LA, ST.L both want Nikishin.

 Kings and Blues making a push for Nikishin.

Hey everyone and welcome back, in today’s blog we are going to take a look at Alexander Nikishin, as guys like Jeff Merick , Elliotte Friedman, and David Pagnotta have all been mentioning stuff about the Nikishin situation and him potentially going to one of two teams. 

Now when it comes to Elliotte Friedman, he recently mentioned that Nikishin is open to joining the Los Angeles Kings and says that Nikishin would be okay with a trade to the Los Angeles Kings organization, however it sounds like according to some other recent reports, the Kings (A) may not have enough cap space to make that sort of a deal work, but also (B) may not have enough assets to make that deal work. So once again the Canes are looking for a pretty decent package in a Nikishin trade and it sounds like they want to 1st round quality pieces, whether that is picks, prospects or young players, now I have no idea what the exact trade package could look like for the Kings, but the Kings don't have a ton of prospects and picks left in their system, now they have a few like recent first rounders Hermansson and Brzustewicz, they also have Eric Portillo on the goalie side, so they could move a couple of their current defenseman like a Edmundson,  Dumoulin or Ceci. They also have a couple of decent forwards they could move like a Trevor Moore, so they have some pieces that could make it interesting for the Carolina Hurricanes, but on top of that, they also don’t have a whole bunch of cap space as I think they only have $1-2 million left in cap space and Nikishin wants a $10+ million contract. 

So I have no idea how they would even think to pull off that sort of a deal because that would be a very difficult deal to pull off if you're the Los Angeles Kings, even though Nikishin is open to and would be okay with signing an extension in Los Angeles, it seems like a trade to LA is very very unlikely right now. When it comes to St. Louis, both Jeff Merick and David Pagnotta said that the Blues package is one of the best for the Carolina Hurricanes and the one the Carolina Hurricanes like the most, However there is a hold up involving one of the Blues prospects that would be included in said deal, so it seems that the Carolina Hurricanes want a specific Blues prospect and the Blues are still a little bit hesitant to include him in a trade, but it seems like Nikishin would be open to going to St. Louis too. Now the Blues, I think do have enough cap space to make that sort of a deal work, especially if they were to move off one of their defensemen that they have on the roster, like maybe a Cam Fowler. So, I don't know exactly what a trade package could look like, my guess would be like Fowler, maybe a first round pick and maybe one of the Blues better prospects like Jiricek or Carbonneau, would be my guess if they were trying to make a deal to get  Nikishin, and I think Nikishin could work out really well with a guy like Philip Broberg in that St. Louis Blues top four, it’s  just very interesting to note there that the Blues seem to be the front runner at this point. 

So, very interesting to note there, but according to Merick, Pagnotta and Friedman, the Kings do have some interest in Nikishin and he is open to going to Los Angeles, but they don’t have the cap space and the trade package may not be to the Hurricanes liking, while the Blues do have a package that seems to be intriguing to Carolina, However it does seem like the Blues are hesitant to trade one of their prospects that the Hurricanes would want, So interesting to note there, but it seems like a situation will happen potentially by the weekend and If not then maybe by next week. I do think we'll get a resolution on the Nikishin situation in the very near future, but this is something that we're going to have to keep our eye on and I would love to hear your thoughts, which team do you think is more likely to land Nikishin, St.Louis or LA and what could Carolina get in return, let me know in the comments below, I also have YouTube channel you guys should check out and I can’t wait to see you for the next one.