Foppa2118
Registered User
- Oct 3, 2003
- 52,141
- 31,150
Honestly it's a bit silly to talk about Rantenen in a thread about Nichushkin.
You don't need to go full tin foil conspiracy to explain this signing. It's very clear to me what this is. Sakic and co are going around the league and trying to identify players who likely underperformed, and may perform better on the Avs or in the Avs system. I don't think it's a coincidence that this description fits Kadri, Donskoi, Burky and Nichushkin. All of them underperformed in previous seasons and all of them have legitimate size and skill to varying degrees. Sakic is rolling the dice and hoping he hits big on at least one of them. If Nichushkin doesn't work out, no problem, you waive him or he goes back to Russia. If Burky doesn't work out, you don't qualify him. Kadri and Donskoi have a track record of being useful, so there's less of a gamble with them.
I personally think it's smart management and this really isn't all that different from signing a buy to a PTO.
Donskoi had a career year last year though, and I think they would have been interested in Kadri regardless.
Kadri, Donskoi, and Burakovsky were also bought in when GM's build their teams in June and July. Nichuskin was brought in three weeks before training camp in late August. I think the motivation was different.