Confirmed with Link: Habs terminate Khisamutdinov's contract

[Stive Morgan]

Any news on Nikita?

I was 17 years old during the 2014 draft lol. My analysis has come a long way since then.

 

[WeThreeKings]

I was 17 years old during the 2014 draft lol. My analysis has come a long way since then.

And even then, Scherbak was a perfectly acceptable pick and gamble at that spot. The issue was Lefebvre handling him and the unfortunate fact he was also in Everett which isn't helpful in elevating offensive game.

 

[montreal]

Here's a new name for Canadiens fans: Arsen Khisamutdinov | SaltWire

“I don’t think a lot of people know much about him,” Timmins added. “He’s a guy that hasn’t played on the (Russian) national teams. He’s one of these late developers that if he wasn’t drafted here probably would be one of the UFAs that would be chased down by a lot of teams and then you get in line with all the other 30 teams to try and convince him to sign with your team. So we tried to take a step forward a year earlier, draft him and then sign him.”

You don't need to SPECIFICALLY say HIDDEN GEM to say..hidden gem. He was unknown. Didn't play on russian national teams. Hence HIDDEN. And if he wasn't drafted, he would be chased by A LOT OF TEAMS AND THEN YOU GET IN LINE WITH ALL THE OTHER 30 TEAMS!!! Hence GEM.

so no one called him a hidden gem. I thought so as the only thing I recalled was them talking about him getting those 5 pts in 9 KHL games in his draft year at the end of the season. They gambled that he could build off that and he didn't.

 

[montreal]

Instead of Khisamutdinov, our Russian scout should have been looking at Georgi Merkulov. He went undrafted in '19, '20 and '21 and perhaps he doesn't turn into anything but he put up some sick numbers as a defensemen in the MHL (though he's a late b-day) so he turned 18 a few weeks into the season. He's a teammate of Dobes at Ohio St this year and has looked pretty good as a 21 year old Freshman.

Georgi Merkulov at eliteprospects.com

 

[Bacchus1]

I’m kinda surprised that a young kid in North America can’t learn sufficient English in 2+ years. Seems like he probably didn’t make it a priority.

At the same time, exposing him to living in a French culture and environment in Trois Riviere probably didn’t help. They should have loaned him to a team in an English speaking environment, and introduced him to Duolingo!