Oilers officially loan Dmitri Samorukov to CSKA Moscow
By baggedmilk
3 years agoThis afternoon, the Edmonton Oilers officially announced that the team has loaned Dmitri Samorukov to the KHL’s CSKA Moscow for the 2020-21 season.
Back in June, I wrote about a report out of Russia that Dmitri Samorukov had signed a one-year deal with CSKA Moscow for the 2020-21 season, including a note that Ken Holland was completely on board with the move. Seeing as the upcoming AHL season is still in limbo, it makes perfect sense that Samorukov would stay over in Russia where he’ll be able to play some quality minutes in the KHL, returning to North America when the landscape is a little more mapped out.
Here’s what I wrote back in June:
If I was to guess, which I’m going to do right now, I’d suspect that a sizeable chunk of this decision has to do with the fact that we still don’t know what’s going to happen to the AHL for the 2020-21 season. As a result of the Coronavirus, the NHL’s minor league cancelled the remainder of its season back on May 13th and not a whole lot has been said since. Could this move by Samorukov, who is only a third of the way through his first contract with the Oilers, simply be a way of making sure he can keep playing in the near future? Based on what I could find, the KHL is planning on kicking off their season in September whereas we still don’t know what’s going to happen with the AHL so maybe this is just a way of getting back on the ice sooner than later? Again, I’m only guessing.
Originally drafted in 84th overall in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, Dmitri Samorukov has morphed into a promising defensive prospect that many Oilers fans have been watching closely. After putting up a surprisingly fantastic final year in Junior with the Guelph Storm that saw Samorukov’s offensive numbers explode beyond expectation, he spent this past season with the Bakersfield Condors for the first year of his three-year ELC. Now that the move over to Russia is official, I’m going to go ahead and pat myself on the back for my (likely) accurate guesswork. No need to applaud me all at once.
SAMORUKOV’S CAREER SO FAR
| SEASON | TEAM | LEAGUE | GP | G | A | PTS | PIM | +/- | PGP | G | A | PTS | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016-17 | GUELPH STORM | OHL | 67 | 4 | 16 | 20 | 41 | -24 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2017-18 | GUELPH STORM | OHL | 62 | 11 | 23 | 34 | 29 | -10 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 6 | |
| 2017-18 | BAKERSFIELD CONDORS | AHL | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 2018-19 | GUELPH STORM | OHL | 59 | 10 | 35 | 45 | 20 | 36 | 24 | 10 | 18 | 28 | 12 |
| 2019-20 | BAKERSFIELD CONDORS | AHL | 47 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 24 | -5 |
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