Andrey Krutov

March 2026 – Krutov has continued to split time across Russia’s three professional tiers, though the trajectory is encouraging – he appears to have settled in with the KHL team for good, averaging between 13 and 16 minutes of ice time per game, which is meaningful usage for a young player in that league. His numbers across all three levels this year are modest – four points in 23 KHL games, six points in 23 VHL games, and seven points in nine MHL games – but the deployment tells a more interesting story than the raw totals. Still a long way from Carolina in a literal and practical sense, but one of the more intriguing long-term Russian bets in their system. A speculative dynasty stash in deep leagues. Ryan Downey

June 2025 – Krutov’s name started circling in fantasy circles this season, no doubt on the back of a short but strong KHL stint where he scored four goals in only twelve games- an unheard of feat in a league where youngsters can see their ice-time measured in seconds rather than minutes. He saw time at all three leagues in Russia, and posted solid goal totals in all three. He scored the aforementioned four in 12 KHL games, 15 in 36 VHL games and seven goals in 10 MHL games.

He’s a fun stash at this point given the performance this year, but he’s a long way out as a small seventh-round pick who is still without a contract from Carolina. Alex Wyatt