Yegor Surin will sign with Predators after KHL season

Milstein broke it on Daily Faceoff's air, and it's the clearest word yet on when Nashville's 2024 first-round pick actually crosses the ocean.

Daily Faceoff

@DailyFaceoff

Igor Surin is heading to NASHVILLE! Dan Milstein confirms the Predators prospect plans to sign with the team after this season in Russia, with hopes of making the NHL roster next year. @JeffMarek | @TheFourthPeriod

Quick housekeeping on the name: you'll see it spelled Igor, Egor and Yegor depending on who's typing. It's the same kid, the forward Nashville took 22nd overall in the 2024 NHL Draft. Milstein didn't hedge much on where this is headed, either. Per Daily Faceoff, he said the Predators are "super excited to see him" and that fans will see him, "hopefully, if everything goes well, with the club beginning of next season."

This isn't a project that's been sitting in a junior league. Surin has been playing pro hockey against grown men at Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, and he wasn't a passenger on the 2024-25 run. He posted 7 points in 19 playoff games as Lokomotiv won the Gagarin Cup, which is a real résumé for a teenager in the KHL. Nashville reportedly thought it got a steal at 22, and that postseason did nothing to change anyone's mind.

Daily Faceoff

@DailyFaceoff

Agent says Surin to sign with Predators following 2026-27 KHL season: t.co/gLprKrCr1q

For Predators fans this is the part that matters. Russian prospects carry built-in anxiety. KHL deals get extended, timelines slip, and a first-rounder can drift for years before anyone sees him in North America. An agent putting a season on it publicly, 1 more year in Russia and then an NHL contract, takes most of that worry away. It's not a signature on paper yet, but it's about as close to a commitment as you get this far out.

It also fits where Nashville is as a franchise. The Preds need young, cheap forwards who can play a physical, productive game in the middle of the lineup, and Surin projects as exactly that. The wording matters too: Milstein said the hope is to make the NHL roster, not just get over to North America. Whether he gets there right away or starts with a stretch in Milwaukee depends on his camp, but the target is the big club.

What to watch from here: how much Surin's role and production grow at Lokomotiv this winter, and whether Nashville can get an entry-level deal done quickly once his KHL season ends. If this year goes like the Gagarin Cup run did, the Predators get a battle-tested 20-year-old at training camp next fall, and Smashville gets a new name to learn how to spell.