WORCESTER RAILERS HC SIGN FORWARD ANDREI BAKANOV FOR 2024-25 SEASON

WORCESTER RAILERS HC SIGN FORWARD ANDREI BAKANOV FOR 2024-25 SEASON

Railers officially have twelve forwards, six defensemen, and two goaltenders signed for the upcoming season.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The Worcester Railers Hockey Club (@RailersHC), proud ECHL (@ECHL) affiliate of the New York Islanders (@NYIslanders), and General Manager & Associate Head Coach Nick Tuzzolino, announced today that the club has signed forward Andrei Bakanov to an ECHL contract for the 2024-25 season.

Bakanov, 22, joins Worcester for his third season with the Railers. Bakanov had 24 points (12G, 12A) in 62 games played for Worcester during the 2023-24 season. During the 2022-23 campaign, while under contract with the American Hockey League’s Springfield Thunderbirds, he played in 35 games for Worcester, recording 11 points (4G, 7A). With Springfield in 22-23, he recorded six penalty minutes along with a -4 rating in 18 games played.

"We're really excited to have Andrei back for his third season with us," Head Coach Bob Deraney said. "He's a prototypical power forward who really started to come on at the end of last year. We are looking for Andrei from day one to be a player that other teams will have to deal with night in and night out. We expect his point production to exponentially improve this season."

Prior to playing professional hockey in North America, the 6'3", 214lb forward spent two seasons in the Kontinental Hockey League from 2020-21 to 2021-22 between the Kunlun Red Star and HK Sochi. With Kunlun in 2020-21, he scored five points (4G, 1A) in 32 games played. The following season with HK Sochi, he scored four points total (3G, 1A) to go along with six penalty minutes and a -5 rating. Prior to playing professional hockey, the Moscow, Russia native spent one season each with the Guelph Storm of the Ontario Hockey League in 2019-20, and the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders of the United States Hockey League in 2018-19.

"I love everything about [Worcester], that's why I'm coming back," Bakanov said. "It's special for me and my family. I'm very excited to come back and looking forward to next season."

The Railers have announced twenty players officially signed for the 2024-25 season as Bakanov joins Griffin Luce, Mason Klee, Joey Cipollone, Artyom Kulakov, Matt DeMelis, Austin Heidemann, Matthew Barnaby Jr., Ryan Dickinson, Jordan Kaplan, Michael Bullion, Griffin Loughran, John Muse, Cole Donhauser, Ryan Verrier, Colin Jacobs, Connor Welsh, Anthony Callin, JD Dudek, and Anthony Repaci as the twenty signees. More announcements are expected over the coming weeks.

The Worcester Railers HC 2024-25 Opening Weekend at the DCU Center is Sat., Oct. 19th and Sun., Oct. 20th vs. the Reading Royals. The new 508 Club is now on sale for the 2024-25 season! Get access to games this season, exclusive events and additional benefits by calling the Railers front office at 508-365-1750 or by visiting RailersHC.com.

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