Cool, so you admittedly compared Nikihsin to a player that was nowhere near as good as him based on weak superficial similarities, thank you for exposing yourself.
That Nikulin was nowhere near as good as Nikishin now is just a lie. In 2009 Nikulin was the best defenseman outside NHL. Similarities are obvious, they are even somewhat similar players, big, rather physical, play good defense when assigned to this role, can score a lot of points if they have the freedom to do it.
Now, why I brought Nikulin? Well, Nikishin had a great season last year, but he stayed in KHL and he has a contract until 2025. So this season, and next one. So the question is, wouldn't he overripe in KHL, because judging by his current play he should be in NHL this season, but he will stay in KHL for 2 more seasons instead. Usually, when a player is too good for his level of competition he should make a jump, otherwise, he might stagnate and even decline.
It can happen, it almost happened to Kuznetsov back in the day. It happened with Tryamkin, who was a better player in 2017 than he is now. It happened to Gusev.