It appears that the Pittsburgh Penguins are about to lose one of their top forward prospects to the KHL next season and beyond.
According to a report by KHL independent news outlet Hockey News Hub, center Vasily Ponomarev - acquired by the Penguins from the Carolina Hurricanes as part of the blockbuster Jake Guentzel trade at the 2024 trade deadline - is on the verge of signing a three-year KHL contract with HC Avangard Omsk.
Although anything official has yet to be confirmed, this follows reports last week of Ponomarev's KHL rights being traded from Spartak Moskva to Avangard.
Ponomarev, 23, was back-and-forth between the AHL and NHL last season. He played in seven NHL games - recording no points - but was a crucial part of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (WBS) Penguins, Pittsburgh's AHL affiliate. In 55 AHL games during the 2024-25 season, Ponomarev had 15 goals and 41 points and played, primarily, in the team's top-six, centering fellow top forward prospects Rutger McGroarty and Avery Hayes.
According to a report by Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey Now on Jun. 6, Ponomarev is likely KHL-bound due to receiving "no guarantees" from the Penguins' organization or from POHO/GM Kyle Dubas.
“My understanding is, yes, [he'll depart for the KHL]," Dubas said. "He switched agents once or twice, and he’s negotiating his own deal over there. He’s young. We’ll continue watching him over there.
"We weren’t going to promise him anything. He got a lot of opportunities with us, and he was injured for part of the other times when we would have called him up. I’ll just keep watching him. It is what it is. That’s the business.”
Dubas also mentioned to PHN that that the Penguins plan to extend Ponomarev a qualifying offer, which means they would retain his NHL rights throughout his stay in Russia.
Penguins' Top Forward Prospect Potentially Departing For KHL
By all indications, there is going to be a pretty substantial youth movement on the <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/pittsburgh-penguins">Pittsburgh Penguins</a>' roster for the 2025-26 season.
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