Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Pyotr Andreyanov is headed to HK Sochi, but this isn’t Columbus sending him out on a routine development loan.
According to the KHL’s official transaction wire, Andreyanov has been loaned to Sochi for the 2026-27 season by CSKA Moscow, the club that actually controls his contract. That matters, because the Blue Jackets have not been able to sign him to an entry-level deal. Andreyanov remains under contract in the KHL through the end of the 2029-30 season.
For Columbus, the move is still an important one. Andreyanov, drafted No. 19 overall in 2025, is widely viewed as the organization’s top goalie prospect, but he has yet to make his KHL debut. A season with Sochi gives him a much better chance to get there.
The 19-year-old has spent almost all of his time with CSKA Red Army Jr. in Russia’s MHL. Last season, he also saw 13 games in the VHL, where he went 4-8-0 with a .918 save percentage and a 2.13 goals-against average.
The reason a KHL move to Sochi makes sense is pretty straightforward: CSKA’s net is crowded. Dmitri Gamzin, a 23-year-old New York Islanders prospect, has already taken hold of the starting job.
Gamzin, a fourth-round pick in the 2024 NHL draft, broke out last season with a 22-10-6 record, a .938 save percentage and a 1.49 goals-against average. He still has two years left on his contract.
Behind him sits 31-year-old veteran Alexander Samonov, who has also been a steady force for CSKA. Samonov starred for Ufa Salavat Yulayev from 2023-24 through the middle of last season, earned All-Star honors, led the KHL in shutouts in 2023-24, and posted a .937 save percentage with a 1.79 goals-against average in 49 games that year.
With that kind of depth ahead of him, Andreyanov was never likely to climb into a major role in Moscow just by waiting his turn. The loan to Sochi gives him a cleaner path to actual KHL minutes.
And Sochi has been exactly that kind of stop for prospects before. The club is a small-market team without the financial muscle of the KHL’s big powers in Moscow or SKA St.
Petersburg, and the results have reflected that. Sochi has missed the playoffs in seven straight seasons.
In 2022-23, it won only 11 of 68 games. Since then, the only time it cleared 20 wins was in 2023-24.
Still, the opportunity is real. Sochi has become a familiar landing spot for NHL prospects on loan, especially goalies.
In 2024-25, three NHL goalie prospects spent time there: Montreal Canadiens fifth-rounder Yevgeni Volokhin, Philadelphia Flyers third-rounder Yegor Zavragin, and Columbus goalie prospect Sergei Ivanov. Ivanov and Zavragin both arrived on loan from larger clubs, the same setup Andreyanov has now.
Sochi has also helped skaters along, including Boston Bruins forward Marat Khusnutdinov, Carolina Hurricanes draft pick Alexander Perevalov, and Philadelphia Flyers star Matvei Michkov.
The wins may not come with the package, but the ice time does. That is the bet here for Andreyanov, for Columbus, and for CSKA as it looks ahead in goal. Gamzin may try to sign in North America when his KHL deal expires in 2028, and Andreyanov will be hoping to be ready to take over in Moscow before his own likely NHL signing two years later.
In Other News...
Blue Jackets Have A Prospect Pushing Hard For An Opening Night Spot
Last season offered the Blue Jackets very little rookie help at the NHL level, with only two young skaters getting into 17 games combined. This year feels different. Columbus is expected to carry at least one prospect into opening night, and Luca Del Bel Belluz has put himself in the center of that conversation after a strong showing in Cleveland.
The bigger question now is how much room there really is for more youth beyond him. Luca Pinelli has shown enough to stay on the radar, while Guillaume Richard is part of the wider discussion on the blue line, where the organization is looking for more reliable depth. For a team trying to find fresh legs and long-term answers, the next few weeks should say a lot about which prospects can force the issue and which ones are still a step away. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jackets Fans Still Feel What No. 28 Came To Represent
Jersey No. 28 has never been the most famous number in Blue Jackets history, but it has carried a little bit of everything the franchise has been through. Tyler Wright wore it first for Columbus, followed by a run of players who each left a different kind of imprint, from Zenon Konopkas brief stop to Nikita Filatovs promise, Alexandre Girouxs goal-scoring burst, and Frdric St. Denis steady turn on the blue line. Even the later chapters fit the Jackets story, with Oliver Bjorkstrand giving the number its most familiar modern stretch after arriving as a prospect and growing into a useful winger.
Bjorkstrands time in Columbus is what still gives No. 28 a bit of emotional pull around town, because he was more than just another name on a back of a sweater. He became one of the more recognizable players from that era, then moved on and immediately found himself part of a significant moment for another franchise, helping the Seattle Kraken reach the playoffs for the first time. For Blue Jackets fans, the number now sits in that familiar space where memory and what-ifs overlap, carrying reminders of players who passed through, players who mattered, and a few who might have mattered even more. [Read more 🡒]