Haven't people accepted that he's probably never coming over by this point?
He might still. If the Flames indicate that he has a good shot at coming over right to the NHL or the same situation as Nakladal, he may opt to come over for at least a year.
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Rafikov seems to be in the 18-20 minutes a night range. His +9 is fourth highest in the KHL among defensemen (the other three all play on the same St. Petersburg team). It also leads Yaroslavl (next-highest are +6 and +3). His 3 points put him in a 4-way tie for team lead as well.
Not sure if he's just the beneficiary of kid gloves treatment, but he's at least recovered from last year's disaster of a season.
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Every year it is the mythical visa issues. Seems like a giant load of horse#### to me.
Darren Haynes tweeted in reply to me once that the Flames have offered to help Rafikov with his visa issues multiple times but Rafikovs camp seem disinterested to even get the ball rolling. He doesnt think Rafikov is in anyone in the Flames organizations plans at this point at all. Hes not coming over.
Bizarre. He looks like a forward floating up there.
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Rafikov looks like he's having a good year for Lokomotiv. The KHL site has him playing ~2nd pair at about 17 and a half minutes per game through 34 games played. He has 8 points and leads Lokomotiv's defensemen in +/- at +8.
I wonder what Tre's plans are regarding him. I don't know if anyone here watches KHL games regularly but if you have any scouting reports I'd love to hear them.
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Rafikov looks like he's having a good year for Lokomotiv. The KHL site has him playing ~2nd pair at about 17 and a half minutes per game through 34 games played. He has 8 points and leads Lokomotiv's defensemen in +/- at +8.
I wonder what Tre's plans are regarding him. I don't know if anyone here watches KHL games regularly but if you have any scouting reports I'd love to hear them.
Rafikov doesn't strike me as a guy that has any desire to leave home. He's never even been to a camp, AFAIK.
Rafikov doesn't strike me as a guy that has any desire to leave home. He's never even been to a camp, AFAIK.
His lack of interest in NA is pretty clear. He wasn't selected in the CHL import draft, and iirc, the only reason he found out that he was drafted by the Flames for the NHL entry draft was because someone tweeted him.
If he projects to be an Alexi Emelin clone, the Flames aren't missing out on much though.
Noticed that after a weird season last year that saw Rafikov play in the VHL, MHL and two different KHL teams, he has now played 39 games with this season with the KHL Lokomotiv and has 10 assists.
Will the Flames still have his rights? Afaik because there is no transfer agreement with the KHL, a team has a drafted player's rights until UFA, correct? As opposed to if a player is in Sweden for example, where there is a transfer agreement, so you only get 4 years of rights post draft.
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