Capitals prospect Suzdalev settling in with Saskatoon Blades ahead of home debut

Saskatoon, Sask.- It was the end of a hard-fought, wildly entertaining series.

The Saskatoon Blades and Regina Pats had put up a blistering 51 goals and battled through three overtime matches by the time the final buzzer sounded after Game 7 on April 10, 2023, but finally, Saskatoon had prevailed over Connor Bedard and the upstart Pats to punch their ticket to round two of the 2023 WHL Playoffs.

Standing behind Bedard in the handshake line was the talented Alexander Suzdalev, a Washington Capitals prospect who had three goals and seven assists in the series.

On the other side of the line, Suzdalev’s friend and opponent Egor Sidorov pulled him into an embrace.

“It was very hard series, especially in game seven,” Sidorov, an Anaheim Ducks prospect, recalled. “I said after the game against Regina to Suzdalev ‘You should play next year just in Saskatoon!'”

The pair had become fast friends in the regular season, bonding over their shared use of the Russian language after Sidorov heard Suzdalev chirping the Blades in his native tongue in the faceoff circle.

They kept in touch when Suzdalev started the 2023-24 season with Mora IK in HockeyAllsvenskan, the second-highest league in Sweden, but on New Year’s Eve, the pair got their wish.

Pats General Manager Alan Millar traded the rights to Suzdalev and a 2025 WHL Prospects Draft sixth-round pick for rookie centre Zach Moore, Slovakian defenceman Sam Barcik, the rights to 16-year-old defender Dayton Deschamps, a 2025 fourth-round pick and a first and third-round pick in the 2026 draft.

“We just knew that acquiring him would bring a new element to our team that we felt was kind of the missing piece for our forward group, which was kind of one more guy with kind of game-breaking skill,” General Manager Colin Priestner said. “I got a text from Connor Bedard, telling me he was an unbelievable person and that the guys are going to love him.

“He’s just one of those guys that can do stuff that takes you out of your seat and that’s rare to find.”

For Suzdalev, it’s an exciting opportunity to return west and chase a championship with a team revving up for the playoffs.

He believes he has even more to add- beyond the ten pounds of muscle he’s gained- in his second WHL season.

“I think I’ve become more mature, I will say because I had some experience playing with men,” Suzdalev said. “And I guess stronger. So that’s a big part. We have a very, very good team and good coaching staff and we can make things happen and work together as a group, I think we can do very good in the future.”

Suzdalev landed in the Bridge City late on the night of January 4, met by his new roommate Sidorov and their billet family.

While he wasn’t able to make his debut against his former club on the following night, Suzdalev did record his first assist in a Blades uniform against the Prince Albert Raiders on January 6.

He’s all set to make his Blades home debut on January 10- his first game back in the SaskTel Centre since Sidorov’s prophetic comment in the handshake line.