[Signing] Nikita Okhotyuk signs 2 year deal with CSKA

[BigThief]

Originally Posted by Groot

The Flames didn't lose a 5th rounder. They have a 23-year old defensive prospect with 67 NHL games played, who is developing overseas for at least 2 years.

Yay!!!

[fotze2]

This name sounds far too much like Sloof Lirpa. Are we sure this guy existed before this signing. Because I’m not.

[Reggie Dunlop]

Originally Posted by fotze2

This name sounds far too much like Sloof Lirpa. Are we sure this guy existed before this signing. Because I’m not.

Nikita Okhotyuk = Nikki Tokyo Utah

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Ok, so they plan to qualify him and he's headed back to Europe/Russia, which means we will own his rights in perpetuity until he comes back to N.A.

Out of curiosity, I thought I would go back and see what other players we still have in this situation:

Eetu Tuulola
-26 years old. The Flames only have his rights until he's 27, so one more year to see if it works out.
-Played 3 seasons in Stockton with some moderate numbers, but never really progressed
-Played the last 2 seasons in Liiga with two different teams. Pretty similar production to his time in Stockton.

Carl-Johan Lerby
-26 years old. Never drafted, but the Flames still own his rights after his first contract until he's 27, so one more year.
-Played part of one season in Stockton, but limited games due to injury IIRC.
-Bounced around between the SwedishHL and Liiga, nothing of note in his numbers. Seems to not play a ton of games, either due to injury or healthy scratch.

Pavel Karnaukhov
-27 years old. Flames own his rights indefinitely
-Played his entire pro career so far (8 seasons) in Moscow, with pretty solid numbers, likely as a checking line center/winger.
-Managed to play in the 2022 Olympics on the unofficial Russian players team.

Rushan Rafikov
-29 years old. Flames own his rights indefinitely.
-Outside of a handful of games, has played his entire junior and pro career in Yaroslavl (5 years junior, 10 years pro).
-Has put together a pretty solid career. Always a plus player, and puts up solid numbers for a defenseman. 25 points in 62 games last year as an example.

Victor Bobrov
-40 years old. Drafted in the 5th round in 2002. Flames own his rights indefinitely.
-Played his entire career in the KHL (10 seasons). Eeked out a career, but had pretty awful numbers, even for the KHL. Highest point total in a season was 21 points. Last played in 2018.

Yegor Shastin
-41 years old. Drafted in the 4th round in 2001. Flames own his rights indefinitely.
-Played almost entirely in the KHL (and Russian league before it was formalized into the KHL), with a couple of seasons in the Swiss-B league thrown in. Last played in 2014, but career really ended in 2011.
-Had a couple of good seasons where he scored near a point per game in the late 2000s, but most of his career had pretty poor output.

Yuri Trubachev
-41 years old, drafted in the 5th round in 2001. Flames own his rights indefinitely.
-Had a crazy long career in the KHL, starting as an 18 year old and playing for 20 seasons! Most of that was with Cherepovets. Last played in 2021.
-Solid player, putting up about 0.5 points per game almost every year, but regularly on the negative side of the plus/minus ledger. Still 20 years is nothing to sneeze at.

Ruslan Zainulin
-42 years old. Drafted in the 2nd round in 2000 (by Tampa bay). The famous 1 for 1 return on Marc Savard. Flames own his rights indefinitely.
-Played exclusively in the KHL starting at 18, bounced around a lot from team to team, didn't consistently play a full season. Had 16 seasons total, last played in 2014
-Pretty poor to pedestrian numbers. Only cracked 20 points twice, but most of the time hovered around 10 points in a season.

Other players we still own the rights to, despite being in North America:

Demetrios Koumontzis
-24 years old, Flames own his rights indefinitely. Played the last 2 years with the Idaho Steelheads in the ECHL after 5 years of college hockey. Not bad last year, scoring 19 points in 47 games.

[Freeway]

I think Koumontzis' rights lapse this year but I have to double-check.

[edslunch]

Originally Posted by Locke

Except...on the tail-end of that isnt he going to be like 29/30? Thats 'career-over' age.

23 + 2 =….. wait, you’re an accountant?

[GioforPM]

I'm sure most teams have a few of these guys.

[shutout]

Originally Posted by edslunch

23 + 2 =….. wait, you’re an accountant?

If you are a good accountant the answer to 23 + 2 = will be whatever you want it to be.

[Hot_Flatus]

Seemed like an odd deal at the time and now it really doesn't look good. First Conroy trade where I get the feeling there was a miscalculation somewhere.

Anyway, you've got to think there was some sort of chip at play that maybe didn't come to fruition behind the scenes to make this more worthwhile.

[Strange Brew]

It did seem like an odd trade at the time. I’m guessing part of the calculation was not having too many draft picks of the same vintage coming through the system at the same time? It made the pick somewhat less valuable to the Flames maybe?

