Thursday, January 13, 2011

Petr Prucha signs with KHL; Blues ink Kyle Wellwood after KHL stint

Last week Vaclav Sykora, coach for KHL's SKA St. Petersburg told, a Czech media outlet, that the club was negotiating with Petr Prucha who was waived by the Phoenix Coyotes. SKA's General Manager Andrei Tochinsky earlier today stated that the club was close to signing Prucha.

And now it became official that Prucha signed in the KHL until the end of the season.

"We agreed to everything with Prucha. In the nearest future Petr will fly to St. Petersburg. He will be with our team until the end of the season." Tochinsky told Sovetsky Sport today. 

"Our coach Vaclav Sykora knows Petr very well, and you can say that our management started actively working with this player from Vaclav's advice."

Tochinsky also noted that it is very likely that Prucha will stay on in the KHL after his contract expires at the end of the season. The KHL club also dealt directly with the Coyotes on the transfer of Prucha, something the KHL always wanted -- two clubs dealing directly with each other on player transfers.

SKA will pay a luxury tax of 7.5 million rubles (approximately $250,000) to the KHL for the player.  Prucha is expected to join his new team in the KHL on Monday and will most likely play his first game in Europe next Wednesday.

Also today, TSN was first to report that Kyle Wellwood was signed with the St. Louis Blues. From the News Democrat:

The former Vancouver and Toronto center had been playing in the Russian pro league KHL this season, where he had five goals and eight points in 25 games.

Wellwood has to clear waivers by 11 a.m. Wednesday before he can join the Blues. The Blues recently signed former NHL forward Marek Svatos out of the KHL, then lost him when Nashville claimed him on waivers.

Here is my original story on Wellwood's departure from the KHL.

Everton Fulham Leeds United Leicester City

No comments:

Post a Comment