At the 2023 draft, the Montreal Canadiens picked a right-shot defenseman with the 110th selection in the fourth round: Bogdan Konyushkov. Since then, we haven’t seen him in Montreal, and he has never taken part in the development camp. However, he will be there this Summer, according to an exclusive interview with RG.org.

The 6-foot and 171-pound blueliner may not be overly big, but he plays big. At just 22 years old, he’s already had three full seasons of professional hockey in the KHL under the watchful eye of Detroit Red Wings legend Igor Larionov. Unfortunately, after Nizhny Novgorod Torpedo was swept in the first round of the playoffs by the eventual Gagarin Cup champions, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, Larionov was dismissed. He didn’t remain without a job for long, though, as SKA St. Petersburg has hired him to replace Roman Rotenberg.

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After scoring 28 points in 65 games last season, Konyushkov managed only 17 this season, a situation he attributed to his team’s uneven play, as reported by RG.org. After his KHL side was eliminated, he was loaned to Torpedo’s VHL affiliate’s Torpedo Gorky, where he had a great playoff run, posting 13 points in 17 games and contributing to the Petrov Cup conquest.

While the youngster would have liked to attend the development camp last season, he was unable to do so because he didn’t have a passport. As soon as he obtained it, he got the visa he needed to come over this Summer, and he has confirmed that he will be a full participant in on-ice sessions and will benefit from the Canadiens’ development team.

Konyushkov has played alongside Ivan Demidov on the national team and wasn’t surprised when he headed over to Montreal in the spring; it was a possibility his friend had mentioned to him in the past.

He was pleased that Demidov was able to score in his first NHL game and recalled that the replay of the goal was shown five times before he played a game in the VHL against Chelmet in the playoffs.

It will be interesting to see what Konyushkov can do in person this summer; the Canadiens aren’t exactly set when it comes to right-shot defensemen, and perhaps his presence in the pipeline is part of the reason why there is so much chatter about Logan Mailloux potentially being on the market. The Russian youngster still has a year left on his contract with Torpedo, though, so we’ll have to wait until the end of his next season to see if the Habs decide to sign him. However, I certainly wouldn’t bet against that possibility from what I’ve seen and heard so far.

Photo credit: Curtesy of KHL X account

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