Carolina Sports News

Carolina Sports News

Alexander Nikishin headed to Hurricanes

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Ice Hockey - Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics Day 16
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The moment the Canes have been readying for is finally at hand

***Update—The Canes have made this all official

Alexander Nikishin, the star Russian defensman that the Carolina Hurricanes snagged in the third round of the 2020 NHL draft, looks to be headed to the United States and play with the team that drafted him.

His contact wasn’t due to expire with his KHL club SKA St. Petersburg until May 31, but SKA was ousted in the KHL playoffs and so discussions began between the club and the Hurricanes to go ahead and get him stateside. Overnight, SKA made it official that they and Nikishin had mutually agreed to terminate his contract.

If you’re any sort of fan of the team, you’re aware just how huge this news is. Within the first year of his drafting it was clear the Hurricanes had gotten a steal in the big Russian defenseman. If you follow Canes Prospects on Twitter/X you’ve been flooded with highlights as the defenseman quickly became a star and the captain of SKA. One post isn’t going to do him justice—you should probably go to his timeline to get a better timeline—but just to have an idea of how strong he is:

It’s been clear for a while that the Hurricanes were building their defense with him and Scott Morrow in mind to play for the team long term as both Dmitry Orlov’s and Brent Burns’ contracts are due to expire after this season. Now the question becomes when the Canes will be able to get Nikishin to the US in order to start acclimating him to the NHL and the Canes’ style of hockey.

As rumblings had increased that the Canes were close to getting Nikishin signed—helped by a post from GM Eric Tulsky that was just an airplane emoji—internet sleuths were discerning just how long it may take to get him over to the US. A familiar one used her connection at work to explain just how cumbersome the process is now to get a US Visa if you’re a Russian Citizen right now.

I work with a woman from Moscow who recently got her US citizenship. Also a hockey fan! She tells me that with the US Embassy in Russia closed, all visa applications must be made in person at a US Embassy in another country. Istanbul, Tukiye is apparently the 1st choice these days. 1/3

— x – Carolyn O (@hmof2.bsky.social) 2025-04-10T17:35:16.061Z

Also, Tom Edwards of OG Media went into what to look for contract wise and why both the Canes and Nikishin would be eager to go ahead and get this contract signed for it to count to the 2025 season:

You know, I *did* go into this in detail last week on OG Fans (subscribe today!) which I’ll link below, but I’ll give the quick and dirty here in a ogtriangle.supportingcast.fm/posts/nikish…

— Tom Edwards (@mrworkrate.com) 2025-04-10T16:29:10.261Z

The short explanation—due to his age Nikishin’s Entry Level Contract can only be two years, and if you sign him for the 2024-25 season as year one, the collective bargaining agreement allows the team and player to go ahead and negotiate an extension. This is why Nikishin and his representatives would be eager to get him into the NHL as quickly as possible, and honestly why the Hurricanes would as well to go ahead and get him locked up long term.

The question remains if Nikishin will draw into the lineup in the playoffs, or if the Canes will just use it more as a prolonged training camp for the Russian so they can get him comfortable in the area. There’s little question about him drawing into the lineup over the last four regular season games if they can get him to the United States, now that the Canes have clinched home ice for the first round in their series against the Devils.

Finally, this from Frank Seravalli this morning.