DaveG
Noted Jerk
yep. That said even ignoring the stats a lot of the improvements that he's made in his overall game have been noticeable. When we drafted him in his highlights he looked like a giraffe on skates, now he's a legitimately good skater (especially for his size) and his defensive zone coverage is MUCH better than it was. The star potential I'm not all-in on yet, though I prefer not to be until he gets to the show, been burned too many times on that in the past. But in terms of drafted prospects that have yet to hit the NHL, he's probably the most ready to make the move and step into a top 6/top 4 role in the league right now. The closest similarity as a prospect that I've seen with the kind of offensive production he showed is probably Phaneuf as a prospect, and Boom seems to be much better at not taking himself out of the play just to make a hit. But Nikishin's 2 years older and more mature as a prospect than Phaneuf was at that point.I think a lot of that is based on his stats. Very few defenseman put up such numbers in the KHL, let alone as a 21 year old. On the one hand, I kind of doubt he's the best prospect owned by an NHL team, but on the other hand, there just isn't a comparable really for such a player coming out of the KHL league.