Hurricanes, Alexander Nikishin Agree To Entry-Level Contract
2:19 p.m.: As reported by PuckPedia, a fair amount of additional bonuses are available to Nikishin in his entry-level contract. As reported by Johnston earlier, the Hurricanes will pay Nikishin a $1.0375MM bonus should he win the Conn Smythe Trophy this postseason. Additionally, Carolina will pay Performance ‘A’ bonuses up to $1MM and Performance ‘B’ bonuses up to $2MM should Nikishin meet the criteria. As a side note on where he’ll immediately report, the team shared that Nikishin would play for their AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves, should he fail to acquire a work visa from the Canadian government for their upcoming matchups next week against the Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators.
9:17 a.m.: The Hurricanes announced Nikishin’s two-year deal for this season and next as official. He’ll earn a base salary of $832.5K each year, prorated for 2024-25, as well as an annual signing bonus of $92.5K. Chris Johnston of The Athletic reports the contract includes a performance bonus if he wins this year’s Conn Smythe Trophy, similar to what Montreal’s Ivan Demidov and Washington’s Ryan Leonard have landed in their deals to increase the performance bonuses they’re eligible for in the second year of the contract.
7:28 a.m.: Top Hurricanes defense prospect Alexander Nikishin will be finishing the season in Carolina. SKA St. Petersburg of the Kontinental Hockey League announced this morning they’ve mutually terminated their contract with Nikishin, set to expire May 31, and will allow him to sign an NHL contract with the Hurricanes beginning this season. As expected, SKA will retain his KHL rights if he opts to return to his home country.
Selected by Carolina in the third round of the 2020 draft, Nikishin arrives in the NHL with a resume most first-round picks would love to have – even if he’s only signing his first contract at age 23. The 6’4″, 214-lb lefty established himself as arguably the best defenseman outside of the league a few years ago, dominating the KHL since his breakout season with SKA in 2022-23. He’s scored 45-112–157 in 193 games over the last three years, leading KHL rearguards by a wide margin.
Nikishin has also served as SKA’s captain since the 2023-24 season and claimed the league’s assist crown with 44 in 65 games back in 2022-23, beating out every KHL forward as well. He’s posted a cumulative +71 rating across his six total KHL seasons, including a league-high +32 mark in 2023-24.
This year was somewhat of a down season for Nikishin and SKA, but that’s easy to overlook with his overall resume as one of the KHL’s youngest superstars. He still managed 17 goals, tying his career high, and added 29 assists for 46 points in 61 games while ranking third on the club with a +19 rating. Nikishin also appeared on Russia’s Olympic squad in 2022 as a 20-year-old, although he didn’t register a point in six appearances.
Nikishin is eligible for a two-year ELC, so he’ll join the Canes immediately and be a restricted free agent in the summer of 2026. Where he fits down the stretch with Shayne Gostisbehere, Dmitry Orlov, and Jaccob Slavin ahead of him on the depth chart among lefties in Carolina remains to be seen, but he hopes to see action in at least one of the Canes’ final regular season games before the postseason begins. “If it were possible, I’d be ready to play tomorrow,” Nikishin told Sergey Demidov of Responsible Gambling. “If it works out, I’d be thrilled and would give it everything I’ve got.”
Still, his signing is far more impactful for next season. Nikishin will almost certainly step into Orlov’s role as the latter hits unrestricted free agency, giving the club north of $6.75MM in savings in cap room to spend elsewhere. Orlov has only averaged 18:32 per game for Carolina since signing there in 2023, minutes Nikishin should be able to easily swallow out of the gate without being overtaxed.
Even if he begins as a No. 7 option for the Hurricanes in the postseason, that gives them a level of insurance at the position few other teams have. He was ranked as the organization’s top prospect by NHL.com last offseason, and general manager Eric Tulsky said last August he expected to be able to land Nikishin immediately after his KHL season ended.
Hurricanes Expect To Have Alexander Nikishin Play For Them Late In 2024-25
Hurricanes prospect Alexander Nikishin has widely been viewed as one of the top blueliners outside the NHL for a couple of years now. While he still has one year left on his KHL contract with SKA St. Petersburg, Carolina expects to have the youngster available to them at some point late in the season.
Speaking earlier this week with NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti, GM Eric Tulsky indicated that they plan to sign him as soon as his deal in Russia expires and put him into their lineup right away. KHL playoffs run through April and SKA is generally one of the better teams in that league so it’s quite possible that Nikishin won’t be able to make his Carolina debut until the end of April (if he’s let out of his contract early once the KHL playoffs end) or early May, meaning they’d have to have some playoff success of their own for this to happen.
The 22-year-old was the 69th selection back in 2020 and has squarely outperformed where he was picked. He became a full-time player at the KHL level the following season with Spartak before being acquired by SKA in 2022 where things took off.
In his first season with them, Nikishin picked up 55 points in 65 regular season games which made him the highest-scoring KHL blueliner while also logging nearly 23 minutes a game. Last season, he produced at basically the same clip, notching 17 goals and 39 assists in 67 contests, once again leading all rearguards in points while logging over 24 minutes a night. While Carolina is surely intrigued by Nikishin’s offensive upside, Gulitti notes that they view him as a potential all-around fit.
With Nikishin turning 23 in October, his entry-level deal will have to be a two-year agreement, the first of which will be burned this coming season if he’s able to sign with and suit up for Carolina. That would put him on pace for what many expect will be a pricey second contract in the 2026 offseason.
