Canadian
goaltender Chris Driedger, 31,
has signed a one-year contract with Traktor Chelyabinsk, the KHL club
announced on Tuesday.
For
Driedger, who spent the 2024-25 season in the Florida
Panthers and Winnipeg
Jets organizations
but spent the entire season in the AHL,
this will be his first time playing for a team outside North America.
“With
the signing of Chris Driedger,
we have
filled
both goalie positions for next season,” said
Traktor GM Alexei Volkov, himself a former NHL goaltender. Driedger
is slated to share the crease with Sergei Mylnikov Jr., the son of a
former NHL and Soviet national team goalie.
Volkov
said that Driedger “is
in
the prime of his goalie career. He’s a large goalie who played
decently in the NHL and became a World Championship medalist.
Now Chris needs a new challenge, which he will get at Traktor. I’m
confident that our organization and coaching staff will help him
with a quick adaptation and reach the top level of the KHL.”
Driedger,
who hails from Winnipeg, played junior hockey for the WHL’s
Tri-City Americans and Calgary Hitmen, was chosen in the third round,
76th
overall, by the Ottawa
Senators in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft.
Olympic Men’s Hockey Teams Name First Six Players
All 12 teams that will compete in the men’s tournament of the 2026
Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy have now announced their rosters.
Between
2014 and 2024, Driedger played 67 NHL regular-season games for the
Senators, Panthers and Seattle
Kraken, compiling a record of 31-24-5 with a goals-against
average of 2.45, a save percentage of .917 and five shutouts. He also
played three playoff games for Florida in 2021.
Internationally,
Driedger played in six of Canada’s 10 games at the 2022 IIHF World
Championship in Finland, backstopping the team to a silver medal.
Driedger,
whose NHL rights are for now retained by Winnipeg, joins a Traktor
team that includes former NHLers Vladimir Zahkarov and Jordan Gross,
as well as prospects
Arseni Koromyslov (St.
Louis Blues),
Semyon Der-Arguchintsev (Toronto
Maple Leafs),
Matvei Guskov (Minnesota
Wild)
and Vasili Glotov (Buffalo
Sabres).
Photo © Sergei Belski-Imagn Images: Chris Driedger playing for the Seattle Kraken in the 2023-24 season.
defenseman Jordan Gross, 30, has signed a one-year contract with
Traktor Chelyabinsk, the
KHL club announced on Friday. Gross played his first season in
Europe last season in the KHL with Dinamo Minsk, where he recorded 42
points in 77 regular-season and playoff games.
Read the full article here
