Confirmed Signing with Link: [TBL] Ilya Usau signs ELC with the Lightning (3 years, $897.5k AAV)

[MMC]

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[Kobe Armstrong]

26 points in 40 KHL games this year, from Belarus, looks like a good Lightning pickup

 

[wonton15]

Thats a lot of vowels

 

[bandwagonesque]

Thats a lot of vowels

Borderline elite if you include y

 

[Brodeur]

Just because I'm a draft eligibility nerd, Usau was allowed to be signed as a free agent since he played an entire draft eligible season in North America previously. A similarly aged European player who hadn't completed a full season in North America would still be draft eligible one last time in July.

 

[Chainshot]

This is one of those Tampa moves where everyone is wondering how they figured out that the guy was eligible to be signed and BriseBois is just snickering like Muttley and polishing his rings.

 

[aonb]

I prefer Ilya Usov, not this strange Usau thing

 

[Vukotal Recall]

Usau us win two cups, now u see us win three

 

[kaiser matias]

I prefer Ilya Usov, not this strange Usau thing

The Usau spelling is more aligned with the Belarusian pronunciation, which is gaining more usage in recent years (as opposed to using the Russian variant).

 

[2020 Cup Champions]

Khuzmenko please

 

[Kipper933]

First (?) Belarusian or Russian FA signing for next year.

Usov has a nice skillset and had a strong year for his age in the KHL. I thought someone would have used a late pick on him after his time with Prince Albert in the WHL, but he slipped through a few drafts and it's a solid free asset.

 

[Aoko]

Another example of why Tampa doesn't care about trading away first round draft picks. It doesn't matter when you can sign young players like this from reputation alone.

 

[SoundAndFury]

The Usau spelling is more aligned with the Belarusian pronunciation, which is gaining more usage in recent years (as opposed to using the Russian variant).

It's silly. Just flat out is.

 

[kaiser matias]

It's silly. Just flat out is.

It's funny because most Belarusians don't speak the language, at least not often. They all use Russian, though I get some are using it more as a protest against Russia (from 2020, that is).

 

[SoundAndFury]

It's funny because most Belarusians don't speak the language, at least not often. They all use Russian, though I get some are using it more as a protest against Russia (from 2020, that is).

Yes and even phonetically it feels like rules of spelling the Belarussian language were made just to confuse people. Usau, Aksiantsiuk, etc... The languages are almost the same, it feels like they had a task to just make the spelling as different as possible.

 

[TribalPhoenix]

We had this kid on our roster when I worked for a USHL team. Kid can't spell motor. Was on the fence at our evaluation camp. Hope it works out better for him here and he's figured it out.

 

[inthe6ix]

ngl had to google him

jbb can do no wrong so congrats

 

[SoundAndFury]

We had this kid on our roster when I worked for a USHL team. Kid can't spell motor. Was on the fence at our evaluation camp. Hope it works out better for him here and he's figured it out.

Yeah he still plays slow game, that's going to be the biggest issue for him in NA. But hey, if he got pretty good at playing the slow game at the KHL level at 20 it's not impossible he can reach the NHL level at 22 or 23.

 

[kaiser matias]

Yes and even phonetically it feels like rules of spelling the Belarussian language were made just to confuse people. Usau, Aksiantsiuk, etc... The languages are almost the same, it feels like they had a task to just make the spelling as different as possible.

They also have that problem in Cyrillic: a few years ago they famously had a misspelling on one of their banknotes, which are only in Belarusian (I be believe they used the Russian word for the number).

 

[yrmj3]

Yes and even phonetically it feels like rules of spelling the Belarussian language were made just to confuse people.

Really confusing?) It's more logic to write 'a' when pronounce 'a', than write 'o' but pronounce 'a' in my opinion

 

[SoundAndFury]

Really confusing?) It's more logic to write 'a' when pronounce 'a', than write 'o' but pronounce 'a' in my opinion

I guess but when transcribed to English it just becomes a mess.

 

[OneSniffTwoSniff]

We had this kid on our roster when I worked for a USHL team. Kid can't spell motor. Was on the fence at our evaluation camp. Hope it works out better for him here and he's figured it out.

I would say that things have worked out pretty good for him, considering he just got an NHL deal from back to back Stanley cup champions

 

[TribalPhoenix]

I would say that things have worked out pretty good for him, considering he just got an NHL deal from back to back Stanley cup champions

I meant that he finds success in North America.

 

[OneSniffTwoSniff]

I meant that he finds success in North America.

Alrighty.

Out of interest, how many players that have played for your team over the years have made it all the way to professional or even semi-professional level?

Have there been any players that made it all the way to the Nhl? Cheers.