Ivan Chekhovich knows this year needs to count.
While the state of all three professional men’s hockey leagues in North America are in flux, most prospects sent abroad this fall are expecting to come back within the next month or so, assuming the NHL is able to return sometime in January. Chekhovich isn’t one of those players, though, instead playing out the year with Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod in Russia’s top men’s league.
After a disappointing debut AHL season with the San Jose Barracuda, the hope is that he’ll have a solid development year in the KHL. Since joining the Torpedo, Chekhovich has tallied four goals and 11 assists over 14 games.