eszonKonstantin Okulov chose to remain in the KHL instead of moving to the NHL, but he could still be an option for the Montreal Canadiens in the future.
The Montreal Canadiens haven’t had too much luck with grabbing European free agents on their quest to return to the NHL. Alexander Radulov was an experiment that worked well for both sides despite the finish while Jakub Jerabek would up finding a lot more success in Washington than Montreal. Nonetheless, Konstantin Okulov could’ve been a decent investment, but the positive vibes in that camp were put to rest.
Okulov looked to be NHL bound after three seasons in the KHL with CSKA Moskva. The 2019-20 season was his best production-wise scoring 17 goals and 21 assists for 38 points in 56 games while he put up 20 goals and 11 assists the year before.
Those numbers aren’t elite, but they do warrant praise given the scoring difference between the KHL and NHL. The bigger ice surface allows players to be more creative and make “dangerous” plays to generate offence, but it does make it difficult to stack points.
Vadim Shipachev led the KHL this season with 65 points while Okulov’s 38 had him tied for 30th in the league. That’s why it is difficult to predict the trajectory of a KHL free agent as either they were only able to perform because of the extra space they received or couldn’t generate more with the longer transition between zones.
Whether Okulov would’ve panned out or not in the NHL will have to wait another year as he decided to sign an extension with CSKA Moskva. The news came from KHL reporter Igor Eronko who also confirmed the Montreal Canadiens were one of the teams interested in signing him.
Some think the Habs and these other teams simply lost out on the sweepstakes, but there’s also a chance his decision was influenced by the state of the NHL. The league is on pause, and although nothing is set in stone, there’s likely going to be a cap freeze for the next two or three years. Teams are going to be tinkering with their rosters and Okulov may be of the mind of heading back to the KHL, standing out once again, and then see what’s out there at the end of the year.
Montreal should still keep their eye on him. Whatever team he signs with will end up being an entry-level contract with likely a $925,000 cap hit, which won’t be an anchor in the slightest if things go south.
The belief was that Okulov could be the next Ilya Mikheyev, who found a spot on the Leafs middle six producing well despite some scoring slumps. The Montreal Canadiens need to start getting themselves into these yearly sweepstakes as there’s no price on depth scoring.