With the pandemic delaying the start of the 2020-21 season, some teams are trying to make arrangements for their prospects to play elsewhere. The Devils are one of those as Dinamo Minsk of the KHL announced that they have reached an agreement with New Jersey that allows prospect Yegor Sharangovich to start next season with them.
The winger is no stranger to the Belarusian program as it is his hometown team and he spent a season with them in 2017-18. He did well enough with them to convince New Jersey to use a fifth-round pick on him (141st overall) to secure his NHL rights in the 2018 draft.
The 22-year-old has spent the last two seasons with their AHL affiliate in Binghamton where his offensive progression has been limited. Sharangovich managed 10 goals and 15 assists in 57 games this season which represented an improvement on his 17 points (9-8-17) in 68 contests in his rookie year. However, he’ll need to take a big step forward on the final year of his entry-level deal to get an NHL opportunity.
Going this route certainly won’t hurt his chances. Sharangovich will get the opportunity to get into playing shape during the KHL season which should give him the chance to hit the ground running when AHL training camp eventually opens as Minsk has already committed to allowing him to return to North America. If the AHL season winds up starting around the same time the NHL is projected to start, he’ll have more than two months worth of games under his belt by then.