the newest nik ini columbus is another highly skilled russian. pegged by most services as a right shot lw, he also can play the centre. played for both the u18 and u20 russian teams. speaks pretty decent english and dabbles in french. i think anytime you have russians you have issues and a stigma. ill say this about young russians. ill compare young russians to inner city americans. many of them come from broken homes, poverty, lack the core family etc. nikita has an educated mother and has lived in italy, africa and russia.
nikita is from cska, zherdev also played there along with kosmachev from z's draft, mozyakin
nikita was born in moscow (z is from kiev, ukraine) nikita plays a relatively responsible defensive game, he has speed to burn. highly skilled and like most russians loves the toe drag. nikita likes to play in open ice at high speed and has great vision. the sidney crosby comparison tossed many by suprise as fialtov as a cnetre not a winger. he likely will start at the wing.
nikita is a smaller player who like many russians works in "natural" training. he conditions by running around with rocks, lifting sticks, running up/down hills etc. interesting..
i dont think youll see nikita in sudbury like many think. he is eligible for the ahl and i see him starting the year in the american league. nikita actually was outspoken about his cska experience. he played some for the super league team but spent most of the year at the 2nd tier. he was outspoken about wanting to be pushed and that included the super league. i think it is important for nikita to play at a high level but at the same time develop his strength and get ice time. at the nhl level he may only get 6-11 mins a game vs more at the ahl and loads in jrs. i think hell start the year in the cuse.
look at the kids skill...