Blue Jackets Prospect Pyotr Andreyanov Loaned In KHL
Columbus Blue Jackets top prospect Pyotr Andreyanov has been loaned to the KHL’s HK Sochi for the 2026-27 season, according to the league’s official transaction wire.
It should be noted that this is not a case of the Blue Jackets loaning a prospect overseas, the way teams frequently do for players drafted out of Europe who are still in need of further development in their home country. Columbus has not been able to sign Andreyanov to an entry-level contract due to the fact that Andreyanov is under contract in the KHL through the end of the 2029-30 season. Today’s loan was made by the team holding that contract – KHL side CSKA Moscow.
Because CSKA has full contractual control over Andreyanov, it’s unclear what kind of input the Blue Jackets may, or may not, have had on this decision. In any case, it doesn’t seem like one they might object to all that strongly, if at all. The 19-year-old, who is widely considered Columbus’ top goalie prospect after being drafted No. 19 overall by the team in 2025, has not yet made his KHL debut. This loan will likely help change that.
Andreyanov has almost exclusively played in Russia’s top junior league, the MHL, for CSKA Red Army Jr. Last season, he did get into 13 professional games, but they were in Russia’s top minor league, not the KHL. In his 13 games in the VHL, Andreyanov went 4-8-0 with a .918 save percentage and 2.13 goals-against average.
This loan to Sochi signals that CSKA, and Sochi themselves, view Andreyanov as being ready for the KHL, but perhaps not quite ready to feature in Moscow. CSKA already has an entrenched starting goalie – 23-year-old New York Islanders prospect Dmitri Gamzin.
The 23-year-old, who was a fourth-round pick at the 2024 NHL draft, has blossomed into one of the KHL’s top goalies. He went 22-10-6 last season with a stellar .938 save percentage and 1.49 goals-against average. Gamzin has two more years left on his contract with CSKA.
In the immediate term, the presence of Gamzin almost certainly blocks Andreyanov from becoming his club’s No. 1 goalie. 31-year-old veteran Alexander Samonov is Gamzin’s backup, and he has CSKA’s No. 2 goalie spot seemingly locked down as well.
Samonov blossomed into a star No. 1 goalie during his tenure with Ufa Salavat Yulayev from 2023-24 through the middle of last season, earning All-Star honors and leading the KHL in shutouts in 2023-24. That year, he posted a .937 save percentage and 1.79 goals-against average in 49 games.
At 19 years old without a single KHL start to his name, Andreyanov would almost certainly have spent the bulk of 2026-27 outside the KHL, as CSKA’s enviable tandem of goalies would be almost impossible for him to displace through performance alone. So instead of keeping him at lower levels, it appears CSKA is prioritizing his development by giving him the chance to see more consistent KHL action.
By swapping CSKA for Sochi, Andreyanov has gained a far more likely path to KHL starts. Sochi are one of the KHL’s small-market teams and do not boast the financial firepower of the league’s traditional powerhouses such as SKA St. Petersburg or the clubs in Moscow.
That financial disadvantage has translated to poor on-ice performance, as the club has missed the playoffs in seven consecutive seasons. In 2022-23, they won just 11 of 68 games. The seasons since haven’t been much better, with the club winning more than 20 games just once (2023-24).
With that said, ice time has been easier to come by in Sochi for players without much KHL experience – and especially NHL prospects. Sochi has been a landing spot on loan for NHL prospects in years past, including several goaltenders.
A trio of NHL goalie prospects spent time with Sochi in 2024-25: Montreal Canadiens fifth-rounder Yevgeni Volokhin, Philadelphia Flyers third-rounder Yegor Zavragin, and Columbus’ own Sergei Ivanov. Both Ivanov and Zavragin joined Sochi on loan from larger clubs, just as Andreyanov is doing now.
But Sochi has not just been a landing spot for top goalie prospects. Skaters have developed there as well, including Boston Bruins forward Marat Khusnutdinov, Carolina Hurricanes draft pick Alexander Perevalov, and Philadelphia Flyers star Matvei Michkov.
For many of those names, the stop in Sochi didn’t come with much winning, but getting to play there served as a valuable step forward for their development nonetheless.
That’s the hope for Andreyanov, not only for the future of the Blue Jackets, but also for CSKA’s succession planning in net. Gamzin may try to sign in North America when his KHL deal expires in 2028, at which point Andreyanov will hope to be ready to step in as the No. 1 goalie in Moscow ahead of his own likely NHL signing two years after that.
Photos courtesy of Nick Wosika-Imagn Images
