The Edmonton Oilers have assigned left wing Alexei Mikhnov to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League.
Mikhnov, the Oilers’ first-round choice (17th overall) in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft, made his NHL debut with Edmonton in a 5-2 win versus the Phoenix Coyotes on Oct. 23. He was scoreless and even in 4:21 minutes of ice time in his only game to date this season.
Mikhnov joined the Oilers this season after playing the last nine seasons in Russia. The 6-foot-5, 218-pound native of Kiev, Ukraine, scored 14 goals and eight assists with 18 penalty minutes in 40 games with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the Russian Superliga in 2005-06. The 24-year-old tied for third in goal scoring and was 10th in scoring on the Yaroslavl roster as he helped his team to a third-place finish in the standings.
Mikhnov made his international debut for Russia at the 2006 IIHF World Championship in Riga, Latvia. He scored four goals and two assists in seven games for the Russian national team to rank second in goals and third in points.
Making his Superliga debut with Yaroslavl in 1997-98, Mikhnov scored 39 goals and 38 assists for 77 points in 235 games in six seasons in Russia’s top league. He has also played for Dynamo Moscow, Ufa and Novosibirsk during his tenure in the Superliga.
