Pittsburgh Penguins forward prospect Vasily Ponomarev has signed a three-year contract with Avangard Omsk of Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).
That team announced the transaction via Telegram, a popular social media outlet in Europe.
With regard to his NHL status, the Russian-born Ponomarev is scheduled to become a restricted free agent on July 1. The Penguins can maintain his NHL rights by simply extending a qualifying offer.
Ponomarev, 23, was acquired as part of the bundle of assets the Penguins received in the blockbuster trade that sent All-Star forward Jake Guentzel to the Carolina Hurricanes on March 7, 2024.
The 2024-25 campaign was his first full season with the Penguins. Primarily stationed with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League (AHL), Ponomarev was that team’s sixth-leading scorer with 41 points (15 goals, 26 assists) in 55 games. During Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s brief playoff run, he skated in two games and did not record a point.
Ponomarev (5-foot-10, 180 pounds) was recalled to the NHL roster a handful of times throughout 2024-25, appearing in seven games with no points while averaging 10:02 of ice time per contest.
Following the conclusion of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ season in April, Ponomarev expressed satisfaction with his individual campaign.
“I’m really happy with it, how I grew up a little bit as a player,” Ponomarev said on April 18. “Maybe not a little bit, because I didn’t play this system before. This year was a good learning year to learn something new from hockey and hockey life.”
Ponomarev was expected to be a component of the Penguins’ transition to younger talent and expected to compete for a spot on the NHL roster entering the 2025-26 season, presumably in a bottom-six role.
While Ponomarev will be playing for Avangard Omsk for the foreseeable future, that doesn’t necessarily rule out him potentially returning to the Penguins one day.
Something similar happened during the 2023 offseason when Penguins forward prospect Filip Hallander signed a multi-year contract with Timra IK of the Swedish Hockey League. With Hallander a pending restricted free agent within the NHL’s realm at the time, the Penguins extended a qualifying offer to maintain his rights.
In April, Hallander rejoined the Penguins, agreeing to a two-year contract.