Carolina has had some turnover on the back end this summer with Brady Skjei (Nashville), Brett Pesce (New Jersey), and Tony DeAngelo (unsigned) all leaving via free agency. Their replacements haven’t been as notable on paper with Sean Walker and Shayne Gostisbehere signing on with the other spot going unfilled. It appears they could be eyeing Nikishin for that position which could give their back end a boost in the playoffs, as long as they’re still playing when their top prospect becomes available to be signed.
Hurricanes Notes: Offseason Priorities, Nikishin, DeAngelo
Hurricanes general manager Don Waddell was quite transparent while giving his end-of-season media availability today ahead of what will be a hectic offseason in Carolina. He’s already got one big-ticket item checked off after the team got head coach Rod Brind’Amour and his staff locked into long-term extensions over the weekend, allowing him to focus on retooling a roster with multiple high-profile pending free agents.
One area he’d like to add from outside the organization is a right-shot center (via the Raleigh News & Observer’s Chip Alexander). All five of their routine faceoff-takers this season were left-handed, although their performance on draws wasn’t an area of concern (52.6 FOW%). It does give some insight into potential UFA targets the Hurricanes will speak to, with Elias Lindholm, Jack Roslovic and Tyler Johnson among the top right-shot centers available.
In terms of retaining his UFAs on expiring deals, Waddell said that keeping his group of defensemen intact is one of his top priorities. “We haven’t sat down to prioritize player by player, but we know we’d like to try to keep as much of our defense together. We think we have one of the best d-corps in the league,” he said (via the team’s Walt Ruff). Among their top six players at the position, Jalen Chatfield, Brett Pesce and Brady Skjei are without contracts next season. Chatfield may be a solid bet to re-sign, but Skjei is arguably the highest-value defenseman on the market and reports last week indicated Pesce has likely priced himself out of Carolina.
When asked about his situation between the pipes, Waddell also wouldn’t rule out trading one of his three netminders under one-way contracts next season (Frederik Andersen, Pyotr Kochetkov, Spencer Martin). He stopped short of saying they were actively seeking to make a move to upgrade after Andersen cooled off with a .895 SV% in 10 postseason games but did say they would explore a move if an opportunity to improve at the position arose. Moving the 24-year-old Kochetkov is likely out of the question – he made a career-high 42 appearances for the Canes in the regular season with a strong .911 SV% and is signed for three more seasons at a $2MM cap hit.
Elsewhere out of Carolina:
- Waddell also said the team remains interested in bringing over defenseman Alexander Nikishin from Russia for next season and would like to get him signed before the NHL Draft next month (via the North State Journal’s Cory Lavalette). Nikishin, still just 22, is already an Olympic medalist and has led Kontinental Hockey League defensemen in scoring in each of the past two seasons. He’s still under contract with SKA St. Petersburg through next season, though, and would need to buy himself out of the deal to join Carolina. He was named the team’s captain in 2023-24, responding with 17 goals and 56 points in 67 games with a +32 rating. The 6’4″ left-shot defender could comfortably step into a top-four role next season to ease the potential loss of Pesce and/or Skjei.
- Depth blue-liner Tony DeAngelo, also a UFA in July, needs hand surgery this summer, Waddell revealed (via Lavalette). After he was bought out by the Flyers last summer, the Hurricanes brought him back for his second stint with the club but used him sparingly during the regular season, playing him for a career-low 14:20 per game in 31 appearances. He stepped into the lineup during their postseason run after Pesce sustained an injury early in the first round against the Islanders, posting two assists and a -1 rating in nine games while averaging 17:03 per game. There’s no timeline for his recovery, but he’s low on Waddell’s list of pending UFAs to re-sign regardless.
Carolina Hurricanes Not Willing To Trade Alexander Nikishin
Get ready for another mid-round pick by the Carolina Hurricanes to become an impact player at the NHL level. Over the years, the team has made a habit of picking the right defender outside the first round, even if some call it a crap shoot at that point.
Brian Dumoulin was 51st overall in 2009. Justin Faulk 37th in 2010. Jaccob Slavin 120th in 2012. Brett Pesce 66th in 2013. Now, they believe they’ve found another.
In Pierre LeBrun’s latest piece for The Athletic, he mentions that the Hurricanes have made it clear in trade talks that Alexander Nikishin is off the table. The insider notes that Carolina sees a “big future” in mind for Nikishin.
Selected 69th overall in 2020, Nikishin was already playing in the KHL at the time. But when they picked him, he had scored just three points at that level and hadn’t really been dominant in junior. The following year was much the same, with just five points in 20 KHL games, but things changed suddenly.
In 2022 he was surprisingly chosen for the Russian Olympic roster. This year, after a transfer to powerhouse program SKA St. Petersburg, he leads all defensemen in scoring by a mile. His 51 points in 62 games put him tenth in the league, just four points behind league leader Dimitrj Jaskin.
Nikishin’s contract in Russia expires at the end of this season, meaning he could sign an entry-level deal with the Hurricanes. Even if his impact can’t be felt right away, the Hurricanes may have found someone to help take over some of the responsibility down the road. None of the team’s defenders are signed past 2024-25, with Pesce, Jalen Chatfield, and Brady Skjei scheduled for unrestricted free agency after next season.
As much as they may want to upgrade the roster right now, Nikishin is apparently too valuable to lose.