Report: Leafs’ pending UFA already has his next team chosen

According to a report from Russian hockey insider Aivis Kalnins, Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Igor Ozhiganov’s time in the NHL is over. The pending UFA is expected to return to the KHL this offseason once his contract with the Leafs expires on July 1st, 2019. 

Ozhiganov’s rights were recently traded from CSKA Moscow to AkBars Kazan in the KHL and it’s expected that the 26 year old blueliner will sign with Kazan in the summer.

Check it out: 

Per sports-express: AkBars Kazan have traded Jiri Sekac to CSKA Moscow in exchange for the rights of Igor Ozhiganov. 

Toronto Maple Leafs player now expected to sign with Kazan team once he becomes a free agent on July 1st.

Ozhiganov never quite fit in perfectly on the Leafs’ blueline, but did manage to get himself into 53 games with the team in his lone NHL season. He put up three goals and seven points along the way. As a former teammate of fellow Leafs blueliner Nikita Zaitsev, Ozhiganov was expected to line up alongside Zaitsev for the Leafs this season, but that rarely happened. Zaitsev had another difficult season with the Leafs in 2018-19, putting up just 14 points on the campaign which is a far cry from the 36 points he managed in his rookie season two years ago.