Battalion trades for Savin
NORTH BAY, Ont. — The North Bay Battalion has acquired centre Dmitry Savin from the Saginaw Spirit in a trade for right winger Parker Vaughan, the Ontario Hockey League club announced Friday.
North Bay also sent Saginaw a conditional third-round pick in the 2030 OHL Priority Selection for Savin, a Russian import, while receiving a conditional fifth in 2030. The conditional pick that Saginaw received originated with the Kingston Frontenacs.
To make room for Savin in its three-player import quota, the Battalion sent Moldovan defenceman Alexander Karmanov to the Windsor Spitfires for a sixth-round choice in 2030.
“Today’s trades were not easy but necessary to address some glaring needs we have identified throughout the first quarter of the season,” said Adam Dennis, Battalion director of hockey operations.
“I want to thank both Parker and Alex for their dedication and professionalism throughout their time here. They both will be missed, and we wish them nothing but the best with their new clubs.”
Savin was a first-round selection, 31st overall, by Saginaw in the 2026 Canadian Hockey League Import Draft from the CSKA Moscow U17 and U18 teams. A left shot who measures six-foot-three and 190 pounds, he turned 17 on April 14. Savin is a native of the Siberian centre of Novosibirsk, the third-largest city in Russia.
He had four goals and seven assists for 11 points in 19 games with Saginaw. Last season, he scored 29 goals and earned 30 assists for 59 points in 32 games with his U17 club and 24 goals and 19 assists for 43 points in 19 games with the U18s.
Savin became available when the Anaheim Ducks reassigned Russian right winger Nikita Klepov to Saginaw after he played four National Hockey League games. Klepov, the OHL’s scoring champion last season with 37 goals and 60 assists for 97 points, was a first-round selection, 35th overall, in the 2025 Import Draft.
“Dmitry is a prospect for the upcoming NHL draft and a much needed versatile left shot,” said Dennis. “He’s a big, strong player who excels down the middle but can also play wing. We feel he provides an element that should add to our specialty teams as well, particularly our power play.
“We feel there’s more to this group than the record shows and hope this tweak, plus the insertion of Nikolas Rossetto and Kent Greer, can get us going in the right direction.”
North Bay, which blanked the visiting Sarnia Sting 2-0 Thursday night, has a won-lost-extended record of 8-11-1 for 17 points, tied with the Niagara IceDogs for second place in the Central Division. Arseny Pronin, who scored the winning goal against Sarnia, and Evgeny Dubrovtsev, from Belarus and Russia respectively, make up the Troops’ import contingent with Savin.
The Battalion roster now numbers 24, made up of 15 forwards, seven defencemen and two goaltenders.
Vaughan, who turned 18 on March 6, is a St. Thomas, Ont., resident who was a first-rounder, fifth overall, by the Barrie Colts in 2024 from the Elgin Middlesex Canucks U16s. The Battalion acquired Vaughan, overage centre Zach Wigle and four conditional picks in a Jan. 5, 2025, trade for overager Owen Van Steensel and Anthony Romani.
Vaughan scored six goals and added a team-leading 15 assists for 21 points in 17 games with North Bay this season. In 117 games over parts of three campaigns with the Troops, he had 25 goals and 39 assists for 64 points. His OHL totals are 149 games, 29 goals, 42 assists and 71 points.
In 15 playoff games over two years, he produced five goals and two assists for seven points. The most memorable goal came at 17:09 of the second overtime period to give the Battalion a 5-4 home-ice victory last April 4 over the Peterborough Petes in the clinching Game 6 of an Eastern Conference quarterfinal.
The Battalion signed Karmanov on Nov. 26, 2025, after securing his rights from the junior B Brantford Titans of the Greater Ontario Hockey League.
Karmanov, who measures seven feet and 272 pounds, is the tallest player in CHL history. A native of Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, who turned 18 on March 22, he is the world’s tallest active registered hockey player.
Karmanov was selected by the Brantford Bulldogs in the third round of the 2025 Import Draft, but Brantford chose to retain three other imports, leaving Karmanov to join the Titans.
The Battalion returns to action by hosting the Sudbury Wolves at 3 p.m. Sunday, with the start time moved back an hour from the standard because of the Santa Claus parade.
