Toronto Maple Leafs sign goalie prospect Vyacheslav Peksa to entry-level contract

The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed Vyacheslav Peksa to an entry-level contract.

The contract begins in the 2023-24 season and carries an AAV of $851,660. The 20-year-old Russian goalie was originally selected in the sixth-round of the 2021 NHL Draft by the Maple Leafs. Peksa played the 2022-23 season with Bars Kazan of the VHL, which is the second-highest level of Russian hockey.

He is a member of the KHL’s Ak Bars Kazan organisation but hasn’t yet played any games for the big club. Peksa is 6’2 and 163 lbs which is on the smaller side for goalies. According to DobberHockey, Peksa is a “lean, athletic goaltender who relies on his reaction time and positioning to stop pucks. A long-term project who has displayed some upside early in his career.”

It is unknown whether Peksa intends to come over to North America in the near future. The Maple Leafs have shown an interest in his development by signing him to an entry-level deal. Currently, Peksa sits behind Ilya Samsonov, Matt Murray, Joseph Woll, Keith Petruzzelli, and Dennis Hildeby on the Maple Leafs’ goaltending depth chart.

With the uncertainty surrounding Murray’s short-term future in Toronto and question marks around Samsonov, the Maple Leafs could ask Peksa to come over to play for the Toronto Marlies to get a closer look at the Russian goalie prospect.

This season, Peksa had a record of 13-19-6 with Kazan along with a 2.34 GAA and .921 SV%. This comes after a hugely successful 2021-22 season in the MHL, a junior league in Russia. Last season, he had a 30-17-8 record with a 1.79 GAA and .936 SV%.

It will be good for Peksa’s development if he can get a few KHL games in next year and perhaps fight for the starting position in the Ak Bars Kazan organisation.