Speaking of Zykov, I watched him play in Ontario his rookie season before he was traded that year at the trade deadline. I also met him once. Good size frame. Limited english. His play on the ice was a bit less than I expected as there was a bit of hype surrounding him. He was kind of a one on one player, but he was a rookie trying to fit into the pro game, so it's not unusual to have that learning curve. What many don't know was that he was struggling most of the season likely due to a serious elbow injury on his right arm (shooting side). Swollen up quite a bit of the season like a grapefruit I understand, so in my book we gave up on him way too early for little in return, part of the DS/DL like veteran players routine. Now just in his third pro season, he lead the AHL in goals (unusual actually for a young player, often it's a career AHLer that's a veteran). I suspect he'll crack the Canes line up this year and be an NHLer, and in his limited games, has already shown he can score. He's in that forward age group where our talent is lacking. Appears to be a pretty decent contender to be a prototypical power forward. Time will tell, but my money is on this trade was a mistake. Not saying he'll be a star, but maybe a solid NHL player.
