Contract Termination: Nikita Gusev

[JT Kreider]

And wow! Much like the Devils, also not in a playoff spot. Not sure what you’re trying to do here. Fans of teams always hype up perceived good additions to their roster. On paper, Shero’s summer of 2019 was pretty much unanimously lauded by the hockey world at the time. If you really need more examples from the Rangers side so maybe you could realize your fan base does it too I could point to Shattenkirk, the immediate Lafreniere expectations yet he’s underperforming even worse than Hughes’ poor rookie season, Chytil was supposed to be a #1 center...

Oh cmon. That offseason there was a thread (Hall, Hughes, Subban and Gusev =contender?) and with how poorly that aged you have to take your licks on that

 

[nbwingsfan]

I would expect a Panarin-level player to have done better even without motivation.

I was told by some Russian posters hes even better than Panarin and a guaranteed 1st liner. How the turn tables.

 

[Blackjack]

Oh cmon. That offseason there was a thread (Hall, Hughes, Subban and Gusev =contender?) and with how poorly that aged you have to take your licks on that

wasn't there also a thread about the Rangers having the fastest rebuild ever?

 

[Steddy33]

Lindy Ruff hates Russians??? Lolololol get Max Afinogenov on the phone and let him know the jig is up!

Maxim is certainly not helping your argument. Ruff loved benching Afinogenov

 

[JT Kreider]

wasn't there also a thread about the Rangers having the fastest rebuild ever?

I mean there is some merit to that and it's still up for debate. The book is closed on the Devils thread considering both Hall and Gusev are gone.

Just compare the state of the Rangers franchise compared to where they were when they racked by the Penguins in the first round of the 2016 playoffs.

They had the worst prospect in hockey, an aging core locked into expensive contracts and were staring into the deep abyss of both cap hell and mediocrity.

They were also entering that draft without a 1st round pick for the 4th straight years, and didn't even have a 2nd round pick either from the Eric Staal trade and they were about to lose Yandle for nothing in UFA.

That was just a short 5 years ago... now they have a top 3-5 prospect pool, a franchise goalie, a franchise defenseman, a franchise center and a top 5 player overall.

That is some pretty impressive work in just a 5 year span. Especially compared to the Devils who are still rebuilding from losing Parise in the 2012 offseason.

Since then the Rangers went to the 2nd round, the SCF, Game 7 of the ECF, the 2nd round, and then gutted their entire core and built it back up again to a team on the cusp of contending.

 

[ShelbyZ]

Will be interesting to see what happens here. Could be a few things at work:

-Maybe the Devils let him know that depending on what they do before the deadline, he could end up being moved from the taxi squad to Binghampton. Gusev let them know that if that happens, he won't report. Since the Devils would be able to terminated his contract for a breach in that case, they mutually decided to get it out of the way now. That, or they actually tried to send him down and he refused, so they are indeed terminating him for breach of contract. See Nick Seeler and Chicago for a recent example.

-The Devils found no teams interested in taking on Gusev even at 50% retained and having cleared waivers... without them taking back more salary or paying a draft pick to get rid of him. So the Devils gave him and his agent permission to talk to other teams where they found at least one team that would be interested in giving him a shot at a much lower cap hit like Kovalchuk and Bogosian did last year.

-Seeing that the Devils aren't putting him back in the line up despite trading away Palmieri and Zajac, he's basically washing his hands of New Jersey and possibly tha NHL altogether and planning to head home early unless he gets signed by a contender before the deadline.

I don’t see any NHL team signing him at this point, it’s likely back to KHL now

I would think if that were the case, he'd just stick it out for another month and collect whatever goes in his pocket remaining of the around $1M still on his salary this year and then look to sign in the KHL when the NHL season is over. Then again, I'm sure he's well aware that he'll make all of it back and then some in the KHL, so he'd rather just start his vacation early instead of skating around with an NHL team.

 

[Ishad]

I’m curious about this too. Is there compensation going to the player? Or just a clean break?

Clean break. Contract ceases to be. No more cap hit, no more money owed.

