Although two days remain until the start of training camp for the Philadelphia Flyers, it’s never too late for an infusion of young talent, especially at the defense position.
Ahead of what was ultimately an uneventful offseason bar the Leo Carlsson offer sheet, the Flyers made public their desire to improve the defense. Aside from the addition of Simon Benoit, who was part of the Joseph Woll trade, that hasn’t happened.
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In free agency, pickings were already slim, and a potential dart-throw for a power play quarterback in John Klingberg is off the table; the veteran defender announced his retirement on Friday.
The Flyers already went the offer sheet route once with Carlsson to much fanfare, which leaves the trade market as their last path to improve ahead of the start of the 2026-27 regular season.
Unsigned RFA defenseman Alexander Nikishin, who isn’t eligible for an offer sheet anyway, apparently requested a trade this offseason and is sticking to it. That should be music to the Flyers’ ears.
Flyers a perfect fit for Nikishin
Alexander Nikishin won the Stanley Cup with the Hurricanes this year. (Photo: James Guillory, Imagn Images)
On Monday, The Athletic NHL insider Pierre LeBrun reported on the state of affairs with the young Carolina Hurricanes defender, confirming that a resolution isn’t immediately forthcoming.
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“Defenseman Alexander Nikishin remains unsigned by the Carolina Hurricanes as camps get set to open,” LeBrun said. “The 24-year-old RFA requested a change of scenery after the season, and one thing that was made clear to me Monday is that the request remains in place.”
Drafted 69th overall in the third round of the 2020 NHL Draft, Nikishin just played his first full season in North America after a four-game cameo for Carolina in last year’s playoffs, scoring 11 goals, 22 assists, and 33 points in 81 games, but regressing to just one assist in 17 playoff games as the Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup.
Nikishin, 24, featured more in the regular season primarily due to injury, as K’Andre Miller and Jalen Chatfield each played 72 games, Shayne Gostisbehere played only 55, and Jaccob Slavin missed more than half the year, playing in only 39.
The talented 6-foot-3 Russian was an afterthought for a full-strength Hurricanes team in the playoffs, and rightfully so; they won it all.
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Still, Nikishin had a strong showing in his first NHL season, and a featured role elsewhere would allow him to grow further and continue to improve on his warts.
It helps, too, that Nikishin was once the captain of KHL outfit SKA St. Petersburg for two seasons and was teammates with budding Flyers star Matvei Michkov there. Those are two factors that cannot be overlooked.
From Hurricanes GM Eric Tulsky’s perspective, it would perhaps be unwise to spend big to re-sign a player who played a depth role for you after just winning the Stanley Cup, with Slavin, Miller, and Gostisbehere all firmly ahead on the depth chart on the left side.
That does hurt Carolina’s leverage, though, as other teams, including the Flyers, know that they will have more of a use for Nikishin than the Hurricanes.
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The longer this situation drags out, the bigger an opportunity it becomes for the Flyers to snag a productive young defenseman who held his own on a winning team after being thrown right into the fire.
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