The Vancouver Canucks had a busy day on Saturday, making five picks at the 2025 NHL Entry Draft.
After the draft ended, however, the Canucks' day wasn't over. General manager Patrik Allvin capped off the day with a minor trade, acquiring the signing rights of Russian centre Ilya Safonov from the Chicago Blackhawks for future considerations.
Safonov was a sixth-round pick of the Blackhawks in 2021 when he was already in his third year of draft eligibility. Accordingly, Safonov is now bordering on not-a-prospect status at the age of 24, with the Blackhawks evidently having little belief in their ability to get him signed to a contract and bringing him over to North America.
At the time of the 2021 draft, Hockey Prospect described Safonov as having "good physicality" in one scouting report, noting his ability to finish checks and use his size to win battles. Size is Safonov's greatest asset, as he's 6'4" and 205 lbs, and the sizeable centre is primarily a defensive forward.
"A smart defense-first type player and an excellent penalty killer with a big frame that sees the ice well," reads his profile from Dobber Prospects. "He makes good decisions with and without the pick and tends to be in the right place at the right time; there is potential for more of a two-way player within the right situation."
Safonov had 22 points in 51 games with Ak Bars Kazan in the KHL last season, which isn't the most inspiring production for that league. Consider that former Canuck Vitaly Kravtsov had 25 goals and 58 points in 66 games and how he was unable to carve out a role in the NHL.
Safonov has a different profile to a player like Kravtsov, however, and it's possible that his responsible defensive game could make him a fit in a bottom-six role for the Canucks in the NHL. He produced at a higher level in previous seasons and attracted some attention from NHL scouts for his two-way game. He's been a consistent contributor to Ak Bars in a middle-six and even top-six role over the past few seasons.
"I would say a lot of teams would like to have a player like me," joked Safonov to The Athletic's Scott Powers in an interview via an interpreter. "Taking it seriously, I would say I’m a reliable player who knows his duties on defense and how to attack and help his partners to play better, be responsible."
"His skating was the knock on him when he was drafted," said Powers at that time. "There are probably still some questions about that, but it hasn’t been a significant issue for him in the KHL."
The folks at Canucks Insider have reported that Safonov will be at the Canucks' development camp next week, suggesting he may be planning on making the jump to North America. That flies in the face of reports in May that Safonov had signed a one-year contract extension in the KHL. It's possible that his contract had an out clause for the NHL or the Canucks could directly negotiate with Ak Bars to release him from his contract.
Another possibility is that Safonov never signed a contract extension with Ak Bars and that it was a negotiating tactic to force the Blackhawks to trade him to another NHL team.
Or it's entirely possible that Safonov will indeed return to the KHL next season and the Canucks will attempt to bring him to Vancouver next year. This may, in fact, be the most likely outcome.
