Andrei Mironov to be bought out by Colorado Avalanche; will return to Russia

Sometimes things just don’t work out. That seems to be the case with Andrei Mironov and his short-lived NHL career. This morning, the Colorado Avalanche place Mironov. on unconditional waivers with the purpose of terminating his contract. Now, the 23-year old defenseman will return to Russia to continue his professional hockey career in the KHL.

After being drafted in the 4th round of the 2015 draft, Mironov spent the past two seasons playing for Dynamo Moskva in the KHL. This past summer, the Avalanche signed him to an entry-level contract with the hopes that he would be ready to play in the NHL. He wasn’t.

It became evident in training camp, that Mironov’s game simply wasn’t ready for the NHL. He had a hard time adapting to the speed or North American hockey, but worse, he was unable to play the more structured, system game NHL coaches insist on.

After starting the season with the San Antonio Rampage in the AHL, Mironov has bounced up and down all season. Being recalled numerous times, only to sit in the press box let to rumblings that he was unhappy with his situation and was likely to return to Russia this summer. Now, with a number of injured defensemen, Mironov had seemed to be passed on the depth chart by guys like David Warsofsky and Duncan Siemens - that was the last straw.

Mironov requested that his contract be terminated so he could return home. The deadline for KHL teams to add players has passed, so he will have to wait until next season to play again.

Andrei Mironov finished his NHL career with one goal and 3 assists in 10 games played.

Here is Mironov’s first and only NHL goal: