Yegor Zavragin earns promotion to SKA St. Petersburg

Yegor Zavragin jumped to the KHL after signing a three-year contract with SKA St. Petersburg in May. He was expected to be loaned to HK Sochi as SKA had two goaltenders on the roster.

That is where Zavragin began. With impressive numbers in both the MHL and VHL, it would be interesting to see how he handled moving up to the top league in Russia. Zavragin excelled at every level of his young career, so a promotion to the KHL was imminent.

And after just six games for HK Sochi, Zavragin has proven that his promotion was well worth it. Despite being on a Sochi roster that doesn't boast an immense amount of talent, the Russian goaltender has more than held his own.

Zavragin has shared the net with 20-year-old Sergei Ivanov. His counterpart is not new to the KHL but is playing with Sochi for the first time. In six games, Zavragin has posted a 2.21 GAA and a .941 SV%. He also recently recorded his first shutout of the season.

Zavragin was recently named one of the four players of the week in the KHL. In his two games during the week of Oct. 7, he posted a 2-0 record, a 1.00 GAA, and a .975 SV% in addition to the shutout.

With his impressive numbers to begin the season, SKA has decided to end his loan.

Zavragin earns promotion to SKA St. Petersburg

Artemi Pleshkov and Nikita Serebryakov are the current netminders for SKA, with the latter holding more of the starts. Pleshkov has appeared in 12 games and boasts a 2.63 GAA and a .923 SV%. He has one shutout to go along with his 7-3 record. Those are quite strong numbers for the 21-year-old as he has a firm hold on the starting goaltending spot.

But Serebryakov has struggled during his five games in net. He has a 3.70 GAA and a .874 SV%. The 28-year-old has only played one full game this season, typically coming in relief or being pulled from his starts. In his only win this season, Serebryakov still managed to give up four goals. He was saved by SKA scoring seven. That isn't going to cut it for a team that expects to contend for a championship every year.

At the very least, Zavragin should be able to hang on to the backup goaltending role while he is up with SKA. His play with Sochi should earn him at least one start with the big club. His play in that game could determine what the team decides to do after that.

It's not certain that Zavragin will get into many games while he is up with SKA. But the promotion does show that the team sees what he has done with Sochi and is willing to give him a chance.

It's going to be at least a few years before Zavragin is ready to leave Russia and come to North America. But his rise through the ranks has to have the Flyers excited for what his future could look like once he's ready to make the jump to the NHL.