Avangard Hockey Club and Washington Capitals first round draft pick Ivan Miroshnichenko have agreed to a mutual contract termination, according to the club’s official website.
“When signing the contract, it was agreed that shall Ivan have a desire to try his hand in North America, the club will let him go there – in the final year of the agreement,” said Anton Kuryanov, Avangard General Manager.
“The forward wants to achieve his dream this year, we won’t stay in his way, even though I believe this decision is premature. Miroshnichenko could try to become a full-time KHLer, especially since Avangard gave him such an opportunity last season. We understand that he was not able to fully participate in preseason training camp due to recovery from illness, which made the end of the season far from being great for him,” added Kuryanov.
“Nevertheless, he managed to perform a real sports feat – he returned to play and kept scoring points in every game. Unfortunately, due to objective and subjective reasons, in the JHL playoffs we didn’t see the Ivan Miroshnichenko that we expected to see. In any case, he has made his decision and we have kept our word. We wish Ivan good luck and good health.”
Related: Ivan Miroshnichenko: 2022-23 Annual Review And Forecast
Miroshnichenko, 19, was selected by the Washington Capitals in the first round (#20 overall) of the 2022 NHL Entry Draft. The 6’1”, 195lb right-hander hails from Primorsky Krai, Russia, where he developed his game and ultimately garnered the attention of KHL and NHL scouts.
CAREER SUMMARY
Miroshnichenko began his hockey career playing for Vityaz Podolsk until the age of 18 when he joined the Avangard system. In 2021 he played for Omskie Yastreby in the MHL and joined the VHL team for the 2021-22 season. Miroshnichenko was also captain for Team Russia when they won gold in the 2021 Hlinka-Gretzky Cup.
2022 was a trying year for Miroshnichenko, as he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in February of that year. After undergoing successful treatment for the disease, which included specialized treatments in Germany, he was cleared by doctors to return to skating and workouts in June of 2022.
Capitals assistant general manager Ross Mahoney told NHL.com that Washington’s medical staff examined Miroshnichenko’s health records, and that he felt good about the player’s status following a video conference with him in May.
“I was in Germany in April at the Under-18 World Championship and met Ivan and his father,” Mahoney said. “I think he was already in his second round of chemotherapy, and he had lost a lot of weight, lost his hair, and he was wearing a cap. He looked really thin and I thought, ‘What a tough situation.’ Then we did a Zoom call with him in May when he was finishing up his treatments, and he looked a lot better.”
Miroshnichenko was subsequently cleared for skating and workouts in June but was not yet cleared to return to hockey in the KHL.
“He’s progressing, he’s skating, he’s working out. He’s not with his KHL team right now,” said Mahoney during Capitals media day back on September of 2022. “He has to kinda wait, almost like a medical clearance from the League. He’s been cleared by doctors, to go out and to workout and to do those sort of things. It’s more of a league thing.”
Mahoney also praised Miroshnichenko’s maturity and mental composure throughout the trying time he has gone through since his diagnosis.
“He was always a captain of his under-17, under-18 team, and even the tournament last November with the under-20 he was the assistant captain, so it is probably an indicator of his character…he went through an awful lot but I think it speaks volumes of his character and the type of person he is,” said Mahoney.
Miroshnichenko was finally cleared to return to the league and work-outs with Avangard Omsk’s VHL (Junior) on October 21. He was subsequently cleared to return to games on November 6, 2022.
Miroshnichenko began his return playing in six games with the Avangard’s MHL team (i.e. Russian Junior League). In those six games, he tallied six goals and recorded two assists.
Miroshnichenko then made his first appearance with the VHL team on November 21 in a game against Metallurg Novokuznetsk (More here). It was his first game with the VHL team since being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma back in February. He recorded two primary assists in the game.
Miroshnichenko joined the KHL team on December 3 and made his KHL debut on December 4. and score his first career goal in the KHL on December 26 (More here). He played 23 games at the KHL level during the 2022-23 Season, notching three goals before returning to the VHL and MHL squads to finish out the season. Miroshnichenko finished the 2022-23 season with 16 postseason games, totaling 55 games.
By Jon Sorensen
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