- Matthew Maggio is expected to sign with Admiral Vladivostok before the KHL season opens Sept. 5
- The 2023 OHL MVP piled up 111 points for Windsor and never played an NHL game
- Read below for full details on the Maggio signing and what happens to his NHL rights
Matthew Maggio is taking his career to Russia.
The New York Islanders forward prospect is expected to sign with Admiral Vladivostok of the KHL, according to Stefen Rosner of The Elmonters. A few details still have to be sorted out, but the deal is expected to be done before the KHL season opens on Sept. 5.
Rosner laid out the strange part of it. Maggio just finished his best professional season, 12 goals and 21 assists in 63 games with the AHL’s Bridgeport Islanders, and still ended up out of the lineup during the stretch run and for both of Bridgeport’s playoff games.
Three years ago he was the best player in junior hockey.
Maggio wore the C in Windsor in 2022-23 and led the entire OHL with 54 goals and 111 points in 66 games. The Red Tilson Trophy as the league’s most outstanding player came his way that May.
Here is what that season looked like:
New York had drafted him 142nd overall in 2022, back when he was a 38-goal winger on that same Windsor team. The entry-level contract followed in the spring of 2023.
The pro game never opened up the same way. Maggio leaves the AHL with 35 goals and 81 points in 187 games and a minus-35 rating, and he never got a call to the NHL over the three years of his deal.
Vladivostok is about as far from Long Island as a hockey job gets, but Admiral can give him minutes and a scoring role that Bridgeport stopped offering. He is also not the first recent Islander to go looking overseas, as Hudson Fasching signed in Sweden earlier this summer.
The Islanders hold onto his NHL rights while he plays in Russia. Maggio turns 24 in November, so a big year with Admiral would still leave him young enough to get another look in North America.
