Montreal Canadiens: A Look At Former Habs Playing In The KHL

The KHL is a bit of an oddity in the context of the professional hockey landscape, and NHL teams like the Montreal Canadiens have slowly begun to know this all too well.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the countless players refusing to play in the KHL as a result (including former Habs farmhand Daniel Audette) is an entirely different can of worms, and one I will not be getting into at this present moment.

Regardless, it’s caused a bit of a riff in terms of how the talent pool spreads across international hockey, and that’s led to a higher level of play across leagues like the Swiss NLA and Finnish SM-Liiga. The KHL and the AHL have largely been the two main candidates when discussing what is the second-best hockey league in the world, and in all honesty, there isn’t a tremendous difference between the two, purely hockey-wise anyways.

Most of the struggles former NHLers and AHLers have when transitioning overseas is the larger ice surface. Some flourish, others don’t. Generic Marc Bergevin-type player #2 and former LA Kings staple Dwight King, was bought out of his KHL deal after one year.

Current Habs farmhand Phillipe Maillet was a star in the KHL the past two seasons for Magnitogorsk Mettalurg before returning to North America on a two-way deal with Montreal. Aside from higher pay and much, much, much lower quality of life sadly, the KHL is the modern-day equivalent of a league like the 70s WHA. Half the roster is NHL calibre and half isn’t, give or take.

In my distant past writing for this site, this is a topic I re-visited often, and there are, as usual, numerous former Canadiens playing overseas in various different leagues heading into 2023-24, productive or not. With that being said, here’s a brief look at a few of them I find interesting.

Canadiens KHLers: Jordan Weal

Good ole’ Jordan Weal, the definition of a NHLer who when you put him on the ice, nothing happens, and that’s a good thing. That being said, it’s not like Weal was a player without offensive ability, far from it. He could just never make good on his NHL opportunities for long enough when given them.

A third-round pick of the LA Kings in 2010, Weal was a dominant offensive player for the WHL’s Regina Pats, and quickly emerged as a star with the AHL’s Manchester Monarchs, leading them to a Calder Cup title in the 2014-15 season, earning Playoff MVP honors. After not being able to find much of a role with the Kings, Weal was dealt to the Flyers for Vincent Lecavalier and Luke Schenn, and this would start the pattern of Weal’s NHL career.

He’d play decently for a short stint at the end of one season, and then do next to nothing in a full-time role the next season. After Philly gave him a brief chance in their bottom six, Weal was shipped to Arizona where he struggled further, before landing in Montreal in exchange for long-time AHL forward Michael Chaput. Once again, Weal played great and was a big help for the Habs in their late-season push for the playoffs in 2018-19, posting 4-6-10 totals over 16 games.

Then, he and fellow AHLer Charles Hudon were little to no use for the Habs bottom-six in 2019-20, and after a stint as a leader in Laval in 2020-21, Weal headed for the KHL, where he’s since found niche as a talented, playmaking two-way centre. Playing on a line with established KHL stars in Nikita Gusev and Eric O’Dell, Weal is on a torrid pace to start 2023-24 and should challenge for the KHL scoring title.

Nikita Nesterov

Nesterov is largely forgotten about both as an NHLer and a member of the Montreal Canadiens, but he was a product of one of the more impressive trades former GM Marc Bergevin was able to pull off during his tenure.

A fifth-round pick of the Lightning in 2011, Nesterov plied his time in the AHL and emerged as a decent second-pairing contributor and stay-at-home defenseman for Tampa Bay. Having acquired AHL enforcer Jonathan Racine earlier in the 2016-17 season in exchange for former prospect Tim Bozon, Bergevin was able to flip Racine close to the trade deadline in exchange for Nesterov, who stepped up his play in a brief 13-game stint with the Habs, showcasing some decent offensive ability with 1-4-5 totals.

After this, Nesterov headed back to Russia, where he has since found his stride as one of the KHL’s trademark stars. Aside from an out of the blue stint with the Calgary Flames in the 2020-21 season (out of the blue as in the Habs first game against Calgary was the first time I realized he signed there), Nesterov has been the de-facto leader, Captain, and surprising two-way dynamo for CSKA Moscow, leading them to a Gargarin Cup title last year whilst posting his first 40-point season as a professional.

Nesterov’s career as a whole is the definition of rock solid, and he’ll likely be a long-time Andrei Markov like player overseas for a few more years at the very least.

Alexander Radulov

Yes, I know obvious choice is obvious, but largely as a result of that, I refrained from talking about Radulov’s current stint in Russia in great depth. Radulov was and still is one of the biggest risks the Canadiens have ever taken in free agency, inking the former Nashville Predators star to a one-year deal worth $5 million in the 2016 off-season.

A once top line NHL player for Nashville in the late 2000s, Radulov was a first-round pick of the Preds in 2004 after posting… 61-91-152 totals over 62 games with the QMJHL’s Quebec Remparts (yes, those are real numbers). After what was simply pure domination in the KHL over his last four seasons with CSKA Moscow, posting highs of 24-47-71 totals over 46 games in 2014-15, the biggest question mark with Radulov coming into Montreal was his personality issues, which included missing curfew, having temper problems, and defying coaches players and management alike.

After Nashville completely severed ties with him following a disastrous return stint in 2011-12, he was able to reignite things alongside Max Pacioretty with the Canadiens, posting 18-36-54 totals over 76 games in 2016-17, nearly leading the Habs past the Rangers in the first round.

However, as was Marc Bergevin’s way at that time, Radulov was low-balled on his contract offer in free agency, and opted to go with the Dallas Stars instead, forming a dangerous trio alongside Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin. That being said, age eventually caught up to Radulov after back-to-back 70-point seasons and a Stanley Cup Finals appearance.

Having proved all he could prove at both levels, Radulov still led Kazan Ak-Bars to the Gargarin Cup (KHL) final last season as their leading scorer, and will likely continue to be a top-line contributor for at least the next few seasons.