Avangard Omsk of the KHL has signed free agent defencemen Alexei Emelin to a three-year contract. Emelin was most recently with the Nashville Predators before deciding to head overseas once again. He joins his former Montreal teammate David Desharnais.
After 7 seasons in the NHL Alexei Emelin heads to Avangard. pic.twitter.com/qGiancgkmf
— KHL (@khl_eng) September 2, 2018
Alexei Emelin Signs With Avangard Omsk
Over his seven-year NHL career Emelin has played with the Nashville Predators and Montreal Canadiens. He has scored 15 goals and 66 assists for 81 career points in 456 career NHL games. Emelin has also added one goal and five points in 39 career playoff games. He was originally drafted in the third round, 84th overall in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft by the Montreal Canadiens. His best year came during the 2013-2014 season when he recorded three goals and 14 assists for 17 points for the Habs.
This season he scored one goal and eight assists for nine points in 76 games with Nashville. He also added 40 minutes in penalties. His possession numbers were 46.3 percent Corsi For with a relative Corsi of -6.9. Emelin failed to record a point in 10 Stanley Cup Playoff games this season. He was also a healthy scratch for three of the seven games of Nashville’s series loss to the Winnipeg Jets in the second round.
Emelin is coming off of a four-year, $16.4 million dollar contract with an AAV of $4.1 million that he signed with the Canadiens in November 2013. He was selected by the Vegas Golden Knights in the expansion draft. Last July, the Knights traded him to Nashville for a 2019 third round pick.
What This Means For The Future
After a disappointing season for Emelin and no new contract, he decided to head back overseas once more. In the KHL, Emelin previously played for Ak Bars Kazan from 2007-08 to 2010-11 and briefly during the lockout in 2012-13. He recorded 14 goals and 31 assists in 173 KHL games
Whether or not Emelin tries to make an NHL comeback after his contract ends is yet to be known. But he is expected to make an impact with Avangard Omsk.
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