- Ilya Nabokov says his Avalanche contract has no clause letting him return to the KHL
- The 2024 Gagarin Cup playoff MVP sits behind Scott Wedgewood and Mackenzie Blackwood in Colorado
- Read below for what Nabokov said about Metallurg, the AHL and Wedgewood’s expiring deal
Ilya Nabokov didn’t leave himself a way back to Russia.
The Avalanche goalie prospect told Sport24’s Dmitry Yerykalov that his entry-level contract carries no clause letting him walk away from North America and go back to the KHL, which puts him in a different spot than most Russians who make the jump.
Nabokov was asked whether he ever considered staying home the way KHL forward Konstantin Okulov did after his daughters were born.
“I have a goal and a dream. You have to try something new in life. There will always be an opportunity to come back. It’s better to try and regret it than not try and regret it.”
His old Metallurg Magnitogorsk teammates are still working on him. Nabokov stopped by his old arena this month while the club opened training camp without him.
“They joke around, of course, asking, ‘When are you coming back?’ But that’s all it is. I’m not planning to come back anytime soon. I hope to stay in the NHL.”
Colorado drafted him 38th overall in 2024, two months after he swept Lokomotiv Yaroslavl in the Gagarin Cup Final and became the youngest playoff MVP in KHL history at 21 years and 32 days:
A two-year entry-level deal followed in May 2025, and the Avs loaned him right back to Magnitogorsk for last season:
He went 22-7-5 with a 2.74 goals-against average and a .901 save percentage across 38 games, then 2-4 with a .892 in seven playoff appearances. Once Metallurg was eliminated, Colorado recalled him and he spent the spring on the Eagles’ AHL playoff roster.
Scott Wedgewood and Mackenzie Blackwood have the NHL crease spoken for, so Loveland is where the 23-year-old starts.
Wedgewood is entering the final year of his contract, and Nabokov was asked if that job could open up for him.
“Everything will depend on me. Who knows, maybe I’ll take that spot this season. The NHL is a business, and things move quickly. At any moment, even a star player can be traded.”
Take a look at the KHL’s English-language feature on him from that MVP season:
Mikhail Gulyayev took the other route out of the same Avalanche pipeline, signing a KHL extension that pushed his Colorado debut to 2028. Nabokov burned that option before he ever got on the plane.
