The Hershey Bears saw much of their veteran core from their Calder Cup championship-winning teams move on this summer, with a bulk of them signing contracts in the KHL.
Bears from the 2023 and 2024 championship clubs that are now playing in Russia include:
- Pierrick Dubé (Traktor Chelyabinsk)
- Logan Day (Traktor Chelyabinsk)
- Mike Vecchione (Barys Astana)
- Mason Morelli (Barys Astana)
- Jake Massie (Barys Astana)
- Alex Limoges (Dinamo Minsk)
- Sam Anas (Dinamo Minsk)
- Zach Fucale (Dinamo Minsk)
- Chase Priskie (Sibir Novosibirsk)
- Bobby Nardella (Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod)
- Riley Sutter (Kunlun Red Star)
Ten days after the start of the season on September 5, many of those former Bears were atop the KHL leaderboard in different statistics. The most impressive moment came on September 15 when Alex Limoges (5g, 2a), Mike Vecchione (3g, 4a), and Sam Anas (3g, 4a) were all tied for the league lead in points with 7. Pierrick Dubé (4g, 2a) sat fourth with 6.
Anas has found quick chemistry with Limoges on Dinamo Minsk as the two players, one a playmaker and the other a finisher, are both from the Washington, DC area. Anas has assisted on three of Limoges’ league-leading five goals, while Limoges has returned the favor on two of Anas’s three tallies. Anas has registered a point in every game thus far and has multi-point games in three of Dinamo’s first four contests.
Vecchione popped up on the KHL leaderboard after registering a four-point game for Barys Astana in a 5-2 win over Dinamo on September 15. Vecchione scored twice and assisted on two other Barys goals. Vecchione has points in every game he’s played.
Dubé had four goals in his first five games and notched points in every single outing.
As of today, September 17, Limoges, Vecchione, and Anas are all still within the top five in league scoring with 7 points, tied for second behind Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod’s Sergei Goncharuk who has 8.
The three former Bears are the lone players in the KHL to record seven points this season without playing in five games. Limoges and Anas are teammates in Minsk, while Vecchione is the lone Barys player within the top 30 of overall point scorers.
They aren’t the only players with Hershey pedigree excelling in the early stages of the season, though, as the other former Bears are also scattered among the league leaders in several categories.
Goals
| Player | Team | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| Alex Limoges | Dinamo Minsk | 5 |
| Brooks Macek | Avtomobilist | 5 |
| Nikita Korostelyov | Spartak | 5 |
| Ruslan Abrosimov | Severstal | 5 |
| Derek Barach | Metallurg | 4 |
Limoges finds himself in a four-way tie for the KHL lead in goal scoring. The spot is somewhat foreign to the 28-year-old forward, as he hasn’t been a big goal-scoring threat the past three seasons in the AHL, notching more assists than goals in each season.
The Penn State grad scored a career high 24 goals in 62 games with the Bears during the 2023-24 campaign.
Goals-against average
| Player | Team | GAA |
|---|---|---|
| Adam Huska | Admiral | 0.97 |
| Vladimir Galkin | Avtomobilist | 1.50 |
| Zach Fucale | Dinamo Minsk | 1.62 |
| Artemy Pleshkov | SKA | 1.73 |
| Daniil Isayev | Lokomotiv | 1.75 |
Zach Fucale is another former Bear on Dinamo Minsk’s roster this year. The 2023 Calder Cup champion is 2-0-1 this season with a 1.62 goals-against average, a .940 save percentage, and one shutout.
He is one of eight goalies to already record a shutout and has played the fewest number of games (3) among those netminders.
Plus/minus
| Player | Team | +/- |
|---|---|---|
| Bobby Nardella | Torpedo | +7 |
| Nikita Tryamkin | Avtomobilist | +6 |
| Andrei Sergeyev | Lokomotiv | +5 |
| Maxime Lajoie | Avangard | +5 |
| Anton Silayev | Torpedo | +5 |
Bobby Nardella signed with Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod this past offseason. Outside of his league-leading plus-7 rating, he has recorded four assists in five games for Torpedo and is skating 17:58 of time on ice per game.
Time on ice
Forwards
| Player | Team | TOI |
|---|---|---|
| Alexander Chmelevski | Salavat Yulaev | 21:54 |
| Mason Morelli | Barys | 21:43 |
| Emil Galimov | Barys | 21:05 |
| Vladimir Tkachyov | Sibir | 20:56 |
| Mikhail Vorobyov | SKA | 20:44 |
Mason Morelli signed with Barys this past offseason and has two assists in four games for the Kazakh-based club. He is playing at all strengths for the team so far this season.
Defensemen
| Player | Team | TOI |
|---|---|---|
| Chase Priskie | Sibir | 25:40 |
| Daniil Pylenkov | Dynamo Moscow | 25:31 |
| Damir Sharipzyanov | Avangard | 23:53 |
| Grigory Dronov | Traktor | 23:03 |
| Reilly Walsh | Barys | 23:01 |
Chase Priskie is playing his first season overseas this year and is skating 5:01 more ice time per game than any other Sibir defenseman. He is averaging 3:02 of power-play ice time per game and 2:16 of shorthanded ice time per game.
Blocked shots
| Player | Team | BS |
|---|---|---|
| Doyle Somerby | Shanghai Dragons | 17 |
| Logan Day | Traktor | 17 |
| Yegor Rykov | Lada | 16 |
| Alexei Marchenko | Ak Bars | 16 |
| Kirill Vorobyov | Avtomobilist | 16 |
Logan Day departed Hershey for the KHL in December last season, joining Traktor Chelyabinsk. Day has one point in six games for Traktor this season and is skating on average 18:20 of ice time per game.
With most of the team’s championship core now overseas, the new-look Bears will be much younger this season. They’ll be guided by new head coach Derek King after Todd Nelson was poached by the Pittsburgh Penguins this summer.
The Bears are set to begin the 2025-26 season with their Home Opener against the Syracuse Crunch on October 11.