 

[VVP]

Gusev is a high end talent. He was kind of like a Lamborghini used in off-road conditions. Fortunately if landed on a right team I believe he can be a great contributor for the upcoming playoff run. There are couple of teams I am thinking but let's see if he lands this contract or goes home.

 

[Blackjack]

I mean there is some merit to that and it's still up for debate. The book is closed on the Devils thread considering both Hall and Gusev are gone.

Just compare the state of the Rangers franchise compared to where they were when they racked by the Penguins in the first round of the 2016 playoffs.

They had the worst prospect in hockey, an aging core locked into expensive contracts and were staring into the deep abyss of both cap hell and mediocrity.

They were also entering that draft without a 1st round pick for the 4th straight years, and didn't even have a 2nd round pick either from the Eric Staal trade and they were about to lose Yandle for nothing in UFA.

That was just a short 5 years ago... now they have a top 3-5 prospect pool, a franchise goalie, a franchise defenseman, a franchise center and a top 5 player overall.

That is some pretty impressive work in just a 5 year span. Especially compared to the Devils who are still rebuilding from losing Parise in the 2012 offseason.

Since then the Rangers went to the 2nd round, the SCF, Game 7 of the ECF, the 2nd round, and then gutted their entire core and built it back up again to a team on the cusp of contending.

They're on the cusp of contending? They're not even in the playoffs. They're barely over .500.

 

[JT Kreider]

They're on the cusp of contending? They're not even in the playoffs. They're barely over .500.

On the cusp = the next year or two

And the fact they are over. 500 is actually pretty impressive considering this has been a season from hell where everything has gone wrong. Starting with the DeAngelo BS, Panarin leaving the team for a few weeks, Zibanejad injury/COVID wrecked his start to the season, Chytil/Trouba/Shesterkin injuries...

And no reply to everything else in that post? You literally are nitpicking the most unimportant last sentence of my point.

 

[VVP]

If I am Gusev I sign with some of these teams for the playoff run. Toronto, Colorado, Tampa Bay, Edmonton and Minnesota. Perhaps Wash and Pitt may also work out. Other teams are hard pass unless they have a solid finisher centers or right wings.

 

[HBK27]

Will be interesting to see what happens here. Could be a few things at work:

-Maybe the Devils let him know that depending on what they do before the deadline, he could end up being moved from the taxi squad to Binghampton. Gusev let them know that if that happens, he won't report. Since the Devils would be able to terminated his contract for a breach in that case, they mutually decided to get it out of the way now. That, or they actually tried to send him down and he refused, so they are indeed terminating him for breach of contract. See Nick Seeler and Chicago for a recent example.

-The Devils found no teams interested in taking on Gusev even at 50% retained and having cleared waivers... without them taking back more salary or paying a draft pick to get rid of him. So the Devils gave him and his agent permission to talk to other teams where they found at least one team that would be interested in giving him a shot at a much lower cap hit like Kovalchuk and Bogosian did last year.

-Seeing that the Devils aren't putting him back in the line up despite trading away Palmieri and Zajac, he's basically washing his hands of New Jersey and possibly tha NHL altogether and planning to head home early unless he gets signed by a contender before the deadline.




I would think if that were the case, he'd just stick it out for another month and collect whatever goes in his pocket remaining of the around $1M still on his salary this year and then look to sign in the KHL when the NHL season is over. Then again, I'm sure he's well aware that he'll make all of it back and then some in the KHL, so he'd rather just start his vacation early instead of skating around with an NHL team.

I don't think it's that complicated. It's clear Gusev had no future with NJ, so they would've just let him sit on the taxi squad versus taking a spot in the lineup that could by used on a younger player for both the Binghamton and NJ teams. Binghamton is playing out of NJ this season, so if he were to be assigned to that team he wouldn't have to actually go anywhere for the home games.

The Devils may also be reluctant to trade Gusev at 50% as teams are only allowed to retain salary on 3 contracts at a time and the Devils already used 2 of those spots on Palmieri and Zajac. There's a good possibility that the Devils will trade Ryan Murray by Monday and retain money on his $4.6M cap hit - he'd certainly command a better return than Gusev, so it makes sense to use that 3rd spot on Murray.

