Korostelev assigned to Cleveland
Nikita Korostelev, the Peterborough Petes’ leading scorer last season, is taking another shot at reaching the National Hockey League, this time by way of Ohio.
Korostelev was added to the roster of the Columbus Blue Jackets earlier this month for their training camp.
On Monday the Blue Jackets shipped Korostelev to their American Hockey League affiliate, the Cleveland Monsters.
Korostelev was drafted in the seventh round, 185th overall, by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2015 NHL draft, but went unsigned by the Maple Leafs. He was invited back to last year’s Maple Leafs training camp but also didn’t catch on and was sent back to the Petes.
After compiling 75 points in 64 games with the Petes, Korostelev was picked up by the Laval Rocket, the AHL farm team of the Montreal Canadiens, after the Petes failed to make the playoffs, but struggled with a minus-8 rating over 10 games.
Before the Columbus opportunity emerged, he had signed a one-year deal in June with CSKA Moscow of the Kontinental Hockey League in Russia.
Korostelev had 123 goals and 149 assists for 272 points in 287 OHL games with the Petes and the Sarnia Sting.
NOTES: Former Peterborough Petes Matthew Spencer, Dominik Masin and Jonne Tammela were assigned over the weekend by the Tampa Bay Lightning to the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch .... Former Petes captain Eric Cornel was sent by the Buffalo Sabres to the AHL’s Rochester Americans .... Former Pete Jonathan Ang was shipped by the Florida Panthers to the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds…. Peterborough native goalie Mitch Gillam was assigned by the New York Islanders to the AHL’s Bridgeport Sound Tigers .... Petes centre Semyon Der-Arguchintsev, who signed a three-year entry level contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday night and remains at the Leafs training camp, has already been placed on the Wall of Fame at the Canadian International Hockey Academy boarding school in Rockland, Ont.