Predators Reportedly Interested In Alexander Nikishin

For three years, he was one of the best defensemen in the KHL with SKA St. Petersburg, twice leading the league in scoring by blueliners. A two-time first-team All-Star in the KHL, Nikishin was able to hit the ground running when he arrived in the NHL, scoring 11 goals and 33 points in 81 games for the Hurricanes.

He averaged 18:11 time on ice per game as a rookie, seeing time on both sides of special teams. Most project Nikishin to be a high-likelihood long-term top-pairing defenseman.

As a result, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Nikishin considers Buium’s $9.38MM AAV to be a floor on any maximum-term extension. It’s tough to make the argument that he should be worth less.

The shifting financial landscape across the NHL has put the Hurricanes in a tough position when it comes to re-signing Nikishin. Surely, they’d prefer to keep the player. But the team has just over $8MM in cap space right now, per PuckPedia, and would need to make additional moves to fit Nikishin onto their books, unless he agrees to a lower-than-expected cap hit.

Additionally, Carolina already has two left-shot defensemen locked into long-term deals: K’Andre Miller and star Jaccob Slavin. Veteran Shayne Gostisbehere is also under contract for next season. As a result, there is not a massive, pressing need for the club to re-sign Nikishin, even though he did spend considerable time playing on the right side.

Given the state of their defense and cap sheet, it’s easy to see a scenario where Carolina is best served finding a trade for Nikishin, rather than making him the team’s new highest-paid defenseman (or player overall). But whether or not that makes sense for the team could come down to the offer put on the table for them.

On paper, Nashville doesn’t appear to have a significant immediate financial advantage over the Hurricanes, as their $9.7MM in cap space, per PuckPedia, isn’t all that much higher than Carolina’s cap space. But long-term, they do have considerably greater flexibility on their back-end.

While Carolina has its two left-shot pillars signed long-term, the Predators’ highest-paid blueliner, captain Roman Josi, is only under contract for two more seasons.

At the same time, veteran forward Steven Stamkos and his $8MM cap hit will come off Nashville’s books. So while the club doesn’t have an immense amount of immediate flexibility, they do have arguably greater room to fit Nikishin in from a long-term perspective.

In terms of his immediate on-ice fit, Nikishin could slide right in next to Josi on the team’s top pairing, as Josi, a left-shot, often prefers to play from the right side. That would give the Predators an ascendant blueliner to pair with its aging franchise legend, an arrangement that worked out quite well for Josi himself. At an earlier stage of his career, Josi got to develop into a star playing alongside Hall of Fame Predators captain Shea Weber.

But while Nashville would certainly be a fit for Nikishin, it remains to be seen if Carolina will fully engage in trading away their star young blueliner rather than make a final push to retain him. Either way, we should receive more clarity on his situation as training camp nears.

The Hurricanes have made moves in recent days to shore up the depth of their blueline, inking two experienced left-shot defensemen in Pierre-Olivier Joseph and Mike Reilly to one-year contracts. Those deals mean the club has the flexibility to trade Nikishin without necessarily needing to receive an NHL-ready defenseman in return. Again, those moves are no guarantee that Carolina will trade Nikishin, but they are notable.