Penguins forward prospect Kirill Tankov appears to be in good spirits after suffering a devastating injury in Monday.
Tankov, the Penguins' seventh-round pick in 2021, was hit from behind by Dynamo player Artyom Maltsev while playing for SKA-Neva in the regular-season opener in the Russian second league on Monday. Tankov went headfirst into the boards and had to be stretchered off the ice:
Maltsev was initially suspended for three games for the hit before a review extended the suspension to 10 games.
The hit fractured a vertebrae in Tankov's neck -- believed to be his C5 -- likely ending his season. His team announced that Tankov underwent successful neck surgery on Tuesday, with no timetable yet for a return.
"It is too early to talk about the timing of recovery, but we hope for a speedy return to the roster of an important hockey player for the SKA system," SKA-Neva wrote in the release.
SKA posted a picture on Friday morning showing Tankov in a neck brace, standing upright, and smiling and giving a thumbs up:
"Tankov sends greetings to everyone and thanks for the kind words and wishes," read the caption.
The 2021-22 season was Tankov's first in the VHL, the Russian second league. He had a successful rookie campaign, scoring 10 goals and 11 assists in 38 games as a center. He was centering SKA-Neva's second line in Monday's season opener prior to his injury and was expected to compete for KHL time during the season.
Because Tankov is Russian, the Penguins hold his exclusive signing rights indefinitely. Typically when a player is drafted by an NHL team, there is a pre-determined number of years the team has to sign that player before losing his rights, depending on where the player is coming from. The NHL and Ice Hockey Federation of Russia have no transfer agreement, with the Russians last refusing to sign any sort of agreement regulating transfers in 2007. As a result, NHL teams can sign Russian free agents without paying the Russian federation compensation, and NHL teams hold a Russian player's exclusive North American signing rights for forever after the draft.
The Penguins' development staff is very high on Tankov, a skilled, versatile forward with some size (6-2, 190). Because of the lack of agreement between the NHL and Russian federation, Tankov can take as long as he needs to fully recover and develop in Russia before potentially coming over to North America.