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Toronto Maple Leafs: Igor Ozhiganov’s Making the Rounds

By Andrew Boehmer

MOSCOW, RUSSIA - FEBRUARY 16, 2017: HC CSKA Moscow's Igor Ozhiganov celebrates scoring in their 2016/17 KHL Regular Season ice hockey match against Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod Region at CSKA Arena. Sergei Savostyanov/TASS (Photo by Sergei SavostyanovTASS via Getty Images)
MOSCOW, RUSSIA - FEBRUARY 16, 2017: HC CSKA Moscow's Igor Ozhiganov celebrates scoring in their 2016/17 KHL Regular Season ice hockey match against Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod Region at CSKA Arena. Sergei Savostyanov/TASS (Photo by Sergei SavostyanovTASS via Getty Images) /
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The Toronto Maple Leafs have some recent history with Russian players.

When the Toronto Maple Leafs brought over Nikita Zaitsev from the KHL, who knew they bringing back gold with them?

Well, that’s exactly what they appear to be looking to do again and if you don’t know the name Igor Ozhiganov, you should because (one) I’ve already written about him and (two) there’s still some interest from the Leafs.

Get to know him because he may very well be coming to Toronto for the 2018-19 season.

If you don’t want to read my past article on him, linked above, then that’s fine, I’ll give a quick report on him below.

Ozhiganov’s a 25-year-old right-handed defenseman, standing at 6’2″ and weighing about 207 lbs, a brick wall on wheels if you will, quite mobile.

He’s playing in his last season under contract with CSKA Moscow (Zaitsev’s former team, the two were teammates) and once the season’s over, he’ll be eligible for contract negotiations with other clubs.

Alright, let’s go to the latest development.

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We’ll be referencing this Sportsnet article for the next little bit, so be sure to give it a read because Toronto’s the apparent front-runner for Ozhiganov’s services as per Elliotte Friedman on Hockey Night in Canada.

"He’s going to be recruited by some NHL teams, but the word out of Russia is that he is most likely going to Toronto next year."

One of the comments on that article is that the rich get richer and whoever said that couldn’t be more correct.

If the Leafs were to sign this guy, there would definitely be some major developments on the blue line, especially since adding another righty to the mix, but then again, that’s exactly what they need.

Here’s a list of roster defenders signed through next season.

  • Morgan Rielly (LH)
  • Nikita Zaitsev (RH)
  • Jake Gardiner (LH)
  • Ron Hainsey (LH)
  • Andreas Borgman (LH)

Connor Carrick will be a restricted free agent after this season’s up and Roman Polak will be an unrestricted free agent, probably not going to be resigned (but we did say that about this season, so who knows).

Actually, we do because they’re basically signed a younger and better Polak with this guy.

Then you look down the pipeline at the logjam and it’s something special, so I’m not too sure on what’ll happen if Ozhiganov gets signed, but I’ll tell you this, he’s not going to be signed to not play.

Next: Not to Worry

Do with that what you will.

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