The Toronto Maple Leafs began their quest for cap friendly additions on Wednesday, signing 2016 draft pick Yegor Korshkov to a two-year entry-level contract. The 22-year-old scored five points (3 goals, 2 assists) in 19 games with Yaroslavl Lokomotiv of the KHL last season.
The contract is for $925,000(US) for 2019-20 and 2020-21 at the NHL level and $70,000 at the AHL level and the big winger has agreed to a professional tryout contract for the remainder of this season, that would allow him to play for the Toronto Marlies in their pursuit of a second straight Calder Cup title.
Korshkov has had an injury played career since being selected with the first pick in the second round (31st overall) of the 2016 NHL Draft. A leg injury limited the 6’4”, 180 lb winger to 36 games in 2016-17 and after choosing to remain in Russia instead of signing with the Leafs last summer, the big winger suffered another lengthy injury that kept him out for over three months.
It is unknown whether Korshkov will get playing time with the Marlies. Toronto hosts Cleveland in Game 1 of the second round of the Calder Cup Playoffs on Wednesday. Since being drafted, the big Russian did not travel to North America to attend rookie development or training camps, so there would likely be some time needed to adjust to head coach Sheldon Keefe’s system.
Korshkov played parts of five seasons in a professional league on par with the AHL, so it is possible that Leafs fans could get a look at him in the near future.
Another Russian on the Leafs radar is Ilya Mikheyev. The 24-year-old winger led Avangard Omsk in scoring with 45 points (23 G, 22 A) in 62 regular season games and 11 points in the Gargarin Cup Playoffs and is expected to make a decision on an NHL destination sometime this month.
TSN’s Darren Dreger indicated that Mikheyev was leaning towards signing with Toronto, but that the Vegas Golden Knights and other NHL clubs were still in the mix, but Elliotte Friedman in his “31 Thoughts” column has been told by sources in Russia that Mikheyev is Toronto-bound and that has been the case for a while.
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