Let him build and percolate in Russia. It's a risk but worth it if it pays off.
Yannetti, on Bulat Shafigullin:
I don’t anticipate him coming over in the near future. Without a doubt he’s staying over there next year, without a doubt, and I think that’s a really good thing for him. You hear all these different philosophies. ‘We’ve got to get these kids over here. We’ve got to get these kids in North America. We’ve got to get control of the kids.’ The KHL is a really, really good league. The VHL is a really, really good league. The MHL is a good league. They’re leagues that lead with speed and skill. They’re leagues that lead with open play, because that leads itself to creativity. So, you see a lot of fear in stuff like that, and rightfully so. You don’t have control of them. But those leagues are really good. I don’t know that you can be worried about a Russian staying over there. It certainly didn’t hurt Tarasenko, it certainly didn’t hurt Kuznetzov. We could go down the list. I’m not saying that’s who Shafigulin is. I’m just saying that the creative skill-based players seem to do very well over there, and you know what? Yeah, there’s a risk … there’s some risk, and it’s a little scary, but in terms of his development, I have no qualms about him playing at any one of those three leagues next year, and that’s the thought process. A minimum of one year over there, and like anything else, you evaluate. You make a decision right now about a person’s future four years from now? It’s going to change in six months. So, we have various plans, probably like a family tree. We’ve got one line that bridges into 15 lines of potential development scenarios for him, a lot of those involve him staying there multiple years, and we go from there. But, the only certain thing is he’s not coming over next year.
