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Maltsev Loaned to SKA St. Petersburg of KHL

First off, I apologize for the lack of content recently. I have had some Microsoft Word problems and have been letting the Playoffs run their course before getting back into things.

And speaking of the Playoffs, congratulations to former Devil Blake Coleman, who not only won the Stanley Cup last night with a 2-0 Tampa Bay Lightning win over the Dallas Stars in game six of the Final, but also tallied that second goal for Tampa in their Cup clincher. When it became obvious that Tampa was going to win, I was rooting for Dallas to get on the board with one so that Coleman’s goal would go down as the Cup-clincher. That was not to be, but congrats to him and the Lightning on their redemption championship following last year’s implosion at the hands of the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Former Devils goaltender Scott Wedgewood was also a part of the winners, as the third goalie on the roster. Not sure if his name will get on the Cup, but as Devils Insiders pointed out on Twitter, it was good to see him get to skate the Cup last night in Edmonton anyway.

Now on to the business at hand. Devils forward prospect Mikhail Maltsev has been loaned to SKA St. Petersburg of the Kontinental Hockey League according to a press release put out by the Devils today.

He will be recalled prior to the beginning of NHL training camp for the 2020-21 season in November.

According to the press release, Maltsev spent last season with the Binghamton Devils of the American Hockey League where he notched 11 goals, 10 assists for a total of 21 points over 49 games played.

Like all of the other loaning out of prospects in recent months, this is merely a way for Maltsev to get some reps while the NHL is in its unconventional offseason.

As mentioned, he will be brought back to North America prior to training camp, but will be playing in his native Russia for the time-being.

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Speers Nets Assist as Soo Takes Series Lead over Flint

Blake Speers had an assist on the game winning goal in game four as the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds took a three games to one series lead over the Flint Firebirds. The Greyhounds won 5-2 at the Dort Federal Event Center in Flint.

Speers had the primary assist on Boris Katchouk’s goal just 17 seconds into the second period to make it 3-0 at the time. Bobby MacIntyre had the secondary assist on the goal. Morgan Frost, Otto Makinen, David Miller and MacIntyre also scored for Sault Ste. Marie to give the Greyhounds a commanding lead in their best-of-seven series.

Everett Clark and Kole Sherwood had the goals for the Firebirds. Hayden Verbeek – nephew of Devils alumni Pat Verbeek – assisted on Miller’s goal at 2:35 along with Jack Kopacka to give the Greyhounds a 4-0 lead at the time.

Game five of this opening round OHL playoff series takes place on March 31 from the Essar Centre in Sault Ste. Marie.

Another Devils prospect is also having some playoff success on another continent. Yegor Rykov, currently playing for SKA St. Petersburg of the Kontinental Hockey League has advanced to the Gagarin Cup Finals and will play for the top trophy in Russian hockey.

SKA completed a sweep of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl in their best-of-seven Western Conference Final earlier today at Arena 2000 in Yaroslavl.

Former Devil Ilya Kovalchuk also, of course, plays for SKA St. Petersburg while another former Devil, Andrei Loktionov is a member of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. SKA will meet the winners of the Eastern Conference Final, currently ongoing between Ak Bars Kazan and Metallurg Magnitogorsk.

The KHL’s Gagarin Cup Finals begin early next month.