As it was rumoured shortly after the Leafs training camp closed and cuts were announced, the Leafs made it official today and have loaned Korshkov to the KHL.

So the decision is a pretty straight forward one and one that mirrors the decision made with Mikko Lehtonen. The KHL training camps are open, and the season will begin shortly. The story for the AHL and 2020-21 NHL Season is that they wouldn’t be playing until December. Having players get in games seems like a solid idea.

Now Korshkov has a history of injuries which might make this idea seem less good, but I’m sure that fact isn’t lost on the Leafs, and their wing depth also affords them the opportunity to get Korshkov over there anyway.

Given the Leafs camp situation and the strength of Korshkov’s performance in his previous games with the Leafs, it’s entirely possible that Korshkov will return ready to compete for a bottom six role on the Leafs.

I’m not sure whether we’ll see the Leafs make a similar decision with Alexander Barabanov and if the Leafs are eliminated from the playoffs we might also see an interesting decision regarding Ilya Mikheyev as well. For now what we know is that Korshkov has a place to play in the coming months.