The Philadelphia Flyers might be bringing another skilled Russian winger across the Atlantic this summer and having him put pen to paper.
According to a recent report from Match TV, the Flyers are one of four teams that have shown some amount of interest in signing 24-year-old pending free agent Maxim Shabanov. The other teams are the New York Islanders, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Tampa Bay Lightning — fair to say that the Flyers are going to be facing some stiff competition to retain Shabanov’s services this spring.
But, the Flyers might have some inside information when it comes to Shabanov. While we cannot speak or understand any Russian, there has been word that in this interview Flyers defenseman Egor Zamula gave an outlet called Ice all the way back in August (this channel seems to interview all the Russian NHL players in a nice-looking studio), the blueliner was asked by the team about Shabanov and what type of player he is.
While Zamula and Shabanov were teammates to just five games all the way back in the 2015-16 season on Traktor Chelyabinsk U16, them being in the same age group led them to teaming up on some international squads and obviously, having some general knowledge about one another.
So what kind of player is Shabanov, really? Well, he’s a 5-foot-8 winger that has hovered just undeer a point per game in the best league outside of the NHL for the last two years, with 43 goals and 94 points scored in 111 games through the last two seasons. He’s ultra skilled, also, as he does insane stuff like this:
Me: I’ve seen everything in hockey, nothing surprises me anymore
Max Shabanov: pic.twitter.com/6eKlphfXNs
— KHL (@khl_eng) December 11, 2024
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
What is interesting is that while he is primarily playing on the right wing for Traktor Chelyabinsk this season, he has historically played on the left side as well. He does shoot left, so as most great Russian wingers tend to prefer, he might want to go on his off-wing on the right so the shooting lane opens up a little bit.
So, does adding another small winger with skill really help address the major concerns this Flyers roster has? Not really. But it is not the worst thing in the world to add even more competition in the same age group as players like Joel Farabee, Bobby Brink, and Tyson Foerster, if the front office wants to really light a fire under them and determine who should stick around when they want to win more games. And, who wouldn’t want Philadelphia to suddenly become a destination for Russian talent eyeing for an opportunity to play with Matvei Michkov?
Contracts in the KHL run until April 30, so we won’t get to have any of this confirmed while the Flyers are still playing games, but it could be an interesting wrinkle to add to this summer if this team adds some talent months before the Draft or free agency kicks off.