National Hockey League (NHL) club San Jose Sharks exempted Russian defenseman Nikolai Knyzhov from the draft. Journalist Elliott Friedman reported this on his page on the social network X (formerly Twitter).
According to the rules, if any National Hockey League club does not acquire Knyzhov within 24 hours, he will go to the Sharks farm club.
The 25-year-old Russian player has been playing in the San Jose system since 2019. He has 81 NHL games and 12 points (3+9). Before that, the defender played for St. Petersburg for three years. He played in the St. Petersburg SKA system.
Knyzhov appeared in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft but was not selected. Several teams, including the Vancouver Canucks and San Jose Sharks, were interested in him before the free agent market opened. On July 2, 2019, Knyzhov, who was not drafted by the NHL, signed a three-year entry-level contract with San Jose for a total of $2.39 million.
In the current NHL regular season, San Jose sits last in the Pacific Division with 14 points after 24 games.
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