It might hurt a Leafs fan feelings, but I don't get why te Leafs keep signing forwards in bunches despite having a logjam of forwards on the roster(and obvious needs elsewhere). Just as much as I don't undersatnd why those FA guys sign with the Leafs of all teams too. I get it, Toronto is a big city and probably a nice place to live and all, but there is also the hockey side to be considered. So in this case I just blame both sides for sigining a contract that was at least somewhat destined to fail.
In Barabanov's defence I think there weren't many suitors. So given his age he might have just thought it's his only chance, so who gives a crap about everything else. In Leafs defence they aren't losing much. It's a cheap two-way contract.
On the hockey side the guy had one above his average season in the KHL and it wasn't even his last before leaving. And that season wasn't too impressive. 46 points in 58 games. 36 points less than Nikita Gusev on the same team. Aside from that seasosn he was always as
@SoundAndFury pointed out a 0.5 PPG player in the KHL. There are bunches of those. To put it in perspective, this season 0,5 PPG is 133th in PPG in the KHL. If he was a 19 years old, that would have been an achievement, but he is his prime age wise.
He is not big, he can't be an effective 4th liner, so the only best case scenario for him in the NHL would be a 3rd line energy line guy who is not a liability and can score from time to time. The reality of the NHL(and in particular the Leafs) is though that he won't be given much time to prove his worth, because players of that caliber are a dime a dozen. If he does not produce right away, he is out. Exactly that is happening right now.
So in conclusion I think it was a wrong choice of a team for Barabanov. If he wanted a real chance, he would have to find a team with openings on the forward spots. Frankly as mentioned above I don't know if there were many options, but I doubt there were, maybe none except Toronto.
I see him as a strong candidate to return to the KHL ASAP.