The Wild announced Wednesday they have inked Marat Khusnutdinov to a two-year entry-level contract.
Khusnutdinov was the team’s second-round pick in the 2020 draft and has spent the last four seasosn starring in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).
The Athletic’s Michael Russo reported that Khusnutdinov will join the team as soon as he receives a U.S. work visa and his immigration papers are complete.
Gets the max ELC 925K per year. #mnwild starting the immigration process, so it’ll be a little bit before he crosses the pond. Wild expect to play and “want him to help us,” but they’ll do the right thing for the team, too, as it battles for playoff spot, Guerin tells me https://t.co/lHKUZpMUZ4
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) February 28, 2024
The 21-year-old finished the 2023-24 KHL season with 20 points (six goals and 14 assists) in 49 games for HK Sochi. Khusnutdinov had 41 points (11 goals and 30 assists) for SKA St. Petersburg during the 2022-23 season.
The Athletic considers the young center as the Wild’s fifth-best prospect saying, “He projects as a potential third-line type who can play up and down the lineup.”
Marat Khusnutdinov appears to be on his way to the NHL.
His development pattern has been up and down and a bit all over the place. But the Wild likely have a nice top 9 piece here with some potential to be something pretty significant. https://t.co/yI72OKgnHN pic.twitter.com/a5UWpgNenr
— Byron Bader (@ByronMBader) February 28, 2024
Russo reports that until Khusnutdinov’s paperwork is complete the team will designate him to non-roster status in order to stay under the 23-player threshold. If the paperwork is completed ahead of the March 8 trade deadline the Wild will need to clear a roster spot in order to fit Khusnutdinov on the squad. After the trade deadline teams are able to roster more than 23 players as long as they remain cap compliant.
