According to a team statement, the Jets assigned defensive prospect Artemi Kniazev to Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod of the KHL on Sunday.
The remaining 2023–24 season will be spent by 22-year-old Kniazev in his own nation. He has been a full-time player in North America since moving here to play junior hockey with the Chicoutimi Saguenéens of the QMJHL in 2018, therefore this will be his first stay in the Russian top league.
The 6-foot, 181-pound blueliner played one NHL game in 2021–2022 with the Sharks. He was a 2019 draft pick by San Jose, chosen 48th overall, but Winnipeg signed him last summer in return for the signing rights of German defense prospect Leon Gawanke, 24, who was a 24-year-old prospect.
Before being traded to the Sharks, Gawanke, who led the Jets’ AHL affiliate, the Manitoba Moose, in defenseman points last season, signed a four-year contract to return to Germany because he was dissatisfied with his lack of NHL experience. He immediately canceled his international contract and inked a one-year, two-way contract with San Jose. Despite not having been called up to the NHL by San Jose yet, Gawanke is once again leading the San Jose Barracuda in defenseman points scored, having scored 20 in 26 games.
For Kniazev, things haven’t gone as well in his new house, though. In his final junior season with Chicoutimi, he scored more than a point per game, indicating a higher-ceiling point-producing prospect. Despite his two seasons with the Barracuda, he was unable to reach the 30-point plateau. This season, he has played in 20 games for Manitoba and has five assists and a -12 rating. It’s unknown if the Jets wanted to clear a space on their farm team, if Kniazev asked for a loan back to Russia, or if the decision was mutual.
Kniazev’s first employment with Nizhny Novgorod is the loan. He had grown up in the Ak Bars Kazan system, having also played a brief loan stint there in 2020 while the NHL was suspended because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Numerous elite prospects for the 2024 draft hail from Nizhny Novgorod, but none bigger (figuratively) than 6-foot-7 blueliner Anton Silayev, who is just 17 years old. In addition, Vasili Atanasov, a 21-year-old free agent winger who was overlooked in the previous few drafts, is reportedly attracting NHL attention after scoring 19 goals and 38 points in 40 games.
