In college hockey this time of year is often referred to as ‘trophy season’ because of all the hardware being handed out to individual players, team’s winning conference tournaments, and the NCAA National Championship. In pro hockey circles, we should probably call this ‘signing season.’ Although most fans are likely more familiar with the big-name players on the move every summer around July 1 and NHL Free Agency, plenty of groundwork toward the future happens around this time of year, as well.
Three major elements are in play right now. First, NHL teams are working to sign undrafted college free agents (ed note: the Kings are not expected to fish in that pond this time around, yet it has been plenty fruitful for LA over the past decade). Second, NHL clubs are working to sign their own college prospects, guys who may be ready to leave university life and turn pro — a topic recently touched on with LA draft pick Kenny Connors, for example, here.
And then there are previously drafted players in junior leagues or for various teams overseas that NHL organizations are looking to sign to entry level contracts. One such name on that list for the Kings is their third-round selection at the 2021 NHL Draft, defenseman Kirill Kirsanov.
Could this finally be the long-awaited signing of the talented left-shot defender? All signs point in that direction. For a little context on this topic, at the Draft that year, Yannetti said the Kings went for quality over quantity. They only selected three players that year: Brandt Clarke (RD1), Franky Pinelli and Sammy Helenius (RD2), and Kirsanov (RD3). The latter is finishing up what should be his final season under KHL contract and is apparently primed to come over to North America in the months ahead. Last summer, he visited LA and attended Development Camp in a non-playing capacity, as he was still recovering from offseason surgery.
Joining Kirsanov on that trip was NHL legend Igor Larionov, his coach back home. Kings scouts have made several visits overseas the past few years to monitor how Kirsanov has been doing on the ice and where he’s at developmentally.
“I’ve seen him play and he has some excellent attributes,” Yannetti said on a Kings Of The Podcast episode last year. “He plays a little bit heavy, and he does some things that we really need in our lineup. It’s just, until he’s over here, you don’t know if he’s going to be over here, right? … As far as a prospect, I’m very, very happy; it’s all positive. If he comes over very soon, that path to the NHL goes really well. If all of a sudden, you get [too many more delays], now it turns over to the negative.”
Kirsanov is 22 years old and will turn 23 before next season begins. Thus, the time to make the adjustment to North America is now. Considering he most likely would still need some time in the AHL before making an impact at the NHL level, time is ticking.
Assistant GM Nelson Emerson shared similar sentiments to Yannetti during one of his KOTP appearances last year — “It excites me that he was over here. He’s been a kid who has just had a tough go over the last couple years, with his health and injuries and things like that, plus trying to find a place to play. He was traded over there and all this kind of stuff. But I just love the fact that he came here had a great experience. Everyone liked him. Glenn Murray was raving about him, including the kind of person he is. That excites us. … Hopefully things go positively this year and then we can see him at least over here in North America at the end of the [season].”
Last day of the KHL regular season was Sunday. Kirsanov’s Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod team qualified for the playoffs, so both parties aren’t at the finish line just yet. Things are getting closer, but he’s committed to helping his current club before any real discussions can be had.
During the aforementioned trip last summer, Mayor’s Manor had an extended one-on-one conversation with Larionov about where things stood with the young Russian defender.
“I call him Kearsy,” was the first thing Larionov shared — funny only because most people think of the three-time Stanley Cup winner as being so serious (with his own nickname of ‘the professor’).
“If you look at aspects of his game, he’s smart, he has great hockey sense,” Larionov continued. “What was initially lacking was understanding the game off the ice. I’m talking about the discipline of nutrition, sleep, a lot of different things. When we got him last year to our team, Torpedo, I told him, ‘There is a short life for hockey players. It could be longer, could be shorter. If you can change certain things, [it will pay off].’ Once he accepted that kind of advice, to take care of little details here and there, he started to look much better. He started to look more fit and more energetic, his overall game started to flourish.”
The longtime NHL player turned coach later explained why he felt it was important for Kirsanov to attend Dev Camp, even if he couldn’t participate in all of the on-ice activities last July.
“It gave him a chance to see what’s ahead of him,” Larionov remarked. “He can see guys training here and see the facility. We can talk to the coaches, and he could watch the video [sessions]. It gave him a chance to see how to get better and what to expect. And I told Blakey, I said, ‘Sometimes it’s a privilege to play with a guy [like Kirsanov]. When I had to chase the puck, as a forward, you like it when your defensemen can make it happen, when they make a great first pass.’ That’s what Kearsy is all about. He’s a quiet, very modest guy, very humble. But he works hard at [the game] and we are very impressed.”
After a brief discussion about the growing similarities between play in the KHL and NHL — including the fact that roughly 75% of the arenas over there now use NHL-sized ice surfaces — Larionov went back to explaining why he was so adamant about Kirsanov visiting Toyota Sports Performance Center.
“I told him, ‘You can ask me anything you want,’ but it’s best when you come yourself. You can read books, you can watch videos, you can [observe] from outside. But when you’re inside of this kind of environment, it makes you wonder, ‘Someday I could be playing in Crypto.com Arena.’ You could have 20, 000 people watching you, and that’s [a good thing]. You should want to play the best against the best. If he’s ready, he could be the next [Mikhail] Sergachev or Vladislav [Gavrikov]. Why not? That would be good for him!”
Also included in the conversation with Larionov was a walk down memory lane, where the Hockey Hall of Famer shared both some good and bad memories of playing games as part of a visiting team in Los Angeles.
“I scored my first playoff goal back at the old Forum, when I was with Vancouver,” he recalled. “The bad memories include 2001. We were winning the series 3-0. We came here and were up in the third period but gave up three goals in the last five minutes. The Kings scored again in overtime to win it and We lost the next three games to LA after that.”
While everybody patiently waits to see if Kirsanov signs a contract with the Kings soon, be sure to check out Eric Belanger’s thoughts on that 1991 Stanely Cup Playoff series with Detroit — aka the ‘Frenzy on Figueroa’ — via his interview linked below.
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