“Salavat Yulaev” signed foreign player – Canadian Joshua Livo

Several more KHL clubs applied for the striker

The Bashkir hockey flagship closed the second foreign player position by agreeing on a contract with forward Joshua Livo. The contract with the Canadian was concluded for one season.

Josh Livo is a very serious acquisition for Salavat Yulaev. According to our publication, several other KHL clubs applied for the striker, but the Ufa team managed to get ahead of the rest. The search for a right-handed winger has been going on since last fall, with several candidates choosing other KHL clubs or not coming to Russia at all, but the current acquisition looks like a complete success, justifying the long search. Of course, it will be necessary to see how the North American will settle down in Ufa, but his experience and skill speak for themselves. True, Livo did not take part in the Stanley Cup, but the AHL playoffs are in no way inferior in intensity to the Gagarin Cup battles, and there the Ufa recruit proved himself to be the best. According to our publication, the salary of a newcomer to Salavat is less than 60 million rubles per season. This is not even the “fattest” contract on the team.

“Josh is a right-handed forward who can play on both flanks,” commented the sports director of Salavat Yulaev, Vasily Chizhov, on the strengthening. – He has a good shot, we expect this transfer to strengthen the power play. Livo played several hundred games in the NHL, performed well in the AHL, and won the Calder Cup. He can improve the overall skill level of our team.

30-year-old forward Josh Livo was born in Ontario and began his career in the junior league of this province for the Sudbury Wolves and Kitchener Rangers. In the first OHL season, he scored 30 (13+17) points in 64 regular season matches and 13 (6+7) points in 8 playoff games. At the 2011 NHL draft, he was selected by Toronto in the third round, 86th overall. The following season, he already scored 73 points (32+41) in 66 games for Sudbury and made his senior debut, playing one match in the AHL for the Toronto farm club. And the next year he repeated his record of 73 (29+44) points, playing 63 matches for Sudbury and Kitchener. He played four games in the AHL, in which he gave two assists.

In 2013, the Toronto Maple Leafs signed the 20-year-old forward to a three-year entry-level contract. Josh Livo made his NHL debut on October 10, and scored his first goal a week later. With 2 (1+1) points after seven games, he was sent to the AHL, where he finished the season, scoring 42 (23+19) in 59 regular-season games and 8 (3+5) points in the playoffs. Until the end of his rookie contract, Livo played in the NHL a little more every year than the previous one, but the 2015/16 season was remarkable for the forward. In the AHL, the forward scored 48 (17+31) in 51 games of a smooth season, took part in the all-star game of the second strongest league in North America and became the top scorer of the Toronto Marlies in the Calder Cup playoffs. However, in the NHL, the new coach of the Maple Leafs, Michael Babcock, did not have much confidence in the young forward, who scored 5 goals in 12 games for the Maple Leafs, although Josh received a new contract in the main club in the province of Ontario. Livo spent a full season in the NHL without trips to the farm club in the 2018/19 season, playing 27 games for Toronto and 49 for Vancouver, where he was traded in December for Michael Carcone. The season turned out to be the most productive in the forward’s NHL career – in games for two clubs, he scored 24 points (14+10). He spent the next season with the Canucks, and then, as a free agent, he changed clubs every year – the Calgary Flames, Carolina Hurricanes and St. Louis Blues. For the Carolina farm club in the 2021/22 season, he became the best player in the AHL in December, and in the playoffs, the Chicago Wolves won the league’s main trophy, the Calder Cup, and Josh Livo was recognized as the most valuable player of the cup round, as the top scorer and playoff sniper (15+14 in 18 cup matches). Last year, the forward scored 16 (4+12) in his 51st NHL game for the Bluesmen.

In total, over ten seasons in the NHL, Josh Livo played 265 matches in the “smooth” championships, chalking up 93 (42+51). In the AHL he played 227 regular-season games, scoring 174 (76+98) points and 56 (23+33) points in 53 playoff games.

Livo is a versatile forward, capable of making a great pass and scoring himself; he has a very decent shot. He also performs well in defense, which is quite important for Ufa coach Viktor Kozlov. He has good dimensions (188 cm, 87 kg) and, although he does not skate very fast, he covers the puck well and is able to push through the opponent’s defense. For Salavat Yulaev, who is experiencing certain problems with offensive performance, this is definitely a solid reinforcement.