Just
three days after signing a multi-year contract to return to Avangard
Omsk, Michael McLeod suited up for the KHL club’s road game on
Sunday against Metallurg Magnitogorsk.
In
15:53 of ice time, McLeod didn’t register any points, but had a
shot on goal, three hits, and was 18-for-36 in the faceoff circle as
Omsk won 5-1.
Evgeny
Kuznetsov, playing in just his second game of the season for
Magnitogorsk after
signing
with the team on
Oct. 1,
assisted on his team’s only goal – his second point in two games.
The
game was a match-up between the top two teams in the KHL’s Eastern
Conference. It was just Magnitogorsk’s third defeat in 14 games.
On
Thursday, the Omsk club announced
the signing of McLeod to a three-year contract. According
to Avangard GM Alexei Sopin, the
Canadian center was already in Omsk at the time and travelled with
the team to start the road trip but was unable to play on Friday in
Yekaterinburg due to unfinished paperwork. It was unclear whether
he’d play on Sunday until the lineups were announced.
Ex-NHLers Swap Teams In KHL Trade
In a trade announced Tuesday between KHL Eastern Conference teams
Salavat Yulaev Ufa and Ak Bars Kazan, two ex-NHL players are changing
addresses. American center Alexander Chmelevski, 26, is heading to
Kazan and Canadian defenseman Wyatt Kalynuk, 28, is heading the other
way.
It
was not mentioned in the club’s announcement whether McLeod’s
contract contains an escape clause in the event he receives an NHL
offer, but such clauses are common. As per the terms of his NHL
suspension, McLeod will become eligible to sign an NHL contract on
Oct. 15, although he was allowed to negotiate with teams and agree to
terms as early as Oct. 1.
McLeod
and four teammates from the 2018 Canadian national junior team –
Dillon
Dubé, Cal Foote, Alex Formenton, and Carter Hart – were acquitted
in July of sexual assault charges that stemmed from an incident that
took place at
a team event in
2018
in London, Ont.
McLeod
is the second of the five players to sign with a European club since
the acquittals. In September, Fomenton
signed with HC Ambri-Piotta of Switzerland’s National League.
McLeod
played in the KHL last season, first
for Barys Astana and then
for Omsk, recording 19 points in 35 regular-season games. He also
had eight points in nine playoff games for Omsk before leaving the
team in April to return to Canada for the start of the trial.
Michael McLeod Finds New KHL Team
Canadian center Michael McLeod, 26, has signed a contract to play the remainder of the current season with Avangard Omsk, the KHL club announced on Tuesday.
Born
in Mississauga, Ont., McLeod played
junior hockey
for
his hometown Mississauga Steelheads of the OHL
and
was
chosen in the first round, 12th overall, by the New
Jersey Devils in the
2016
NHL
Entry Draft.
Between
2018 and 2024, McLeod played 287 regular-season NHL games for the
Devils, registering 29 goals, 56 assists, 85 points and 187 penalty
minutes. His only NHL playoff action came in 2023, recording six
points in 12 games as the Devils advanced to the second round.
In
addition to McLeod, the Avangard roster includes ex-NHLers Nail
Yakupov, Vyacheslav Voynov, Maxime Lajoie and Alexander Volkov. The
team’s coach is former NHL head coach Guy Boucher.
