Confirmed with Link: D - Alexander Nikishin signs 2 year ELC

[Borsig]

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.

 

[BrindAmours Army]

wasn’t that ghost? That was my biggest takeaway from watching them this game- ghost is far from an ideal partner for nikishin

Ghost also had a couple, but Nikishin had one just before the overturned goal.

 

[CanesFanBudMan]

He’s the only defenseman we have that can get off a hard accurate shot without dusting it off

 

[robbieberns]

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.

 

[Roman Yoshi]

Obviously some warts in his first game, but a lot to be excited about.

 

[Chrispy]

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.

I 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.

 

[Nikishin al Gaib]

Asking him to walk out of Russia and into the playoffs cold is a tall order for anyone

And now consider how difficult its been to coach him to our scheme because of the language barrier between him and the coaching staff since he got her.

Agreed with you, give him a full offseason and training camp and I'm really excited to see how he contributes next year.

 

[Identity404]

This man is a physical monster. He definitely has the attributes to be an all-star in this league. It’s too bad he wasn’t able to get a few games in the regular season to get comfortable. His first game was sloppy, but you can see he has game breaking abilities in his little ice time.

 

[htdoc]

You 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

 

[Ole Gil]

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.

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.

 

[Nikishin al Gaib]

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.

 

[CandyCanes]

The kid had a couple turnovers, what a scrub. Throw him up on waivers

 

[Ole Gil]

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.

I'm not down on him at all. It's a crazy position to be put in. He has an absolute bomb of a shot. Physically looked very impressive. Skated great. Fingers crossed, he's a quick learner.

 

[Anton Dubinchuk]

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.

And his objectively awesome highlight of taking the puck from his hero will forever also involve him very goofily faceplanting at the end of it. Still can’t believe he didn’t break something on his face.

 

[robbieberns]

Making your debut away from home against a good Caps team facing elimination is absolutely a baptism by fire. Hell, we saw Ghost have at least one game worse than Nikishin’s last night just a series ago.

 

[HisIceness]

The kid had a couple turnovers, what a scrub. Throw him up on waivers

Is that what we do now in lieu of just putting them to death?

 

[Stickpucker]

You 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

I'd of rather had him with Orlov and kept the other pairings the same

I have a lot more faith in just about anyone to play their offside besides Ghost.

 

[chaz4hockey]

The 8 sequence was a superb man to man play, just like Gleason and RBA have designed it.

His follow up offensive work in the zone; wow at 90+mph shot taken quickly and directly on goal plus he ventured into the zone and the had that close in shot go just wide. That follow up in the zone near the net told me that he was now into the flow of the game.

 

[Joe McGrath]

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.

Ghost does that pretty much every game. He did it last night.

 

[Unsustainable]

I need a replay of Nikishins shot, but 92mph bombs are going to be nice to see a lot of next season

 

[geehaad]

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.

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!"

He was Jamie McBain'ing it a bit

HOW DARE YOU SIR!!

 

[The Faulker 27]

The dumpster fire on defense was Orlov in my opinion. He made me nervous every time he had the puck in the d zone.

Now it's friday and I get to drink.

 

[ViD]

I 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.

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

 

[Chrispy]

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

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.

 

[SlavinAway]

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.

I believe most KHL rinks are NA sized now.