Penguins looking at free agent Maxim Shabanov

The Penguins have been seeking many avenues of improvement under Kyle Dubas. They’ve grabbed players off waivers, picked up low cost trades to add “something for nothing” (or maybe “something for helping another team dump cap space” more accurately).

European free agents are always a frontier that NHL teams look after. Pittsburgh has already added back Filip Hallander for next season, who won forward of the year in the Swedish league for his work in 2024-25. Reportedly, the Pens are looking at signing another forward in going after the services of Russian forward Maxim Shabanov.

From rg.org:

Maxim Shabanov was one of the standout players in the KHL this season. The 24-year-old forward scored 20 points (10 goals, 10 assists) in 21 playoff games and collected 67 points (23 goals, 44 assists) in 65 regular-season matches. NHL scouts, particularly from the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Vegas Golden Knights, have closely monitored him. Despite making costly mistakes in the final, Shabanov remains a top target for North American clubs. Although Vegas is the most active, Shabanov himself remains undecided:

“Maybe I’ll think about it, maybe not. I’ve said before that all my thoughts were focused on having a successful season with Traktor. I don’t read what people write about me or listen to what they say,” Shabanov commented before the final.

RG Prediction: As an unrestricted free agent, Shabanov needs to carefully choose his NHL club to fulfill his potential. Vegas seems closest, but securing a top-six spot there would be extremely challenging. Pittsburgh appears a more suitable destination, potentially allowing Shabanov to develop into a new Nikita Kucherov.

Shabanov, 24, scored 67 points in 65 games with Chelyabinsk Traktor in 2024-25. This player is teeny tiny being listed at 5’8”, 157 pounds, but his talent pops.

You never know what you might get from Russian free agents. A decade ago there were two top undrafted FA’s that the Pens were trying to sign. One smallish player decided to go with playing in Chicago over Pittsburgh, but the Penguins were able to sign their second choice in Sergei Plotnikov. Plotnikov was a a total stiff, scoring no goals and adding only two assists in 32 games with the Pens before they moved on. That other forward they couldn’t sign? A guy who has gone onto score 870 points (and counting) in 752 games, Artemi Panarin.

That’s how wide the gamut of impact that KHL free agent signings can make in the NHL. Last year’s big signing was Maxim Tsyplakov for the Islanders — he ended up scoring 10 goals and recording 35 points in 77 games. Not the worst, but not exactly a massive impact but not nothing either.

While the hit rate isn’t 100% and Panarin is the best case of all best case scenarios, undrafted Russian free agents can occasionally be an outlet to provide NHL teams with valuable players. Andrei Kuzmenko has shown to be a quality player who scored 39 goals and 74 points in his very first NHL season. Ilya Mikheyev hasn’t been as much of a smash hit as Kuzmenko but has fit nicely into the NHL. Alex Barabanov had a couple of decent years in the NHL before heading back overseas. Others like Plotnikov and Nikita Gusev took the chance to see how it would go, it didn’t work and now they’re only remembered sparingly by the NHL clubs they briefly played for.

As far as low floor, high ceiling types of moves, what do the Pens have to lose in the case of Shabanov? These free agents are capped by the relatively low entry level contracts, if it doesn’t work out then it’s not difficult to cut bait and move on. Pittsburgh needs talent from anywhere they can find it, the net to try and find players who can help extends far and wide. If they add players like Shabanov to go along with Hallander and other new faces, they could try to improve their club from as many different angles as possible.