Hurricanes Re-Sign Alexander Nikishin To A One-Year Contract

While Alexander Nikishin made it clear that he would like to move on from Carolina, no trade has materialized just yet, nor is he eligible to sign an offer sheet with another team.  Instead of continuing to sit out and wait for something to happen, he instead will be returning to the Hurricanes.  The team announced that he has signed a one-year, $3MM contract.  GM Eric Tulsky released the following statement on the signing:

We’re glad that Alexander is returning to our group. This has been a long process, but we look forward to him re-entering our locker room ready to contribute with the Hurricanes, as he did during a Stanley Cup championship season last year.

The 25-year-old was a third-round pick by Carolina back in 2020 but quickly outperformed that selection spot.  Only a couple of years later, he was a top performer in the KHL, notching between 46 and 56 points offensively from 2022-23 through 2024-25.

Once his 2024-25 campaign in Russia expired, Nikishin made his way to North America to join Carolina’s playoff run.  He spent a lot of time as effectively an unsigned tryout player but eventually signed, burning the first year of his entry-level deal while averaging around 16 minutes per game in four playoff appearances.  Because he only played in four games on the first year of his deal, that wasn’t enough to count as a year of service toward offer sheet eligibility.

Last season was Nikishin’s rookie campaign and it was definitely a strong one.  He played in 81 games during the regular season, tallying 11 goals and 22 assists while averaging 18:11 per game of ice time.  That performance was good enough to earn him a spot on the All-Rookie Team and finish seventh in Calder Trophy voting.  However, his role diminished in the playoffs on their Stanley Cup run.  He notched just one assist in 17 games while his playing time dipped to under 15 minutes per night.

With the role he had in Carolina compared to his all-situations role in Russia, Nikishin eventually asked for a change of scenery this summer in the hopes of finding a team that could give him the ice time he was expecting.  With that came a salary expectation commensurate with that role; a report earlier this month suggested Nikishin was seeking a salary somewhere in the $9MM range annually.  That undoubtedly made trade talks more difficult while he clearly came in considerably lower than that salary expectation with this deal.

Without offer sheet eligibility and no one willing to pay the asking price on a contract, the Hurricanes held the hammer here and clearly used it, getting Nikishin signed at a rate that’s well below current market value.  However, Nikishin will accrue another year of service time this season, paving the way for him to recover a little leverage next summer when he’ll be eligible for salary arbitration and an offer sheet.  That will also give the team an extended chance to repair the working relationship in the hopes of keeping someone they view as a key player in the fold longer term on his next contract.  Failing that, it at least kicks the can down the road for another nine months or so.

With the signing, the Hurricanes now have a little less than $7MM in remaining cap space as of today, per PuckPedia.  That will give Tulsky a chance to accrue considerably more cap room over the coming weeks and months, positioning them to try to make a splash or two on the trade front as the season goes on to bolster their chances of repeating as Stanley Cup champions.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was the first to report that there was movement on a contract getting completed.

Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images.