After a quiet first couple hours of free agency, Sunny Mehta finally made a signing. Vladislav Kolachonok, a depth defenseman who has spent time with the Arizona Coyotes/Utah Mammoth, Pittsburgh Penguins, Dallas Stars, and Boston Bruins in his five-year NHL career. In 87 games, the 25-year old Kolyachonok has five goals and 12 assists with 22 penalty minutes while averaging 13:58 of ice time per game. He has also been credited for 88 blocks and 77 hits with 23 takeaways. Player agent Dan Milstein
broke the news on Twitter.
It is a league minimum deal at one year and $850,000, which will be paid out the same regardless of whether Kolyachonok plays in the NHL or AHL. In 184 career AHL games, he has 14 goals and 43 assists. Born in Minsk, Belarus, Kolyachonok is listed at 6’2” and 195 pounds by the AHL (198 pounds by the NHL) and was drafted 52nd overall in the 2019 Draft by the Florida Panthers. When he does get into NHL games, though, the profile is very good from an analytical standpoint. This is from HockeyViz:
In addition to Declan Chisholm, the Devils now have five left-handed defenseman under one-way contracts. If Sunny Mehta is looking to shed salary in the near future, I would think that Brenden Dillon ($4 million, one year) or Jonas Siegenthaler ($3.4 million, two years) may be trade pieces, allowing one of Chisholm or Kolyachonok (or maybe even Topias Vilen or Ethan Edwards) to earn playing time on the third pairing in 2026-27. However, considering Siegenthaler’s relationship with Nico Hischier, I have a hard time seeing him get moved.
We will see. For now, this is the first free agent signing of Sunny Mehta’s GM tenure with the New Jersey Devils, and it fits his bill perfectly: Kolyachonok is a no-risk, low-cost defenseman who has a plus analytical profile in limited usage who may prove to be something more if a team gets him on the ice with more regularity.
What do you think of the deal? What do you think is next? Leave your comments here or in the Free Agency Frenzy open post, and thanks for reading.