NJ probably allowed his agent to see if there was any interest from other clubs before they agreed to terminate the contract. I'm sure there is interest, though some clubs may view him as more of a backup option if they are unable to make a trade. This would give Gusev an opportunity to play some more this season in a different system and hopefully boost his value for his next contract. He's already made a good amount of money between Russia and the nearly $8M (pre-tax / escrow) he's already collected from NJ so this is a low risk.

I'd fully expect to see him sign with a playoff contender shortly before 3:00 on Monday.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

He was worth the risk for NJ(2nd+3rd) and they got 1 good season out of him.

He wasnt worth the risk , giving up a 2nd and 3rd on a rebuilding team for a dud was a bad trade. There were red flags all over him.

 

[Hockey Fanatik]

Interesting that he'd take the contract termination. With the Devils having gone through ~2/3rds of their season and owed $4m this year, that's leaving around $1.3m on the table.

If he's willing to sign for the minimum I would think that plenty of playoff teams would be happy to sign him on for depth. For the price of free, plenty of teams would be willing to give a guy with his upside a shot.

Hes giving up 1.3m for the chance to play himself into a much larger contract

 

[Hockey Fanatik]

He wasnt worth the risk , giving up a 2nd and 3rd on a rebuilding team for a dud was a bad trade. There were red flags all over him.

He just isnt a fit in New Jersey

Gusev was incredible the second half of the season his first there

He is better suited for a team that is big

 

[Nico Hischier]

I think he would do well in Minnesota

 

[CupInSIX]

Gusev and Shipachyov ... yikes, have times changed.

VGK wanted him a couple of years ago, but had to send him to NJ because of cap issues - any chance they come back in the picture?

Doubtful as they'd have to move cap around even at league minimum.

 

[Tripod]

He wasnt worth the risk , giving up a 2nd and 3rd on a rebuilding team for a dud was a bad trade. There were red flags all over him.

Considering he had the upside of Panarin...I disagree. AT THE TIME, it was well worth the risk. It didn't turn out worth it.

 

[Gurglesons]

On the cusp = the next year or two

And the fact they are over. 500 is actually pretty impressive considering this has been a season from hell where everything has gone wrong. Starting with the DeAngelo BS, Panarin leaving the team for a few weeks, Zibanejad injury/COVID wrecked his start to the season, Chytil/Trouba/Shesterkin injuries...

And no reply to everything else in that post? You literally are nitpicking the most unimportant last sentence of my point.

New Jersey has the better core moving forward as an impartial fan that watches a ton of both teams.

I take Hischer, Hughes, Zacha over a lot of teams forwards moving forward.

On top of that you've got Blackwood, Smith, and Holtz.

 

[LesDiablesRouges]

I'd love him in Washington with our Russians!

 

[Deku]

I remember being told a couple years ago that Vegas would never trade him for less than a first round pick. And now contract terminated lmfao

 

[JT Kreider]

New Jersey has the better core moving forward as an impartial fan that watches a ton of both teams.

I take Hischer, Hughes, Zacha over a lot of teams forwards moving forward.

On top of that you've got Blackwood, Smith, and Holtz.

Based on what?!?!? The Rangers are tied for 7th in G/PG, the Devils are 24th.

Last year the Rangers scored the 5th most goals while the Devils were..25th.

 

[AveryStar4Eva]

I'd love him in Washington with our Russians!

This would be a good fit for him depending on line mates

 

[Gurglesons]

Based on what?!?!? The Rangers are tied for 7th in G/PG, the Devils are 24th.

Last year the Rangers scored the 5th most goals while the Devils were..25th.

Based on Hischer and Hughes being higher potential prospects than NYR's in my opinion and Zacha finally blossoming into a top six production forward the last two years.

I've been really high on Hischer since I first saw him play though. He reminds me of Kopitar's career arch.

 

[BoltSTH]

Tampa may be a good place for him play for and a good chance of a cup (we need a playmaker on the top six to replace Johnson), with Kucherov, Sergachev and Vasilevski fellow russians.