The Carolina Hurricanes had such little goaltending depth earlier this season that Jack LaFontaine had to be signed in the middle of his college season. Now they’ve pulled off another interesting move, assigning Pyotr Kochetkov back to the AHL’s Chicago Wolves.
Kochetkov had been loaned to Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod of the KHL for this season after signing his two-year, entry-level contract last year. He played 23 games there, recording an impressive .926 save percentage but with the recent announcement that following the Olympics the KHL will go directly into the postseason, his year was over. Torpedo missed the playoffs by just a few points, meaning Kochetkov can now come to North America and get his AHL career underway.
That KHL decision could have interesting impacts on NHL and AHL teams, as players are available a little earlier than expected. The 22-year-old Kotchetkov has a very high ceiling as a second-round pick from 2019 and could make an impact in the Hurricanes organization right away. At the very worst, he adds another interesting netminder to the system as the team looks to go on a long playoff run–Chicago, that is. The Wolves are 27-9-7 on the year, in first place in the AHL’s Central Division and eight points ahead of the second-place Manitoba Moose. A Calder Cup contender, they’ve received another reinforcement just in time for the stretch run.