Ex-Knights Prospect Signs With KHL Team

Russian defenseman Daniil Chayka, 22, has signed a two-year contract with Avangard Omsk, the KHL website announced on Monday.

A prospect of the Vegas Golden Knights, Chayka had played five AHL games for the Henderson Knights this season, recording one assist and four penalty minutes and was a minus-5. He also played four ECHL games for the Tahoe Knight Monsters with one assist and two penalty minutes and was a minus-2.

His last game in North America was on Nov. 20 for Tahoe against the Kansas City Mavericks. Vegas waived him on Dec. 2 for the purpose of terminating his contract.

Born in Moscow, Chayka first went to North America when he was 14 years old in 2017 to play in the GTHL for the Toronto Jr. Canadiens and later for the Guelph Storm in the OHL. Vegas took him in the second round, 38^th overall, in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qcgj_B0OKwE[/embed]

During the pandemic-affected 2020-21 season, Chayka went back to Russia and played 11 KHL games for hometown CSKA Moscow as a 19-year-old, tallying a goal and an assist. He also spent time that season in the second-tier pro VHL and in the MHL, Russia’s top junior league.

Chayka went to the Golden Knights training camp each of the past four seasons and played in several pre-season games with the big club but was ultimately assigned to Henderson each time. Overall, the 6-foot-3, 189-pound rearguard had 16 points and 36 penalty minutes in 126 AHL games.

Internationally, Chayka was on the Russian U-18 team that accomplished the rare feat of beating Canada in the final of the 2019 Hlinka Gretzky Cup. He also played in the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship in the Edmonton bubble.

Chayka joins an Omsk team that currently sits eighth in the KHL’s 12-team Eastern Conference. The team’s roster includes a who’s who of cast-off NHLers including Nail Yakupov, Ryan Spooner, Michael McLeod, Reid Boucher, Nikolai Prokhorin and Ryan Merkley. It also includes prospects Semyon Chistyakov (Nashville Predators), Mikhail Gulyayev (Colorado Avalanche) and Dmitri Zlodeyev (Vancouver Canucks).