{"id":7347,"date":"2025-05-01T00:19:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T00:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/7347\/"},"modified":"2025-05-01T00:19:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T00:19:11","slug":"carolina-hurricanes-linked-to-possible-deal-with-russian-netminder-amir-miftakhov-the-hockey-writers-carolina-hurricanes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/7347\/","title":{"rendered":"Carolina Hurricanes Linked to Possible Deal with Russian Netminder Amir Miftakhov – The Hockey Writers – Carolina Hurricanes"},"content":{"rendered":"

While all eyes were on Game 5 Tuesday night (April 29) for the Carolina Hurricanes\u2019 Round 1 matchup against the New Jersey Devils, there was some early news Tuesday morning about a possible deal for the team. There have been rumors surrounding a potential deal with a Russian netminder from Ak Bars Kazan of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). However, it has been confirmed by Mikhail Zislis and Alexei Shevchenko to Sport Evening<\/a> in Kazan that a deal could be in place for 25-year-old Amir Miftakhov<\/a> to join the Hurricanes. If there is a contract coming soon, what should fans know about the Russian netminder?<\/p>\n

Another Russian Netminder to Carolina<\/p>\n

Miftakhov played the 2024-25 season with Ak Bars Kazan<\/a> of the KHL, where he played in 30 games for the club. He finished with a record of 13-11-3, carrying a 2.18 goals-against average (GAA) and a .927 save percentage (SV%) in the regular season. Plus, he even had four shutouts on the season as well. During the KHL Playoffs, he played in two games and had a 3.68 GAA with a .714 SV%. Over the last three seasons with Kazan, he helped lead them to three straight playoffs, especially in 2022-23, where he had an 18-10-1 record with a 2.20 GAA and a .917 SV%. However, it is common knowledge that goalie numbers can be inflated in the KHL. That being said, it is believed that Miftakhov is a pretty good netminder. Since the Hurricanes are currently somewhat bare in the goalie depth department, this could be a really good option for the team to see if they have something with Miftakhov.<\/p>\n

Related: 3 Takeaways From Hurricanes\u2019 5-2 Game 4 Win Over Devils<\/a><\/p>\n

Leading up to the 2020 NHL Draft, he was classified as a netminder who is smart, crafty, and boasts plenty of speed. He utilizes his size well by blending a well-positioned game with plenty of speed, which showed in his play as he is a U20 World Junior Silver (2019-20) and Bronze medalist (2018-19). Furthermore, he was the KHL Goalie of the Month in February 2023.<\/p>\n

\"AmirAmir Miftakhov of Team Russia (Russia Hockey\/FHR.RU)<\/p>\n

It was even stated during the draft and scouting process that Miftakhov doesn\u2019t mind coming out to challenge shots on opposing chances. Plus, the way he commands the crease doesn\u2019t leave him vulnerable often in high-pressure situations. Something that really stood out was the way he was skating. Another few aspects were his hockey sense and decision-making. Compared to the draft class, which was something the Tampa Bay Lightning saw in him as they took him 186th overall in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft.<\/p>\n

Related: Frederik Andersen Has Been Hurricanes\u2019 Main Stalwart in Round 1<\/a><\/p>\n

He did play for a season in North America in the Lightning system. During 2021-22, he played 22 games for the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League (AHL) and five games for the Orlando Solar Bears of the ECHL. After that, he went back to the KHL to play for Kazan. <\/p>\n

If Miftakhov is indeed coming to the Hurricanes, he will join fellow Russians in Dmitry Orlov<\/a>, Andrei Svechnikov, Pyotr Kochetkov<\/a>, and Alexander Nikishin. The Hurricanes are no strangers to Russians as they\u2019ve drafted a plethora of them over the last few NHL Drafts. Adding another just bolsters the pipeline from Russia to Carolina.<\/p>\n

Time will Tell When the Deal Is Official<\/p>\n

As of now, nothing has been confirmed by the Hurricanes, but according to reports, there could be a deal done soon. Miftakhov won\u2019t be eligible for the 2025 NHL Playoffs for the Hurricanes, so more than likely, this is a 2025-26 season move for Carolina. Once The Hockey Writers know the full deal, we will post an update. <\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While all eyes were on Game 5 Tuesday night (April 29) for the Carolina Hurricanes\u2019 Round 1 matchup…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7348,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[377],"tags":[3243,5],"class_list":{"0":"post-7347","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hockey","8":"tag-amir-miftakhov","9":"tag-hockey"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/114429713696239959","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}