Montreal Canadiens' prospect Gleb Pugachyov failed to make his KHL team's opening road trip roster, but that's no cause to panic.
The KHL season is kicking off this weekend, and it hasn’t gone unnoticed that the Montreal Canadiens’ first-round pick in the last draft, Gleb Pugachyov, has failed to make Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod’s roster for its four-game opening road trip. Alexei Isakov’s men took on Spartak Moscow on Saturday, then face Dynamo Minsk on the 7th, CSKA Moscow on the 9th, and Lada Togliatti on the 11th before returning home to host Ak Bars Kazan on the 14th.
Given the fact that Pugachyov is only 18 years old, there’s no reason to panic because he could play in the lower leagues (MHL, VHL) this season. Besides, the fact that he’s not in the initial roster doesn’t mean that he won’t be in the near future; there’s a lot of movement in the KHL, and players go up and down levels easily. It’s also worth remembering that in the KHL, rookies do not have it easy; they need to earn their ice time. Even Ivan Demidov struggled to get ice time while playing under Roman Rotenberg at SKA St. Petersburg. It wasn’t as tough for Alexander Zharovsky with Salavat Yulaev Ufa, but it wasn’t as strong a team.
It’s important to remember that Pugachyov was only picked 26th overall by the Canadiens. While Montreal has been blessed with a lot of early selections over the last few years, the team’s emergence from its rebuild means that they won’t get to speak so early at the draft. Pugachyov can play hockey, but he brings size, grit, and energy; he’s not the kind of player who’ll fill the net, which makes it even harder for him to earn a roster spot in the KHL.
The forward signed a two-year contract extension with Torpedo in June 2025, which only expires at the end of the 2027-28 season. There’s no rush; Pugachyov has got plenty of time to develop. In an ideal world, he would develop into a middle-six type of player, but if he turns out to be a supersized third-line winger who’s a pain to play against, it will still be good news for the Canadiens.
It takes a little bit of everything to have a Stanley Cup-winning team; it’s not solely about skills and talent, as demonstrated by the Toronto Maple Leafs, who thought they could plan the parade once they had Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Mitch Marner, John Tavares, and Morgan Rielly. You need more than just headliners; you need depth players who can play the right type of game and thrive in your system.
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