I'm really hoping that the Vladdy we are getting now remains the finished product and this isn't just him playing great because it's a contract year. At this point he's gonna cash in at $5 million a season because God knows he's become vastly superior to Killorn in every way now. If he keeps this up he's gonna have a legitimate chance at 30 goals. It's almost ironic because that's what Connolly was drafted for and I would have ever imagined that a guy I nicknamed "Russian Purcell" would ever come close to doing such a thing.
I know I'm constantly bringing up the Pens but that was honestly the deepest team I've seen in a long time. If Hornqvist, Crosby and Malkin didn't kill you it was the HBK connection. If they didn't do it then Sheary stepped up. If it wasn't him then someone like Kunitz would win game 7 in OT. If it wasn't him then they'd LOL in your face and say "Bro this isn't even my final form" and Guentzel would go f***ing nuts and score 13 goals of his own.
Fingers crossed that this is not a fluke that Namestnikov can become a reliable answer to a problem like that if we make the playoffs and run into a team producing like that. We already know what the big guns are gonna do but any shot at a championship is gonna rest on his shoulders along with Gourde, Killorn and probably Kunitz