PROOF: Alexander Romanov No Longer in Russia

Last week, Kevin Kurz of the Athletic reported that newly acquired defenseman Alexander Romanov was no longer in Russia and that he was stateside in Miami, Florida, with his wife. Kevin is great and trusted, so proof to back up his report was not needed.

But we now have visual proof via Romanov’s wife, Sofia Krasovskaya.

We live in a society today where knowing locations is rather easy, especially when one posts it to their Instagram story with a location tag. That’s what Sophia did on her Instagram story less than 24 hours ago.

Our first visual verification that Alexander Romanov is in the US along with his wife #Isles pic.twitter.com/qTei8PAnUm

— Nicole Shirman (@nicolefshirman) July 17, 2022

There was concern that Romanov would have an issue returning to the United States. Per Eric Engels, prior to Romanov being dealt, Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes shared that Romanov would be on his way back to the U.S. the next week.

Engel’s updated his report during draft week, sharing that plans had changed and that Romanov was not expected back to the U.S. until August–at the earliest.

On July 5, an article by The Insider, an independent Russian media outlet, shared that NHL players who played for CSKA Moscow may have a difficult time leaving Russia. New York Islanders netminder Ilya Sorokin was named in the piece.

That did not mean he was safe.

Alexander Romanov, who played for CSKA Moscow from 2018 to 2020, was not named in the piece.

The same day that article got attention, an Instagram post proved that Ilya Sorokin was still in Russia. There has been no social media pictures or videos that show his current location has changed.

Then on July 11, a few days after the 2022 NHL Draft had concluded, CSKA Moscow offered Romanov a two-year contract, worth around $975K.

Whether that was a true offer by CSKA or more of a move by Romanov’s agent Dan Milstein to make sure Lamoriello gave him a solid deal on his qualifying offer is still to be determined.

The fact that Romanov and his wife were able to leave Russia given the climate is tremendous, as safety trumps playing hockey.

Alexander Romanov, a restricted free agent, is not currently signed yet but has received a qualifying offer from the New York Islanders.

Because Alexander Romanov is a 10.2(c) restricted free agent, he is not arbitration-eligible, cannot be offer-sheeted, and he must sign with the team that owns his rights–the New York Islanders.