{"id":138691,"date":"2025-09-12T22:09:06","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T22:09:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/138691\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T22:09:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T22:09:06","slug":"maxim-shabanov-pops-off-the-page-in-pursuit-of-his-nhl-dream-with-ny-islanders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/138691\/","title":{"rendered":"Maxim Shabanov &#8216;pops off the page&#8217; in pursuit of his NHL dream with NY Islanders"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5s\">Maxim Shabanov\u2019s NHL dream has officially landed on Long Island with the New York Islanders. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5v\">The 24-year-old Russian winger, an intriguing and coveted free agent this offseason, reported to the Islanders&#8217; rookie camp this week with energy, confidence, and an eagerness to prove himself.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5y\">\u201cI chose America because it\u2019s every kid\u2019s dream to play in the NHL,\u201d Shabanov said via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhl.com\/islanders\/news\/shabanov-followed-his-heart-to-sign-with-isles-excited-to-dive-into-hockey-in-north-america\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NewYorkIslanders.com<\/a> through fellow Isles prospect Gleb Veremyev, who acted as his translator. \u201cI want to challenge myself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"61\">Shabanov followed his heart to the Islanders after putting up 67 points (23 goals, 44 assists) in 65 KHL games last season with Traktor Chelyabinsk, finishing third in league scoring. Despite his 5\u20199\u201d, 167-pound frame, he doesn\u2019t shy away from contact. \u201cI strong,\u201d he said with a grin.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"68\">Bridgeport head coach Rocky Thompson noted how quickly Shabanov has stood out. \u201cHe kind of pops off the page at you,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cAnd he should\u2014he\u2019s a little bit older and has the pedigree of playing in the KHL. You can see his skillset in the drills we\u2019re doing.\u201d Shabanov has embraced the smaller North American rink and the faster game. \u201cI feel good,\u201d he said. \u201cI like the smaller rink, it\u2019s a faster game and that\u2019s the way I like to play.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6b\">Off the ice, he\u2019s fitting in just as well. Matthew Schaefer even jumped into Shabanov\u2019s first media scrum with a joke about his hair routine, sparking laughter all around. Humor has helped bridge any language barriers, with Veremyev and the Isles\u2019 Russian core\u2014Sorokin, Romanov, Varlamov, and Tsyplakov\u2014helping him acclimate.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6e\">For now, Shabanov isn\u2019t worried about his lineup spot. His focus is simple: \u201cI feel good, everything is a bit new but I\u2019m ready to go. They\u2019re teaching me how to develop, just like everyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Maxim Shabanov\u2019s NHL dream has officially landed on Long Island with the New York Islanders. The 24-year-old Russian&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138692,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":["post-138691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}