Slovak league's top scorer has KHL contract terminated after earlier cancelling AHL deal
Samuel Bucek's gamble on himself has not paid off. Bucek, who was the Slovak league's top scorer last season, recently cancelled a contract he had signed with the Seattle Kraken's AHL affiliate for 2022-23 in order to sign in the KHL. It has now been revealed that after just six games with Nizhnekamsk Neftekhimik, Bucek has been let go by the team.
It has been widely speculated that Bucek withdrew from the contract with the Coachella Valley Firebirds because the KHL offered him more money. However, he failed to put up a point in six games with Neftekhimik. He had more than 10 minutes of ice time in a game just once, and had two games where he put up less than four minutes of ice time.
This isn't the first time something like this has happened to Bucek. In 2018, he attended the Detroit Red Wings training camp on an invite, but was cut before camp ended. In 50 games with Nitra MHC in Slovakia last season, Bucek put up a whopping 41 goals and 64 points.
The Firebirds were quite proud of getting Bucek when he was first signed, as it was a big get for an AHL team's inaugural season. No word yet on whether Bucek will sign at home.
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Patrick Maroon | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Lukas Reichel | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Travis Konecny | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Noah Cates | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Sean Couturier | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Marcus Johansson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Adrian Kempe | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Matvei Michkov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Kevin Rooney | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Matthew Boldy | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Bobby Brink | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Tyson Foerster | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Justin Kirkland | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Daniil Miromanov | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Connor Murphy | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Rasmus Ristolainen | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Travis Sanheim | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Craig Smith | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nolan Allan | - | - | - | |
| Joey Anderson | - | - | - | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 20 | 17 | 3 | - | 34 | |
Wild | 19 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 29 | |
Hurricanes | 19 | 14 | 5 | - | 28 | |
Devils | 22 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 28 | |
Capitals | 19 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 27 | |
Golden Knights | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Maple Leafs | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Rangers | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 25 | |
Panthers | 20 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 25 | |
Flames | 20 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 25 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||