Borsig
Become ungovernable.
IDK the shots he had were WAY better than anything our other D men put on. If he'd have scored on one of them he would have been touted a hero.
Ghost also had a couple, but Nikishin had one just before the overturned goal.wasn’t that ghost? That was my biggest takeaway from watching them this game- ghost is far from an ideal partner for nikishin
I think with a full off-season and camp, Nikishin will pick up the system much quicker than that.It might take him a full rookie year to settle into the league and our system, but we saw glimpses of just how dominant he’s going to be in this league for a long time. He’s going to pick up an unreal amount of points with his shot given how we like our defenseman to volume shoot and have the forwards crash the net.
Asking him to walk out of Russia and into the playoffs cold is a tall order for anyone
Also, I have a hard time criticizing Nikishin too much for the supposed turnover when it was Slavin who had just as bad a play that led to a goal against that actually counted.
Not only that but I remember Skjei looked pretty rough when he first came over from the Rangers. It took until he went through that next training camp and a decent chunk of the season before he gelled. Nikishin having to go out there last night about a month since he last played with his first game on NA ice being on the road in the Stanley Cup playoffs against a desperate team facing elimination without understanding anything the coaches are saying. You expect him to have a moment or 2 of bad plays.Slavin got his stick bopped as he was trying to bank a puck behind the net. It then took a the perfect bad bounce off the side of the net around Anderson's glove. That sequence was a nice play by the Washington player that lead to a fluke goal.
Nikishin just had the puck by himself, and blindly backhanded it up the middle straight to a washington player. Maybe he was trying to flip it and didn't get under it? It didn't make any sense. Hey, mistakes happen to everyone sometimes, but he only played the puck a handful of times in his own zone, and none of them looked comfortable. He was Jamie McBain'ing it a bit trying to figure out where he was supposed to be and what to do with the puck.
That being said, if I remember correctly, it took Brent Burns, Dmitri Orlov, and Dougie Hamilton a bit to adjust as well. But they had the luxury of doing it during a training camp.
Not only that but I remember Skjei looked pretty rough when he first came over from the Rangers. It took until he went through that next training camp and a decent chunk of the season before he gelled. Nikishin having to go out there last night about a month since he last played with his first game on NA ice being on the road in the Stanley Cup playoffs against a desperate team facing elimination without understanding anything the coaches are saying. You expect him to have a moment or 2 of bad plays.
I've seen regulars on our blue line look worse than he did last night. Which is a testament to just how good he is at hockey.
Nikishin probably waited for that one moment for half his life. He has said multiple times he has wanted to play against ovie, whos a national hero over there.
The kid had a couple turnovers, what a scrub. Throw him up on waivers
I'd of rather had him with Orlov and kept the other pairings the sameYou can't be tentative in an elimination game of the playoffs and expect you will have all the time in the world to think through and make a play. That's the only real rub i saw with him last night. It wasnt spectacular but it was almost expected given how this has all gone. Totally understandable what happened. Playing with Ghost as his partner also sure didn't help matters.
When he stopped trying to consciously think through every move and just played then there were glimpses of what I watched in all those khl games and what has me so excited he is on our team. He is going to be good for us![]()
Ghost does that pretty much every game. He did it last night.Slavin got his stick bopped as he was trying to bank a puck behind the net. It then took a the perfect bad bounce off the side of the net around Anderson's glove. That sequence was a nice play by the Washington player that lead to a fluke goal.
Nikishin just had the puck by himself, and blindly backhanded it up the middle straight to a washington player. Maybe he was trying to flip it and didn't get under it? It didn't make any sense. Hey, mistakes happen to everyone sometimes, but he only played the puck a handful of times in his own zone, and none of them looked comfortable. He was Jamie McBain'ing it a bit trying to figure out where he was supposed to be and what to do with the puck.
That being said, if I remember correctly, it took Brent Burns, Dmitri Orlov, and Dougie Hamilton a bit to adjust as well. But they had the luxury of doing it during a training camp.
He was attempting to backhand-lift it out of the zone from the end boards, but Leonard got his stick on it causing it to weakly roll out in front of the net. After the goal was scored, you can even see Leonard stick-tap Nikishin as if to say "welcome to the NHL!"Nikishin just had the puck by himself, and blindly backhanded it up the middle straight to a washington player. Maybe he was trying to flip it and didn't get under it? It didn't make any sense.
HOW DARE YOU SIR!!He was Jamie McBain'ing it a bit
But he just played hard fought play offs in the KHL and not for the first time, so the play off setting is nothing new to him, especially with Canes leading 3-1 in his debutI think with a full off-season and camp, Nikishin will pick up the system much quicker than that.
Asking him to walk out of Russia and into the playoffs cold is a tall order for anyone, but I'm excited to watch him next year and in the future.
The playoffs themselves may not be. But he is taking a major step up in competition, he has never played on NA sized ice, and he has never played a game in Carolina’s system.But he just played hard fought play offs in the KHL and not for the first time, so the play off setting is nothing new to him, especially with Canes leading 3-1 in his debut
I believe most KHL rinks are NA sized now.The playoffs themselves may not be. But he is taking a major step up in competition, he has never played on NA sized ice, and he has never played a game in Carolina’s system.
Add in the language barrier as he wasn’t paired with Orlov, and it’s a lot to overcome in game 1. Doing so in the playoffs just accentuates potential mistakes as others pointed out.