The Montreal Canadiens season is going so poorly, players are starting to tear up their contracts and head as far away as possible.
Okay, not really, but one depth player in the organization is choosing to head back to Russia to continue his career.
Arsen Khisamutdinov was a high scoring Junior player in Russia a few years ago, but he hasn’t been able to gain any traction in his two seasons in North America. It really doesn’t help that he signed amid a global pandemic that caused the hockey world, and the rest of the world, to enter a state of panic.
However, Khisamutdinov just didn’t do enough to impress during his brief stint with the Laval Rocket last season. He only played 15 games but had just one point in that time. He was sent down to the ECHL this season to play for the Trois-Rivieres Lions, and he scored five points in ten games at that level.
Clearly, that isn’t the level he wanted to be playing this far from his hometown of Ufa, Russia.
Khisamutdinov has agreed with the Canadiens organization to have his contract terminated which will allow him to return to Russia and, presumably, sign with a KHL team for the remainder of this season.
The 23 year old had plenty of success in Russia before moving to the Montreal area. He scored 26 goals and 55 points in 41 games during his final Junior season in 2018-19. He followed that up the next season with nine goals and 13 points in 14 games at the VHL level, which is essentially Russia’s AHL. He only had three points in 31 KHL games that season for Neftekhimik.
The 6’2″ and 194 pound left winger appeared to have an intriguing combination of size and skill, but it just didn’t work out or fit with the Laval Rocket.
Khisamutdinov is young enough that he could still have a very productive career in front of him at the KHL level. However, his time in the Montreal Canadiens organization is up.