Edmonton Oilers to terminate contract of goaltender Ilya Konovalov

Edmonton Oilers goaltender Ilya Konovalov will have his contract terminated by the team so he can sign a deal in the KHL, Oilersnation has confirmed.

Konovalov, who was drafted by the Oilers in the 3rd round of the 2019 draft, inked a two-year ELC with the club in May 2021. He joined the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors this season and appeared in 17 games.

With the Condors, he posted a 5-7-5 record, a 2.73 GAA and a .893 save percentage. Konovalov spent a little under a month on the Oilers’ taxi squad from late December and into early January of this season, but never drew into NHL action.

Konovalov is set to sign a deal with the KHL’s Dynamo Moscow, club general manager Alexi Sopin told championat.com.

“There are certain legal issues in the NHL, as his club is still in the playoffs and cannot terminate his contract,” Sopin said, via Google Translate. “But we have a preliminary agreement on all issues. And I will say that if we were not sure of his arrival, we simply would not make an exchange with Lokomotiv.

“Will the transition be announced when Edmonton finishes the season? Yes, we have such an agreement that as soon as Ilya closes all his questions overseas, we will immediately sign a contract with him.”

Oilersnation ranked him as the Oilers’ eighth-best prospect ahead of this season.

With Konovalov out of the Oilers system, it paves the way for Olivier Rodrigue and Ryan Fanti to share the goaltending load for the Condors.