Prospect Info: #129 Arseny Gritsyuk RW

[OmNomNom]

Yukky-Huykky. It`s sounds very bad on local taste.

is that basically the russian version of "johnny hockey"?

 

[Guadana]

is that basically the russian version of "johnny hockey"?

more like Rick-Dick.

 

[Brodeur]

Two year extension will make for an interesting NHL negotiation after his ELC is done.

2023-24: KHL
2024-25: KHL
spring 2025: Gritsyuk will be 24 and would have to sign a 1 year ELC. Possibly would have the leverage to have the contract start immediately and get burned in order to be eligible for the remainder of the season/playoffs. Then he'd be RFA summer 2025 but without offer sheet privileges. Alternatively he could sign a 1 year ELC that starts in 2025-26.

Hit me just now that this was close to what Nikita Gusev did with Vegas. Signed his mandatory 1 year ELC in the spring of 2019 and joined them for the playoffs. He never dressed but he was practicing. Then he was RFA that summer without offer sheet privileges (despite a bunch of awful blogs stating otherwise).

Vegas wanted to get him on a 1 year deal at 2 mil AAV since they were already in a cap crunch. Gusev's camp wanted more which led to the trade to New Jersey and he signed for 2 years at 4.5 mil AAV.

In terms of maximizing money, a 2 year KHL extension was the smart move. If he had signed an ELC next year, Gritsyuk would be 23 and would have had to sign a 2 year ELC. Unfortunately for us, that might mean we never get Gritsyuk on a dirt cheap contract. Although we'll see if he has the same leverage that Gusev did when he came over.

 

[Bcap88]

Still undecided if this is a good move or a bad move for him as a player

 

[Guttersniped]

Hit me just now that this was close to what Nikita Gusev did with Vegas. Signed his mandatory 1 year ELC in the spring of 2019 and joined them for the playoffs. He never dressed but he was practicing. Then he was RFA that summer without offer sheet privileges (despite a bunch of awful blogs stating otherwise).

Vegas wanted to get him on a 1 year deal at 2 mil AAV since they were already in a cap crunch. Gusev's camp wanted more which led to the trade to New Jersey and he signed for 2 years at 4.5 mil AAV.

In terms of maximizing money, a 2 year KHL extension was the smart move. If he had signed an ELC next year, Gritsyuk would be 23 and would have had to sign a 2 year ELC. Unfortunately for us, that might mean we never get Gritsyuk on a dirt cheap contract. Although we'll see if he has the same leverage that Gusev did when he came over.

Eh. Gusev was 27 in 2019-20, Gritsyuk will be 24 in 2025-26, that’s very different to me.

Gritsyk will be coming over at the same age Panarin did.

I would prefer 23, and a 2 year ELC, but 2 year KHL deals seem to be the norm. We have good amount of team control left.

I didn’t like Gusev trade that much when it happened.

The game of small, cerebral, non physical Russian wingers don’t always translate (to put it mildly). He was even lankier, less physical than Panarin (and every other hockey on earth really). As he got older, he became more of playmaker and less of a goal scorer in the KHL.

Non-physical, playmaking wingers don’t have a lot of value, unless their production is massive. We also were very bad, so the odds were very high that even if he took off we were going to have to flip him in a year and half.

Gritsyuk isn’t as talented as Gusev but he plays a more NA game.

I did think Goose was a blast, he’s a brilliant player, and I do believe the bizarre nature of COVID season probably kneecapped his second season here.

I remember that he had his first child in the off-season before 2020-21, and I remember him beaming and I also remember feeling an enormous amount of pity for his wife lol.

Moving here right before COVID, and immediately having a baby during its height, was a worst case scenario for a 1st child. If she had any relatives/friends for support with her they would practically be locked in the house with her 24/7. Real mixed blessing lol. That’s how manslaughter can be committed by even nice ladies.

 

[Brodeur]

Eh. Gusev was 27 in 2019-20, Gritsyuk will be 24 in 2025-26, that’s very different to me.

I wasn't necessarily worried about Gritsyuk's development, just pointing out that his agent might have him lined up for an immediate NHL pay day so we might not get a cheap season if/when he does come over.

 

[Guttersniped]

I wasn't necessarily worried about Gritsyuk's development, just pointing out that his agent might have him lined up for an immediate NHL pay day so we might not get a cheap season if/when he does come over.

I don’t see him necessarily demanding to burn his one ELC year and going straight to a standard deal.

He can make extra with bonuses on his ELC. I’m skeptical that he would be up for that big deal coming out of the KHL.

Gusev was coming off 3 seasons of producing well over a PPG in the KHL. He was also 27, he had less time to f*** around for a year proving himself.

Also the KHL introduced the hard cap in 2020-21. There’s probably just less money there these days.

Kuzmenko had multiple suitors, he still signed an ELC at 26, with 850k in performance bonuses. And now he’s making 2 years/5.5m.

Gritsyuk has to play ball with the Devils if he wants to play in the NHL and make millions, we can negotiate from a position of strength too.

 

[TF1970]

I was a big fan of that trade and gusev was great his first season. Grew to become maybe my favorite devil at the time. The Coleman-Zajac-Gusev line was one of the few bright spots that year too. Sucks that he kind of fell off a cliff suddenly.

 

[forceten]

I was a big fan of that trade and gusev was great his first season. Grew to become maybe my favorite devil at the time. The Coleman-Zajac-Gusev line was one of the few bright spots that year too. Sucks that he kind of fell off a cliff suddenly.

