SAINT PAUL, Minn. – Minnesota Wild President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Bill Guerin today announced the National Hockey League (NHL) club has signed forward Maxim Shabanov (MAK-sim, SHAB-Uh-nawv) to a one-year, $1,600,000 contract for the 2026-27 season.
Shabanov, 25 (10/7/00), collected 18 points (5-13=18), two penalty minutes (PIM) and 56 shots on goal in 44 games during his rookie campaign last season with the New York Islanders. The 5-foot-9, 167-pound native of Chelyabinsk, Russia scored a goal in his NHL debut on Oct. 9 at Pittsburgh and recorded his first career multi-point (2-1=3) game on Nov. 20 at Detroit.
Prior to his first season in the NHL, Shabanov spent four seasons (2021-25) with Traktor Chelyabinsk of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) where he collected 150 points (67-83=150), 26 PIM and a plus-23 rating over a span of 207 games. He ranked third in the KHL in regular season scoring in 2024-25 with 67 points (23-44=67) in 65 games and was named to the KHL First All-Star Tam. He added 20 points (10-10=20) in 21 postseason games to help Traktor advance to the 2025 Gagarin Cup Playoffs. Shabanov led the KHL in goals and plus-minus rating (plus-14) in the 2025 playoffs and played in the 2025 and 2024 KHL All-Star Games.
