Anaheim Ducks goaltending prospect Igor Bobkov has announced that he will be heading to the KHL to play next season.
The writing was on the wall when the Ducks made a surprise trade early in the summer to acquire Anton Khudobin from the Carolina Hurricanes. Importantly, the Ducks didn’t issue the goaltender a qualifying offer. If they had he would have been buried behind Frederik Andersen, John Gibson and Khudobin.
The former 3rd round pick in 2009, never made his way into the NHL despite getting some call-ups last year while the team was mired in a goaltending crisis that saw them play Jason LaBarbera and sign Ilya Bryzgalov.
In fact, he only played seven games last season for AHL Norfolk, spending most of the year with the Utah Grizzlies in the ECHL.
After Anaheim chose not to submit a qualifying offer, he became an unrestricted free agent. Whether it was a lack of opportunities at the AHL level or a decision that he’d get more out of playing at the top level in the KHL, Bobkov decided it was time to move on. Now, he’ll play for Admiral Vladivostok next season, according to Igor Eronko of Sports-Express.
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