Quote:
Originally Posted by Clever_Iggy
That's fair, I didn't look that far back. Perhaps a new lease on life and the chance to be a top pairing guy is the spark that Nikitin needs. My bet, with the commitment to team defense, quality defensive partners and cutting edge swarm defense strategy, Nikitin is setting himself up for a trip to Vegas next June to accept his Norris (or the KHL like the many before him).
|
Whether he's useful will depend on who he plays with and what his role is. If it's Petry, I suspect he'll be stable and reliable enough which is really all the Oilers need from him. He has also been useful to CBJ in the past on special teams, so may see 2nd unit PP time.
I'll say this, I'd rather have Nikitin at 2 years 4.5 than Niskanen at 5 years 6+M, which he might actually get next week.