The NHL preseason had always been a reminder Max Shalunov was still a Chicago Blackhawks prospect.
Season after season after season, his name would appear during the preseason on the NHL’s official roster report as a scratch along with every other Blackhawks player officially on the team’s reserve list. You’d find players just drafted and others, like Shalunov, who were older and whose NHL windows were probably closed but they were still technically on the reserve list because the Blackhawks possessed their NHL rights indefinitely. A season ago, Shalunov was listed there and even had a number, No. 46.
But come Wednesday in the Blackhawks’ first preseason game this season, Shalunov’s name was gone. He and some other players the Blackhawks had previously owned the rights to indefinitely had disappeared from the roster report. A league source confirmed Thursday that Shalunov was no longer on the Blackhawks’ reserve list.
For some, that may be non-news or worth nothing more than a mention on X. Of course, it’s different for me. It only seemed fitting to file one final Shalunov story. Although it had become obvious in recent years that Shalunov, who was drafted by the Blackhawks in 2011 and is now 31 years old, would never sign with the organization, the news felt like the official end of an era.
Anyone who has followed me or The Athletic long enough knows more about Shalunov than they probably wish to. Back in 2016 during The Athletic’s first year of existence, Brian Hedger, who was then writing for us, had heard the Blackhawks still owned Shalunov’s rights despite him having come over to North America and played in the AHL and ECHL for a season early his career and then opted to return to Russia, his native country. After returning to Russia, Shalunov developed into one of the KHL’s top young players. He had a massive shot and was scoring goals at an impressive rate at 22, 23 years old.
The entire story fascinated me. As much as my love for Shalunov became a running joke, it was the possibility that obsessed me more than anything. Here was this former fourth-round draft pick who gave North America a shot, went back to Russia, was forgotten about by nearly all Blackhawks fans, unexpectedly began to flourish in the KHL and could still become an NHL player with the Blackhawks because of something that seemed like a loophole. The NHL doesn’t have a player transfer agreement with Russia like the NHL has with other countries, and that allows NHL teams to possess a Russian-drafted player’s rights for potentially forever. Shalunov could have still signed with the Blackhawks at any age or technically be a Blackhawks prospect for his entire life if he remained on their reserve list. It was all so bizarre but intriguing to me. So I wrote about it whenever I had some new information.
To be fair, I probably wrote about the possibility more than was needed. But in my defense, for one, fans seemed interested, at least early on, and it was a story The Athletic was following that other Blackhawks beat writers weren’t that interested in. The Athletic wasn’t permitted a credential by the Blackhawks initially and didn’t travel to most of the games until later on. We were looking for anything that could separate us and our Shalunov coverage gave us a lane. Outside of Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, Shalunov is the other name I’m confident The Athletic founders know of from those early days.
Secondly, there did appear a realistic possibility Shalunov could sign with the Blackhawks. Stan Bowman, who was then the Blackhawks general manager, kept that possibility open on record a few different times. Shalunov’s agent, Shumi Babaev, certainly did, too. I became more aware of the time difference between Chicago and Moscow than I ever thought I would with all my communications with Babaev. I’ll never forget receiving a text from Babaev with some Shalunov news and then writing a story at the hospital hours before my first child was born in 2017. My child’s name does not include Max or Shalunov.
Well, hello again, Max Shalunov, pic.twitter.com/yHjSxsMYpp
— Scott Powers (@ByScottPowers) February 11, 2019
And then, of course, there were my actual interactions with Shalunov. We met twice in person. He was playing for Russia at the World Championships one year when I was covering it in Denmark in 2018. And then his KHL team happened to be playing in Slovakia when I was over there working on a story about Marian Hossa in 2019. Both times he seemed comfortable being interviewed and expressed an interest in playing for the Blackhawks.
The likelihood of Shalunov signing with the Blackhawks did diminish over time. The Blackhawks were trying to keep their Stanley Cup window open and Shalunov may have fit as a third-line forward and power-play specialist, but there was no guarantee. He sought financial and roster assurances the Blackhawks weren’t willing to give. The Blackhawks went in other directions and Shalunov re-signed in Russia; he was one of the top-paid players in the KHL at one point. And when Bowman departed the Blackhawks, Kyle Davidson never seemed to entertain the idea of signing Shalunov. That time had passed. Aside from the tongue-in-cheek updates on social media, I haven’t written about Shalunov in some time.
Shalunov’s NHL dream will probably never happen. He’s still a solid player. He had 17 goals and 19 assists in 68 games in the KHL last season and is off to a decent start this season. But he’s not going to pop up on any NHL team’s radar at his age. It’s not as if the Blackhawks were receiving trade offers for his rights before either. He definitely improved since his early days with the Rockford IceHogs, but he wasn’t a sure-thing NHLer.
Although Shalunov will never play an NHL game for the Blackhawks, he will probably be remembered by some Blackhawks fans. Jon Greenberg likes to keep his name alive on social media. In a way, Shalunov helped The Athletic grow, too. He’ll certainly always have a special place in my mind from those early days of this site.
(Photo: Stanislav Krasilnikov / TASS via Getty Images)