I liked him too. I still don’t think we needed to ship him off and pay for the privilege though. Why didn’t we just keep him. Same with Butcher. Did we have cap issues? We were terrible either way

 

[barriers]

 

[Guttersniped]

You got to pay the big bucks for hair like that.

 

[FooteBahl]

I this good/bad?

 

[barriers]

I this good/bad?

Could go either way I suppose. Could develop well and excel there, building up his stock before coming over or he could get buried on a deeper team and not get ideal playing time. I like to imagine he & Michkov joined at the hip for the next 2 seasons bringing the best out of each other.

Anyway, @Caser is saying Avangard has officially declined to match SKA'S offer

 

[MasterofGrond]

SKA will be good for him I think. Premier organization.

If they planned on burying him I doubt they would sign him to a contract too rich for Avangard.

 

[crashline]

So he'll be keeping company with Bardakov, Gusev and crucially, Nikita Popugaev.

 

[Guadana]

He signed two year deal and officially will be SKA player.

SKA is the team with great training stuff, playing in fast/forecheking game.
And small but still very important part - I will watch a lot of his game next season personally.

 

[PWiz30]

So he'll be keeping company with Bardakov, Gusev and crucially, Nikita Popugaev.

When did Popugaev come out of retirement? Some time between now and February 24th of last year?

 

[Bleedred]

When did Popugaev come out of retirement? Some time between now and February 24th of last year?

Apparently he played for Sochi this past season that just ended.

So the retirement thing was apparently only for one season.

 

[PWiz30]

Apparently he played for Sochi this past season that just ended.

So the retirement thing was apparently only for one season.

Yeah, I didn't remember the dates but was pretty sure he came out of retirement because he he saw the writing on the wall and didn't want to produce YT content from the front line. He initially signed a PTO with Amur on June 14th, right after the Russian government started denying that they were going to start conscripting people.

Talk about your all time backfires.

 

[Better Call Sal]

 

[HBK27]

Some quotes:

“The thinking right now is that it can really benefit him, as a scoring forward, to continue to mature over there,” MacKinnon said. “Maybe spend another year or two. And we’ve seen that with guys like Kirill Kaprizov and Andrei Kuzmenkov. For that type of player, sometimes it’s better for them to mature, then step right into your NHL roster.”

“Me and him, we don’t want to play in the AHL,” Babaev said. “He (won) silver medal in the Olympic games. He has more than 40 points almost every season. It’s better for him to come and play for the main team on the main roster… He wants to come and he wants to play in New Jersey – it’s just about the timing.”

On-ice aspirations aside, Gritsyuk, a native of Krasnoyarsk, Russia, also wants to improve his English-speaking skills. Babaev added that his and his client’s connection to Devils assistant coach Sergei Brylin should help him ease into coach Lindy Ruff’s system, and any break any language barriers.

“I know Sergei well,” Babaev said. “He’s a really great person and he’s a professional and a good player. I think that’s a very important thing that he’s there and will help him, for sure… (Gritsyuk) just told me he needs to speak better English, and be more ready in his mind to come to the system. He’s big, he’s a good skater, he has a big shot. I think his progress is very good.

 

[Brodeur]

Hopefully Gritsyuk can hit the ground running in spring 2025.

 

[Better Call Sal]

Some quotes:

“The thinking right now is that it can really benefit him, as a scoring forward, to continue to mature over there,” MacKinnon said. “Maybe spend another year or two. And we’ve seen that with guys like Kirill Kaprizov and Andrei Kuzmenkov. For that type of player, sometimes it’s better for them to mature, then step right into your NHL roster.”

“Me and him, we don’t want to play in the AHL,” Babaev said. “He (won) silver medal in the Olympic games. He has more than 40 points almost every season. It’s better for him to come and play for the main team on the main roster… He wants to come and he wants to play in New Jersey – it’s just about the timing.”

On-ice aspirations aside, Gritsyuk, a native of Krasnoyarsk, Russia, also wants to improve his English-speaking skills. Babaev added that his and his client’s connection to Devils assistant coach Sergei Brylin should help him ease into coach Lindy Ruff’s system, and any break any language barriers.

“I know Sergei well,” Babaev said. “He’s a really great person and he’s a professional and a good player. I think that’s a very important thing that he’s there and will help him, for sure… (Gritsyuk) just told me he needs to speak better English, and be more ready in his mind to come to the system. He’s big, he’s a good skater, he has a big shot. I think his progress is very good.

Sarge is an invaluable presence.

 

[Hisch13r]

I don’t see him necessarily demanding to burn his one ELC year and going straight to a standard deal.

He can make extra with bonuses on his ELC. I’m skeptical that he would be up for that big deal coming out of the KHL.

Gusev was coming off 3 seasons of producing well over a PPG in the KHL. He was also 27, he had less time to f*** around for a year proving himself.

Also the KHL introduced the hard cap in 2020-21. There’s probably just less money there these days.

Kuzmenko had multiple suitors, he still signed an ELC at 26, with 850k in performance bonuses. And now he’s making 2 years/5.5m.

Gritsyuk has to play ball with the Devils if he wants to play in the NHL and make millions, we can negotiate from a position of strength too.

Can also look at Kaprizov. He was 23 and Gritsyuk will be 24 so similar age wise. Kaprizov was a far far better player and even he played one ELC year.

 

[Devs3cups]