Nikishin

Shellsd

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So admittedly I’ve not been following along well, what’s the deal on Nikishin? Do we need to sign him and are we expecting difficulties doing it?
 
Two rumors about him right now - one that he's unhappy with his role. Not sure how unhappy you can be when you got ice time throughout the playoffs in your rookie season and other guys did not but it is what it is. The second is he's supposedly part of a package presented to get Hellebuyck. Either could end up with him playing somewhere else next year. I hope we can keep him though. The kid's got a lot of upside and growth potential.
 
Sounds like an expectation of him and his agent wanting more than their worth, combined with our riches at D, and him not looking real impressive in the playoffs are making him a trade option. Or maybe ET wants it to look that way to bring his price down.
 
Whatever ends up happening I trust GMET to make the right decision. The Canes have not hesitated to move on from key defensemen before and it has worked out so far.

Nikishin was arguably our worst skater in the playoffs and is limited to a 3rd pairing role with Gostisbehere here. I imagine he wants to be on a first or second pairing somewhere.
 
That's the double edged sword for him. Sure, there are teams he'd be a 1st line d-man. But those teams are not going to be cup contenders right now.
 
I hope we keep him. He’s got tremendous upside and potential and I’d hate to see him becomes a star somewhere else. That said, if it takes moving him to land Hellebuyck, I can live with it.
 
Y'all gotta let go of Niki. He's great, but one of these days he's gonna be smashing Carrier into the boards boom style. I just hope he goes out of conference and I hope he makes a bag, he deserves it.
 
Nadeau and Reilly did really well so we've got riches. I hope this isn't a sign the concussion is affecting him more than we thought.
 
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I don't believe the unhappy talk. I think that's an agent planting what he needs to plant to try to get his player what he wants.

Which I believe is the chance at two big contracts and this is really his last chance. He can sign an 8-year deal this winter and still be young enough to sign a 7-year deal or whatever the max is on the other side of it. He'll be 39 and have maximized guaranteed earnings with the least risk.

I'd imagine the Canes want to bridge deal him, if not because he needs to improve, but for the flexibility, which means he'll be 27 which means he'll probably only be able to get one big contract.
 
The thing about Niki's Russian agent is he did this last year during playoffs, saying stuff about how he wasn't happy with his playing time, and all sorts of stuff like that, so it wouldn't be the first time he's putting words in Nikishin's mouth. I think he just does what he wants, however misguided, and people who don't know about him take him at his word that these things are coming from Niki and not just the agent.
 
I don't really want to see Niki go. I think as as young defenseman he's shows great talent and huge upside. But since we do have numerous quality D men in the system, it wouldn't shock me to trade a valuable asset that showed his talent in our Cup run.
 
I think we'll come to really regret losing Nikishin if we lose him, but he hasn't yet shown enough value to earn what he (or his agent) is asking. I'll say this, though - while i don't want the Canes to lose him, i'll be quite happy to never have to hear the 'You like? No, i LOVE' story ever again.
 
MoBigRed said:
I think we'll come to really regret losing Nikishin if we lose him, but he hasn't yet shown enough value to earn what he (or his agent) is asking. I'll say this, though - while i don't want the Canes to lose him, i'll be quite happy to never have to hear the 'You like? No, i LOVE' story ever again.
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unfortunately, i have a feeling that one will get dusted off any time we play him, no matter where he goes
 
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