The Oilers place prospect Kirill Maksimov on waivers with the purpose of terminating his contract

We have a few Bakersfield Condors notes today. Most notably, Kirill Maksimov’s time with the organization appears to be over.

Maksimov, who the Oilers selected in the fifth round of the 2017 NHL draft, has been placed on unconditional waivers with the purpose of having his contract terminated. Maksimov signed a three-year entry-level deal back in March of 2018, had the first season slide as he was playing in the OHL, and is now in the third and final year of the deal.

After scoring 80 and 79 points for the Niagara Ice Dogs in 2017-18 and 2018-19 respectively, Maksimov appeared to be an interesting prospect for the Oilers with a legitimate shot at becoming a depth scorer for the team. In 2019-20, Maksimov made his transition to professional hockey with the Condors and scored just 13 points over 53 games.

In 2020-21, Maksimov returned to Russia when North American hockey was put on pause due to COVID-19. He scored three points in 16 games with CSKA Moscow but spent the majority of the season playing in the VHL (Russia’s version of the AHL), where he scored 27 points in 25 games. Maksimov didn’t join the Condors when they started up in February.

CSKA still holds Maksimov’s KHL rights, so you have to assume he’s headed there for a better paying gig than the one he has right now with the Oilers playing in Bakersfield. Still, it’s a bit surprising to see a prospect who came to North America as a teenager to play minor hockey in the Greater Toronto Hockey League head back to Russia at such a young age. Perhaps he believes he can earn an NHL contract elsewhere if he has a big season in the KHL.

Also… The Oilers have activated defenceman William Lagesson from the Injured Reserve and have assigned him to the Condors. Lagesson didn’t crack the Oilers out of camp but passed through waivers unclaimed. Goaltending prospect Olivier Rodrigue has been assigned to the Wichita Thunder of the ECHL, meaning the Condors are officially rolling with a tandem of Stuart Skinner and Ilya Konovalov in net.