Toronto Maple Leafs Loan Goalie Prospect Back to the KHL
Tuesday evening, the Score’s Kyle Kushman reported that the Toronto Maple Leafs had loaned goalie prospect Artur Akhtyamov to Ak Bars Kazan of the KHL for the upcoming 2023-24 season.
The Toronto Maple Leafs had selected Akhtyamov in the fourth round of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft and had signed him to a three-year entry level contract on at the beginning of this month.
The 6’0″, 170 lbs goalie had an impressive 2022-23 season playing in Russia’s junior league as the number one goalie for the Neftyanik Almetievsk club where he posted a 1.74 goals against average and .943 Save Percentage.
Toronto Maple Leafs Have Goaltending Prospect Depth
Unfortunately, Akhtyamov club was knocked out in the first round of the playoffs.
It is unclear what the goaltending plans for the Toronto Marlies was going to be for the upcoming season as there were rumours of a Brian Elliott signing which would likely put him in the AHL.
The Leafs likely want Elliott in case one of Woll or Samsonov gets injured, but keeping a 3rd NHL goalie is difficult because they have to constantly clear waivers. Even if the Leafs do sign a goalie like Elliott, he’s unlikely to take too much time from the prospect they want starting AHL games.
Akhtyamov would have been in battle for limited playing time between a veteran addition, whether it being Elliott or another signing, along with Dennis Hildeby and Vyacheslav Peksa.
Hildeby had already joined the Toronto Maple Leafs organization late in the 2022-23 season, getting into some game action in both the regular season and playoffs for the Toronto Marlies. Next to Joseph Woll, Hildeby is the Leafs top goalie prospect and stands at a menacing 6’6″.
Like Akhtyamov, Peksa also signed his entry level contract this off-season with the Toronto Marlies and played last year in the Russian Junior League with a couple starts in the KHL minor league system.
By going to Ak Bars Kazan, Akhtyamov will battle undrafted 28-year old Timur Bilyalov and former Tampa Bay Lightning prospect Amir Miftakhov.
Akhtyamov has not played in the KHL since the 2021-22 season when he played in just one game surrendering four goals on 17 shots.
The Maple Leafs goalie prospect will likely get a better opportunity to develop with Ak Bars Kazan rather than his likely destination which would have been for the Newfoundland Growlers of the ECHL.
Next. Maple Leafs Cap Trouble. dark
The move does not create any cap space that the Maple Leafs are currently trying to create.