The former Saint John Sea Dogs forward signed a two-year deal with the KHL's Ak Bars Kazan on Friday. The signing ends a weird situation for Galiev after he was stuck in contract limbo by Dynamo Moscow.
The 25-year-old has played in North America since 2008-09. He spent a lot of his professional career bouncing between the East Coast Hockey League and American Hockey League - which included some stints in the NHL with the Washington Capitals.
From Russian Machine Never Breaks:Forward Stanislav Galiev (@Capitals, @TheHersheyBears) returns to Russia, signs 2-year deal with Ak Bars. https://t.co/3qB7ebsblu— KHL (@khl_eng) July 14, 2017
During the 2014-15 season, Stan Galiev blossomed into one of the most talented scorers in the American Hockey League, scoring 25 goals in 67 games with the Hershey Bears. After years of struggles and injuries in the minors, Galiev finally earned a dream promotion to the NHL. But Galiev’s momentum would be halted, tallying only one goal and being a frequent scratch during parts of two seasons in Washington.
It's too bad Galiev was never able to stick in the NHL, but it seemed as though his biggest flaw in Saint John - consistency - troubled him in professional hockey as well. There were games during his Sea Dogs career when he looked like the best player in junior hockey. Then there were games where he was barely noticeable.
Despite consistency issues, Galiev put up some good numbers in Saint John. The first overall pick in the 2009 CHL Import Draft, the forward played all three seasons of the Sea Dogs' glory days from 2009 - 2012. He recorded 65 goals and 79 assists in 151 regular season games and added 34 goals and 46 assists in 57 playoff games. He averaged nearly a goal-per-game (16 goals in 17 games) during the 2012 playoffs.
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