The Florida Panthers selected obscure goaltending prospect Denis Gabdrakhmanov in the seventh round (201st overall) of the 2024 NHL Draft held at the astounding Sphere in Paradise, Nevada.
During his draft season, Gabdrakhmanov made 40 appearances with Tyumenski Legion, the most games played by a goaltender in Russia’s MHL in 2023-24, recording a 10-20-7 record and posting a 2.55 goals against average, .924 save percentage and one shutout.
The 2024-25 season saw Gabdrakhmanov again spend the majority of the campaign with Tyumenski Legion. He went 10-14-2 with a 2.89 goals against average, posted one shutout and upped his save percentage to .930. Gabdrakhmanov also made his first five professional appearances with Rubin Tyumen in the VHL, where he went 2-0 with a 1.49 goals against average and .940 save percentage
In the VHL playoffs, Gabdrakhmanov saw action in four of six games in Rubin Tyumen’s first-round loss to SKA-Neva. He went 1-2 and posted a .942 save percentage and stingy 1.57 goals against average.
The summer of 2025 saw Gabdrakhmanov make his first appearance at Florida’s annual development camp, where he was one of five keepers to take part.
Gabdrakhmanov spent the entirety of the 2025-26 campaign with Rubin Tyumen, appearing in 33 games and finishing his first full season in the second tier of Russia’s hockey pyramid with a 11-10-7 record. His numbers were strong as he posted a 2.13 goal against average and .921 save percentage while recording his first two shutouts in the league.
He made two postseason relief appearances in the six-game, first-round loss to HC Ryazan. He stopped all 14 of the shots he faced.
The now 21-year-old put in a second appearance at development camp in Fort Lauderdale this summer and shared Team White’s net with Tyler Muszelik in a 4-1 victory over Team Red in the 3-on-3 scrimmage held on the final day of the event.
Gabdrakhmanov took another step in his development by starting the season off in the KHL as one of the back-up keepers for his new organization, HC Sibir Novosibirsk. He made his top-flight debut on September 7 in the team’s second game of the 2026-27 campaign, playing 6:18 of relief in the second period and giving up two goals on four shots in a 7-1 loss to Barys Astana.
Although he’s not quite as tall as Cooper Black and Louis-Antoine Denault, the 6’5″ Gabdrakhmanov is yet another towering goalie slowly marinating in Florida’s prospect pipeline. While there is not much of a scouting book on him out there, that he has already made a KHL roster with just 38 regular season games of VHL experience under his belt is a good sign of progress, as is the Panthers bringing him over for development camp each of the last two years. Let’s see if the intriguing Gabdrakhmanov can stay with Sibir for the entire season or if he’ll need further time in the VHL with their farm team in Barnaul, Dynamo-Altay.