Report: Leafs poised to land KHL star

The Toronto Maple Leafs aren’t afraid to dip into the international free-agent market when it comes to filling out their roster. Most notably, the team has added Russian defenseman Nikita Zaitsev and Swedish defenseman Andreas Borgman in back-to-back offseason. Well, don’t look now but it looks like the Buds may have their eyes on another KHL star in 25-year-old KHL defenseman Igor Ozhiganov.

According to a report from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Leafs are not only frontrunners in the Ozhiganov Sweepstakes that are expected to go down this summer, but his signing in Toronto is actually a foregone conclusion.

“He’s going to be recruited by some NHL teams, but the word out of Russia is that he is most likely going to Toronto next year,” Friedman said Saturday night on Hockey Night in Canada.

The 6’2”, 207 lb defender put up 22 points in 50 games with CSKA Moscow last season, but has just two assists in his team’s first 18 games this season. While  Ozhiganov’s contract with his current club expires in April, he wouldn’t be eligible to join the Leafs until the 2018-19 season.