Goaltending prospect Yevgeni Volohkin only allows one goal in his VHL preseason debut
While the words “Russian prospect” and “Montreal Canadiens” tied together usually mean Ivan Demidov is being discussed, it was a different budding Eastern European who had a solid start in his VHL preseason debut.
Goaltending prospect Yevgeni Volohkin took to the crease for HC Yugra, stopping 18 of 19 shots—and four of five shots in the shootout—in a 2-1 victory against Ak Bars Kazan. The sole goal against came when opposing forward Rasim Shakirov found himself alone on the breakaway, netting the puck glove side.
The netminder displayed sound composure in the first frame. After sprawling out to take away a shooting angle on a Bars Kazan attacker, he quickly recuperated from being out of position to make a big blocker save on a shot from the slot area.
Volohkin was drafted by the Canadiens in the fifth round of the 2023 draft, 144th overall. He has played two seasons in the MHL with Mamonty Yugry, wherein he appeared in 62 games, going 42-10-7 with a 1.83 goals against average and a .932 save percentage.
The Canadiens have plenty of depth in the goaltending position if you factor in Sam Montembeualt, Cayden Primeau and Jacob Fowler, who all are under the age of 30. It is unlikely that Volohkin will get a shot to prove his worth in North America any time soon, but if he continues to perform adequately, he’ll find success no matter what side of the ocean he plays on.
