According to some overseas reports, the Philadelphia Flyers are close to signing KHL free agent Maxim Shabanov.
Could the Philadelphia Flyers be starting their summer with signing one of the top players out of the KHL? Possibly.
Although nothing has been confirmed thus far by the team, there is growing speculation that the Flyers are close to signing KHL star winger Maxim Shabanov. According to Russian outlet Sport-Express and columnist Igor Eronko, Shabonov is on his way to sign with the Flyers.
But, after that news broke containment, several Flyers media members reached out to sources and have found only that Shabanov has not signed with Philadelphia, yet.
Shabanov was rumored as early as January to have some links to Philadelphia. At the time the Flyers were one of four teams alongside the Penguins, Islanders and Lightning interested in Shabanov. However, with the Islanders now focused on landing the best of the best after winning the NHL Draft Lottery, their desire for Shabanov might not be as strong as it was a few months ago. That could make it a three-team race. Earlier this week similar reports made social media circles, including being reported by Russian media outlets that the Flyers and Shabanov agreeing to a contract.
The 24-year-old was one of the finalists for the KHL’s Most Valuable Player Award this past season. He scored 23 goals and added 44 helpers for 67 points in 65 games playing for Chelyabinsk Traktor. Shabanov, who shoots left, also had a great post-season, scoring 10 goals and adding the same number of assists in 21 games as his team lost in the KHL’s Gagarin Cup Final to Lokomotiv Yaroslavl (the team whose entire roster and coach (and former Flyer) Brad McCrimmon perished in a tragic plane crash in 2011).
The forward had three consecutive seasons with Chelyabinsk Traktor where his production increased. In 2022-23 he had 18 goals and 13 assists in 67 games. The following season Shabanov had 50 points split exactly down the middle in terms of goals and assists. He also had 11 points in 14 playoff games in 2023-24. Prior to his time in the KHL, Shabanov played junior hockey in Chelyabinsk. He also spent some seasons in the VHL, the Russian second division, splitting the 2021-22 season between the KHL and the VHL’s Chelyabinsk Chelmet.
Shabanov isn’t the most imposing forward, coming in at 5-foot-8 and weighing 156 pounds. However, if he was to be on a line with Matvei Michkov and end up finding some chemistry, it would certainly compensate for some of the dearth the Flyers have down the middle. A play like below doesn’t happen very often, but it’s one Shabanov made earlier this KHL season. Seeing him attempt a similar play against a defenseman like Radko Gudas or Nikita Zadorov could see his NHL career cut very, very short.
Or this play also.
Due Shabanov’s age, he will be signing an entry-level contract with the Flyers but just for one season. If this happens, he would remain a restricted free agent and therefore need a new contract next summer, in 2026. That gives the Flyers some flexibility, if he can be a solid middle-six scorer for cheap, to do some heavy lifting elsewhere and commit dollars to fill other holes in the lineup with not a lot of commitment.
If it works, then great. If it spectacularly implodes, and he isn’t good enough to even be the 13th forward and he is begging to get back to the low physicality of the KHL, at least Briere didn’t leave a stone unturned in trying to find a solution. This also demonstrates that despite the problems Briere has had with Ivan Fedotov (and the soap opera with Aleksei Kolosov), he’s not averse to rolling the dice when it comes to Russian or KHL players. Whether it’s been Egor Zamula, Fedotov, Kolosov, obviously Michkov, Nikita Grebenkin, or 2024 sixth-round pick Ilya Pautov, Briere is looking everywhere to improve the Flyers for now and down the road. Could we see the next great collection of Russian players form a core in Philadelphia?
What this does to the roster is anyone’s guess. Would the Flyers be more open to part with Bobby Brink who also is far from a big, rugged winger? Or would having a playmaker like Shabanov mean somebody else could be on the trading block? It’s a good problem to have more talent than you did before in signing Shabanov. But it probably means somebody currently on the roster is heading elsewhere.
