’s affiliate Zvezda Moskva in the VHL (25 GP, 12-15-27).

But the final year of his ELC never got going. Maksimov missed both rookie camp and Oilers camp due to vaccine issues — he’d taken the Sputnik vaccine which is not approved in North America, so was not cleared to play. He reportedly did follow through and get an approved vaccine, but something went sideways. He didn’t play in either game for Bakersfield this weekend. Bob Stauffer of  Oilers Now speculates that he may have been ticketed to start the season with Wichita Thunder of the ECHL, and may have balked at the notion, given he just proved himself at a higher level in his native Russia.

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The departure is just the latest edition of a litany of failed Russian draft picks with the organization in the last decade.

  • Most famous by far is RW Nail Yakupov, the first overall pick in 2012 who had a promising rookie season but never progressed. The Oilers eventually traded him within the NHL after four seasons and 252 games in Edmonton, though he wound up in the KHL.
  • The Oilers drafted C Bogdan Yakimov in the third round in 2013. He would play 1 game for the NHL club and parts of two seasons in Bakersfield, but was waived unconditionally midway through the 2015-16 season, returning to the KHL.
  • The Oil were more successful with LW Anton Slepyshev in that same third round of 2013. Slepyshev showed considerable promise in playing 102 games for Edmonton, but he returned to Russia after the completion of his ELC.
  • Defenceman Ziyat Paigin was taken near the end of the 2015 draft, and came to Bakersfield for small parts of two seasons before being given his own unconditional release early in 2017-18.

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Now comes Maksimov with a similar mid-season departure as Yakimov and Paigin. The club does retain the services of blueline prospect Dmitri Samorukov on this side of the pond, though currently out of action due to a jaw injury suffered in rookie camp. Forward prospects Maxim Denezkin , Maxim Beryozkin , and Matvey Petrov are all “in the system” though unsigned to this point in time. Overall, it’s a pretty spotty track record for whatever reason.

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The other move announced by the Oilers involves the reassignment of d-man  William Lagesson who was ticketed for Bakersfield a week ago but held in Edmonton due to a minor injury. That’s now been resolved, Lagesson has already cleared waivers and is on his way.

The minor league club confirms both those moves and two more:

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The transfer of  Olivier Rodrigue to Wichita is unsurprising in the extreme. With two other promising netminders, Stuart Skinner and Ilya Konovalov , in place in Bakersfield, there was no room at the inn for a third. Rodrigue will play lots of minutes against pros in Wichita, which is what he needs most.

The other demotion is of local product  Matteo Gennaro who had a strong season with Wichita last season (61 GP, 26-30-56) but wasn’t quite able to crack the Bakersfield line-up. He’s on a minor-league contract with no implications on the Oilers’ 50-man list.

The timing of these announcements in concert with that of Maksimov lends further credence to the suggestion the Russian may also have been Wichita-bound and dug in his heels. No doubt further details will emerge in due course.

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None of the three players sent out played for Bakersfield this past weekend as the Condors opened their season with a pair of home wins, 5-3 over Abbotsford Canucks on Saturday and 1-0 against San Jose Barracuda on Sunday. The Condors were outshot 34-15 in the latter contest, but Skinner stopped all 34 of those shots in backstopping the win.

Not many goals in Sunday’s highlights, but a couple of massive hits by Condors defenceman/Oilers prospects Philip Kemp and  Markus Niemelainen which are worth a watch.

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News from today’s Oilers’ practice which likely signals one more move in the next day or so.  Devin Shore returned to the ice centring  Brendan Perlini and  Kyle Turris , a trio which had good success in the preseason. Shore missed the first two games to injury, and while Ryan McLeod filled in the line never got much traction. McLeod himself averaged under 6 minutes per game, and is now amoing the extras at practice. Best guess here is that he will be reassigned to Bakersfield tomorrow to make room for Shore on the active roster. As McLeod is still on his ELC he will not require waivers.

Good news for the Condors, who will be adding a pair of proven AHLers in McLeod and Lagesson.

Finally, Dave Tippett confirmed that  Mike Smith will make his third consecutive start in Tueday night’s home game vs. Anaheim Ducks. Look for Mikko Koskinen to make his season debut later this week as the Oilers play back-to-back at Arizona and Vegas, with Koskinen likely to play Thursday, Smith Friday.

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Follow me on Twitter @BruceMcCurdy

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