The Chicago Blackhawks won’t be seeing Maxim Shalunov suit up in the red, white, and black anytime soon. According to The Athletic, The KHL star has agreed to a three-year contract with Sibir Novosibirsk that sets him up to be traded to another team — CSKA and SKA are the top rumored suitors — in the coming days.
The Blackhawks will continue holding Shalunov’s rights due to the lack of a proper transfer agreement between the NHL and KHL. This is why the Hawks still hold the rights to goaltender Ivan Nalimov, and as long as 2016 draft pick Artur Kayumov stays in the Russian system, they’ll hold his rights indefinitely, too.