Exciting news for the OHL's Sudbury Wolves. The team is bringing some Russian talent to their defense lineup for the upcoming season, and this player comes with impressive NHL lineage. 

The Wolves announced on Monday that they have signed their first-round selection from the 2025 CHL Import Draft, Artyom Gonchar. 

Artyom is the nephew of Sergei Gonchar, one of the greatest Russian defensemen of all time. He was recently drafted in the third round, 89th overall, by the New York Rangers in the 2025 NHL Draft. He spent last season playing in Russia’s junior league (MHL) for Stalnye Lisy Magnitogorsk, where he tallied seven goals and 25 points in 50 games. 

“Artyom is a player that we have been high on from this past season. He is a very intelligent, smooth-skating defenseman. He has great vision and offensive instincts and is a skilled playmaker. He is a 19-year-old defenseman we targeted to fill minutes lost to key graduating players. We are excited to welcome Artyom and his family to Sudbury,” said Rob Papineau, Vice President and GM of the Sudbury Wolves.

Gonchar is a left-shot defenseman standing at 6-foot-1 and 165 pounds. EliteProspects wrote the following on him:

“Gonchar is capable of completing various types of passes, threading those precisely around opponents on breakouts. He prepares his feeds with skating moves to open lanes and misdirecting defenders, and he’s also capable of deception at the offensive line. Constantly activating, he freezes defenders with shot feints, attacks down, and relays passes to teammates or creates his own shots.”