T-Birds Select Nikita Malukhin In CHL Import Draft
Forward played for Kazan Irbis in Russia Junior League last season
KENT, June 28, 2017 — Seattle Thunderbirds general manager Russ Farwell this morning announced the team selected forward Nikita Malukhin from Russia in the first round, 50th overall, in the CHL Import Draft.
“Nikita is a skilled forward with good size and he has real potential to be an exciting forward in our league,” said Farwell. “He is excited to be coming to the WHL.”
Malukhin played 28 games with Kazan Irbis in the Russia Junior League (MHL) last season and had four goals and two assists for six points.
Malukhin, a left-hand shot, is 6’2 and 201-pounds and is a 2000-birth year.
Every CHL team is allowed a maximum of two non-North American players on their roster each season. These players must be drafted in the CHL Import Draft held each summer to be eligible to play.
Teams are permitted to select in the Import Draft if they have less than two import players on their current roster. Entering the draft, the T-Birds had one Import Player, right wing Sami Moilanen from Finland, on the roster.
The two-round draft took place online with the order of selection rotating through each of the CHL’s three leagues using an inverse order of final regular season standings within each league from the 2016-17 season.
The WHL Champion T-Birds start the 2017-18 Western Hockey League regular season against the Tri-City Americans on Saturday, September 23 at 7:05pm at the ShoWare Center.
T-Birds single game tickets for the 2017-18 regular season will go on sale August 23 at 10am online on the T-Birds website and at the ShoWare Center box office.
T-Birds season tickets for the 2017-18 season are currently on sale. Season tickets can be purchased by calling the T-Birds office at 253-239-7825.