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

It did seem like an odd trade at the time. I’m guessing part of the calculation was not having too many draft picks of the same vintage coming through the system at the same time? It made the pick somewhat less valuable to the Flames maybe?

I think he was one of those underutilized assets that the team has identified.

A 5th round pick for a 20% chance that the guy has more than the Sharks seem to see is a good gamble.

Do that 5 times with 5th round picks and find one player that plays for any extent of time and you win 100%.

Plus his going home doesn't necessarily mean the team is no longer high on him. If he's going home because the Flames told him they don't see him in their plans, then sure. But it could be his decision, and with that they qualify him and hold his rights until he's 27.

[EVERLAST]

Originally Posted by Bingo

I think he was one of those underutilized assets that the team has identified.

A 5th round pick for a 20% chance that the guy has more than the Sharks seem to see is a good gamble.

Do that 5 times with 5th round picks and find one player that plays for any extent of time and you win 100%.

Plus his going home doesn't necessarily mean the team is no longer high on him. If he's going home because the Flames told him they don't see him in their plans, then sure. But it could be his decision, and with that they qualify him and hold his rights until he's 27.

Isn't this the EXACT scenario of 1 Mark Giordano?,or.close? Unless anyone was sitting in the room we don't know.
I'd rather a.guy be getting a ton of playing time wherever an developing his game knowing that he has a Crack at making a lineup that who knows ....becomes better sooner than later ....Calgary sees this and identify depth somewhere in the system that can come in and help the team get better or.not miss a beat.

I'd take this over past decades of WTF is happening with prospects , picks, development to fix thr right now problem which never works out as I've seen it.

I think Connys been paying more attention than he's been giving any credit for .

When they signed Hunter the way they did that immediately signaled something different the Flames were doing which is a positive.going forward.

I think the best thing to remember is Dustin Wolf's motto....you win or.you learn.

We're taking baby steps right now sure but this team gets better faster in my mind.

[TheIronMaiden]

5th round picks are a crap shoot anyhow. I don't mind taking a change on this guy, even knowing it didn't work out.

[Matty81]

Watched him for a few years even before the flames picked him up, doesn't move the puck real well so he profiled as a 5/6 dman if he stuck, and he hits a bit but doesn't really inspire any fear. Probably slots in as a top 4 dman back in russia easily and makes way better money, this isn't a shocker though I thought perhaps he might sign one more 1 year deal here to see if he could break through before giving up.

I don't think it's a huge loss but it's a bit too bad we spent a pick on him even if it's not much, kind of guy you can get off waivers for free every fall.

[ResAlien]

I’m trying to get worked up about it but I can’t. No GM bats 1.000 and if blowing a fifth round pick is one of your misses I think that qualifies as just fine.

[Sainters7]

I'm sure Flames media is relieved anyway...I remember everybody having a heck of a time trying to pronounce his name when he was acquired.

Even Steinberg got it wrong during his introduction interview with Okhotyuk on a 960 phone interview, and you could tell Stein had been practicing it beforehand too.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Bingo

I think he was one of those underutilized assets that the team has identified.

A 5th round pick for a 20% chance that the guy has more than the Sharks seem to see is a good gamble.

Do that 5 times with 5th round picks and find one player that plays for any extent of time and you win 100%.

Plus his going home doesn't necessarily mean the team is no longer high on him. If he's going home because the Flames told him they don't see him in their plans, then sure. But it could be his decision, and with that they qualify him and hold his rights until he's 27.

I hear you but you’re also lowering the ceiling on your 5th round draft pick each time you do that. A 20% chance that he might be a depth defenseman is ok

I guess if you’re jonesing to trade that pick I’d maybe rather use it to move up a few spots in the 3rd round for a guy your scouts might really like.

But I don’t hate that they are trying some different tactics.

[Caged Great]

It was a fairly reasonable thought process at the time. The Flames basically gutted their defense core and wanted to take a look at a bunch of guys to see if anyone will stick. I think Miromanov is probably the only nhl regular of the group. That being said, the most important way to not enter a 10 year in the wilderness situation is to have legit nhl players in your lineup. With the Flames prospect pool currently being rather bleak with only one player with top end upside (Wolf), it is going to take a while to be competitive. It’s going to take 3-4 years to both draft players and for them to join the lineup. You need bodies in the mean time.

[Ped]

Yeah, if trading a 5th for a guy who could still come back for you is your worst move, you're doing pretty good.

[Calgary4LIfe]

We are all making assumptions still from my point of view.


We don't know WHY this move happened. Maybe he is giving up on the NHL. Maybe he hates Calgary. Maybe he wants to play closer to home. Maybe he misses a family member, or a family member is going through something. Maybe he just wants a bigger payday. Or, just possibly, Flames had a talk with him about not having a spot for him, but wanting him to play in the KHL and just get better. He is not waiver-eligible. Who knows?



Conroy always talks about things. I may have missed it already, but I am sure Conroy will bring this up at some point this off-season.