Before July 1st, before the Expansion Draft -- the Vegas Golden Knights might have already added their first franchise player.
Yesterday, Vegas announced a two-year, nine million-dollar agreement with KHL star Vadim Shipachyov. The 6'1" pivot, a two-time Gagarin Cup champion and three-time All-Star, finished third in the league in points this past season.
The 30-year-old should be given every opportunity to be the Golden Knights' top center. For General Manager George McPhee, signing Shipachyov, who was pursued by many NHL organizations, is his first coup -- the Russian's short contract is low risk, while his talent is clearly high reward.
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For a better idea about the challenges facing Shipachyov, I spoke with a former NHL player/KHL coach.
He observed that oftentimes, an older star's biggest challenge when moving to the NHL is how to "integrate" mentally -- meaning the veteran can't come in with a "know everything" attitude. The 30-year-old will make it harder for himself if he walks into the room thinking "I'm the greatest player."
This source is also concerned with how Shipachyov will contend with the league's smaller rinks, which forces players to adapt to a more physical game.
That said, he lauds Shipachyov's skill-set, especially his "good hockey sense," foreseeing success for the KHL star in the NHL -- with a ceiling of about 60 points.
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KHL authority Patrick Conway also was kind enough to weigh in on Shipachyov:
HockeyBuzz: How do you think Shipachyov's game will translate to the NHL...what will work? What will be a challenge for him?
Patrick Conway: He is immensely skilled, a tremendous skater, passer, stickhandler, and shooter, although I think a lot will depend on whether his linemates can adapt to his creativity (another reason why Las Vegas may be something of an odd choice).
In some ways, he's a real throwback of a Russian player, his style of play is somewhat reminiscent of the old Soviet teams. And that may be a bit of a difficulty, unless his coach recognizes what he's got there, and develops a system that can play to Shipachyov's strengths.
This is not a guy who is going to do well on a team that preaches the dump-and-chase and grind-it-out-in-the-corners style. His play is also ideally suited to the big ice, so we will see how he does on the smaller NHL rinks.
But he certainly has the tools to be very good!
HB: Call it -- how many points will he score next year?
PC: A lot will depend on his linemates and on the team around him. It's unlikely to be a very strong roster, but that could also mean that he gets a lot of "feature minutes." I may be conservative on this one, but I would say if he hits 50 points, that's satisfactory, and if he beats 60, he's done pretty well, all things considered.
HB: Can you see Alexander Radulov signing with Vegas now? Or will Ilya Kovalchuk want to go there? (HockeyBuzz Note: Kovalchuk was Shipachyov's teammate with SKA St. Petersburg.)
PC: He could very well have an impact on other Russian players signing there! You mention Radulov and Kovalchuk, and those are certainly possibilities, but the one I really wonder about is Evgeny Dadonov. He's known to be exploring North American options -- and those two did some excellent work (along with Artemi Panarin/Nikita Gusev) at SKA.
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Josh Khalfin also adds this perspective:
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