At the time the Pittsburgh Penguins traveled for Tuesday’s road game at the Colorado Avalanche, defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok had spent nearly a month with the club, awaiting an opportunity to suit up.
Acquired via waivers from Utah Hockey Club on Feb. 9, Kolyachonok was practicing regularly with the Penguins but had been a healthy scratch for six straight games.
“Right now, we’re just trying to familiarize ourselves with his own game and also give him an opportunity to learn and understand how we’re trying to play,” coach Mike Sullivan said March 1. “That’s been the process. Unfortunately for Vlad, we haven’t had a whole lot of practice time and so that’s been a little bit of the issue, just trying to get him some repetition in practice in some of the areas that might be different from where he came from in the past.
“(Assistant coach David Quinn) is working with him daily with film and on the ice and things of that nature to try to acclimate him into the environment in Pittsburgh. Once we feel comfortable, we’ll make decisions from there.”
Sullivan must have finally felt comfortable enough Tuesday, as Kolyachonok made his Penguins debut in a 4-1 loss to the Avalanche.
The Belarusian connection
Kolyachonok, a 23-year-old left-handed shot, hails from Minsk, Belarus, a country that has a less-than-robust representation in the NHL.
He is one of only five players from the nation to suit up for a regular-season game this season, with his 24 appearances (23 came with Utah) ranking third.
The most prominent Belarusian NHL player this season, from a statistical standpoint, is Washington’s Aliaksei Protas, who has scored 23 goals with 28 assists in 61 games.
Yegor Sharangovich of the Calgary Flames is next with 12 points and 11 assists through 53 games.
Kolyachonok’s presence with Pittsburgh is also notable, as per Penguins historian Bob Grove, he became only the second native of Belarus to appear in a game of consequence for the club, following the late Konstantin Koltsov, who passed away in early 2024 at age 42.
Koltsov’s final Penguins game was April 18, 2006. Over parts of three seasons with the Penguins (2002-06), he scored 12 goals with 26 assists in 144 contests.
A closer look
Against the Avalanche, Kolyachonok replaced Ryan Graves in the lineup, skating next to Vincent Desharnais to form the Penguins’ third defensive pairing. (Desharnais was traded to the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday).
Kolyachonok skated for 11 minutes, 34 seconds and 17 shifts, recording two shots, a hit and a blocked shot.
Earlier this season with Utah, he averaged 12:20 of ice time through 23 games, scoring two goals with three assists while navigating elongated stretches of being a healthy scratch.
Performance review
After the game, Sullivan offered his thoughts on Kolyachonok’s debut.
“I thought he was good,” Sullivan told reporters in Denver. “His mobility was evident. It was hard to get a read on his overall game because we haven’t had too many practices and the ones we’ve had have been more recovery skates than anything. It was nice to see him in a game. I thought he was getting back to pucks. I thought he made some really nice plays with the puck, he defended well with his stick but his mobility was probably the thing that jumped out to me the most.”
