Detroit Red Wings draft pick Dmitri Buchelnikov will be packing his bags and moving to a new team again for the 2024-25 KHL season.
Buchelnikov, whose KHL rights belong to SKA St. Petersburg, is going on loan from that club to Vityaz, another KHL team. The move was announced earlier this week by SKA officials.
Left winger Buchelnikov, 20, spent last season on loan to Admiral of Vladivostok. In 55 games there, he put up 13-16-29 totals. Earlier in the offseason, SKA was signing Buchelnikov to a contract extension that will run through the 2025-26 KHL season.
“Before moving to Admiral, I wondered for about a month where they could loan me out, and whether they would loan me out at all,” Buchelnikov told KHL.ru. “There were enough options – Lada, Sochi, Amur, and Admiral. Until the last moment I did not know how the situation was developing. Then the agent called: “That’s it, we’re going to the Admiral.”
Red Wings Pick With Third KHL Club
During the 2022-23 season, Buchelnikov started out with SKA and was ultimately sent down to their farm club in the Russian second division for the remainder of the season. Detroit would select Buchelnikov 51st overall in the 2022 NHL entry draft.
In Vityaz, Buchelnikov is going to play for the team that was the worst in the KHL last season. The team went through five head coaches in a span of 367 days.
A former Red Wings center was the top goal producer for Vityaz last season. Scott Wilson scored a team-leading 20 goals, his second straight 20-goal season in the KHL. Playing for the Red Wings in 2017-18, Wilson went pointless through 17 games.
He won’t be getting the chance to skate alongside future Red Wings forward Buchelnikov. Wilson recently signed as a free agent with fellow KHL club Metallurg.
