Maxim Shabanov says his heart led him to sign with the NY Islanders

Signing Maxim Shabanov wasn’t an easy process for the NY Islanders in any regard. Multiple organizations were interested in signing the skillful Russian winger, four of which offered contracts, including the NY Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers - the latter looking at one point to be the front-runners for his services.

Ultimately, the 24-year-old chose to sign a one-year ELC with the Islanders, saying his heart led him to Long Island.

Shabanov follows his heart

“I don’t know, I probably felt more in my heart that I needed to go there,” Shabanov told Nikolay Mozyakin of kr-grazeta.ru, translated from Russian. "My soul was more in the Islanders. I’ll say this – I listened to my inner voice.”

One potential deciding factor for Shabanov may be the influx of Russian players the Islanders have added over the years, including Ilya Sorokin, Semyon Varlamov, Alexander Romanov, and Max Tsyplakov.

“I don't know Ilya Sorokin,” Shabanov said. "Sasha (Alexander) Romanov wrote to me personally, congratulated me on signing the contract. We exchanged a few phrases. I communicate with Max Tsyplakov, and we discussed a few things.”

The undersized forward spent his entire career playing in Russia with the Traktor Chelyabinsk organization, including the 2023-24 season with former Islanders forward Nikita Soshnikov.

Shabanov’s 50 points ( 25 G, 25 A) in 2024-25 were the 16th most among all KHL players, making multiple highlight reel plays on the way to his best professional season.

Shabanov should add an extra element of skill to the Islanders forward group, and will be a welcomed addition to the power play unit.