RALEIGH — The wait is over.
The Hurricanes announced Friday the long-awaited signing of prized prospect Alexander Nikishin, the award-winning KHL defenseman whose arrival has been anticipated for years and finally came to fruition when his Russian team, SKA Saint Petersburg, agreed to release him from his contract after the team was eliminated from the postseason.
“He has all the tools to be a very effective all-around defenseman,” Hurricanes GM Eric Tulsky said in a video call with reporters Friday afternoon. “He can play a very physical game. He is a ferocious hitter. He has a good ability to manage and close gaps, and so he can be a really effective defender. Offensively, he sees the ice very well, he can make plays, he has a strong shot, so he really has all the tools to do everything you want.”
Nikishin, 23, was selected in the third round, 69th overall, in the 2020 NHL Draft — one of three draft picks acquired in the 2018 trade that sent Jeff Skinner to Buffalo; another of those selections became Pyotr Kochetkov — and has since piled up accolades. He won a silver medal with his home country at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, has captained SKA each of the past two seasons and was named the KHL’s top defenseman in 2023-24. In the last three seasons with SKA, he totaled 45 goals and 112 assists for 157 points in 193 regular season games.
The 6-foot-2, 220-pound native of Orel, Russia, is also known for his physicality, earning the nickname “Boom” for his thunderous hits. His entry-level contract, which will pay him a $185,000 signing bonus with a salary of $832,500, is for two years, after which Nikishin would have 10.2(c) free agent status, which wouldn’t afford him the ability to elect for salary arbitration nor sign an offer sheet.
Getting Nikishin to North America is complicated, Tulsky said, with Carolina working to get him both American and Canadian visas with the hopes he can play in one or both of the Hurricanes’ final two regular season games in Montreal and Ottawa. Tulsky said it’s possible Nikishin would play a game with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves should his Canadian visa not be ready in time.
Once he does arrive in Raleigh, Nikishin could force his way into a defense that has had a consistent top six throughout the season. Sources with the Hurricanes have said in the past that Nikishin could have stepped in and played in a top-four rule even before this year, and Tulsky said SKA is the one KHL team that plays a style similar to the Hurricanes. However, Nikishin making his way into the lineup that soon would be more difficult should his visa issues not be sorted out in time for him to play one of those two final NHL regular season games.
“It’s very hard to be so good in practice that you take someone’s job away because it’s just not the same, right?” Tulsky said of the team wanting to see Nikishin in a game. “The pace isn’t the same; you aren’t under the same pressure. And so getting that game in to give him the opportunity is important, but he can earn a depth spot in practice.
“He absolutely could step in and make us say the first time we have an opening, we need to get this guy in. Just earning it, taking a job away from someone, probably requires getting into a game and showing what he can do.”
So while the anticipation of the Hurricanes getting Nikishin under contract is over, the clock begins on how long it will be before the defenseman’s success in KHL translates to the NHL.
“I think he wants to be in the NHL,” Tulsky said, “and wanted to play for us in particular. … The decision to sign just came down to his drive to be in the best league and perform at the best levels and show that he’s ready to excel at the highest levels now when he gets here.”
