Five months after fracturing his neck in his first game of the season, Penguins forward prospect Kirill Tankov is back on the ice.
Tankov, 20, was the Penguins' seventh-round pick in 2021. His SKA-Neva club was in the second period of a game against Dynamo St. Petersburg on Sept. 5 when Dynamo defenseman Artyom Maltsev dangerously shoved Tankov from behind in a race for the puck, sending Tankov awkwardly into the boards headfirst. Tankov remained down on the ice for several minutes and had to be taken off on a stretcher.
Tankov underwent neck surgery the following day to repair a fractured C5 vertebrae in his neck.
Tankov's KHL club SKA posted a video on Instagram on Wednesday showing Tankov back on the ice, stick-handling and skating on his own:
The caption says, "Kirill Tankov is already on ice. We are waiting for you in the game!"
The 2021-22 season was Tankov's first in the VHL, the Russian second league. He had a successful rookie campaign, scoring 10 goals and 11 assists in 38 games as a center. He was centering SKA-Neva's second line and was expected to compete for KHL time this season before he was injured.
The Penguins' development staff is very high on Tankov, a skilled, versatile forward with some size (6-2, 190). Because of the lack of transfer agreement between the NHL and Ice Hockey Federation of Russia, the Penguins hold Tankov's exclusive signing rights indefinitely -- they don't expire, Tankov can take as long as he needs to fully recover and develop in Russia before potentially coming over to North America.
