KHL clubs Metallurg Magnitogorsk and SKA St. Petersburg were involved in a trade on Monday, according to both teams’ Instagram accounts.
Going to Magnitogorsk is 32-year-old Croatian winger Borna Rendulić and going to SKA is 34-year-old Russian-Kazakh winger Pavel Akolzin. Rendulić had four points in 11 games for SKA this season while Akolzin had eight points in 34 games for Magnitka.
Rendulić was born in Zagreb and played as a youth for the famous Medveščak club but moved to Finland at age 15 to further his career. He played mostly for the Ässät club but also in the Liiga for HPK and briefly back home for Medveščak in the EBEL.
Undrafted, Rendulić signed as a free agent with the Colorado Avalanche in 2014 and spent the next three seasons in North America. In 14 NHL games with Colorado and one game with the Vancouver Canucks, he had one goal, one assist and six penalty minutes.
Since 2017, Rendulić has played in Finland with the Lahti Pelicans, in Germany with Adler Mannheim, in Sweden with Örebro HK and in the KHL with Vityaz Podolsk, HK Sochi and SKA, recording 89 points in 174 regular-season and playoff games.
Rendulić doesn’t always get the chance to represent Croatia internationally, as the team is often in a World Championship division that gets played while his club team is still active, but he has played in eight Division II and two Division I tournaments and has been captain the last three times he’s played.
Akolzin was born in Moscow and played as a youth for Spartak but played in Kazakhstan from 2008 to 2021, mostly with Beibarys Atyrau and Barys Astana. He has 110 in 477 KHL regular-season and playoff games with Barys and Magnitogorsk.
Internationally, Akolzin has represented Kazakhstan at four World Championships – two in the top division and two in Division I Group A.
Magnitogorsk sits fifth in the 12-team Eastern Conference with 44 points in 38 games. Its roster includes former NHL left winger Scott Wilson and prospects Danila Yurov (Minnesota Wild), Roman Kantserov (Chicago Blackhawks), Vladislav Yeryomenko (Nashville Predators) and goaltender Ilya Nabokov (Colorado).
SKA currently sits fifth in the KHL’s 11-team Western Conference with 48 points in 37 games. Its roster includes ex-NHLers Evgeny Kuznetsov, Nikita Zaitsev, Tony DeAngelo and Mikhail Grigorenko, as well as prospects Zakhar Bardakov (Colorado), Arseni Gritsyuk (New Jersey Devils), Ivan Demidov (Montreal Canadiens), Pavel Moysevich (Vegas Golden Knights), Yegor Zavragin (Philadelphia Flyers), Arseni Koromyslov, Matvei Korotky (both St. Louis Blues), Timur Kol and 23-year-old team captain Alexander Nikishin (both Carolina Hurricanes).