Will Hurricanes defender Alexander Nikishin play in NHL playoffs? What we know
Alexander Nikishin and Logan Stankoven were jostling in front of the net at the Carolina Hurricanes practice Monday and it was quite the sight.
The contrast: Nikishin is 6 feet 4 and 220 pounds and Stankoven about 5-8 and 170. But there they were, the big defenseman and the little winger banging bodies in front of goalie Frederik Andersen, Nikishin lifting Stankoven’s stick, Stankoven gamely holding his position.
It was the day before the Hurricanes opened play in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs against the Washington Capitals. The Canes were working in the practice at Invisalign Arena before the team flight to Washington for Game 1 of the series.
Stankoven was slated to be in the lineup Tuesday for Game 1. Nikishin, as he has since the playoffs began, was again scheduled to be watching from the press box, made a healthy scratch by Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour.
“You don’t work in anyone at this time of year,” Brind’Amour said Saturday. “It’s not a time (to be) experimental.”
The Hurricanes seemingly moved heaven and earth to get Nikishin to North America from Russia as soon as the KHL playoffs ended and Niksihin’s season with SKA St. Petersburg was over. There was a scramble to get the native Russian to an American embassy and finally secure a U.S. visa — Canes general manager Eric Tulsky called it an “enormous effort.”
Nikishin, 23, put in his first practice with the Canes on April 19 at the Lenovo Center and was all smiles after it. Though he speaks very little English, he sat next to goalie Pyotr Kochetkov and let Kochetkov serve as an impromptu interpreter.
Nikishin has since signed his entry-level contract, put in more practices and has adjusted well enough, said fellow Russians Dmitry Orlov and Andrei Svechnikov.
What he has not done — and a lot of Canes fans are eagerly awaiting it — is play a game, make his NHL debut.
“It has been a crazy couple of weeks for him,” Orlov said Monday. “He came to a new league and there’s the language barrier and obviously it’s not easy. But we’ve tried to help him be comfortable and it has been easy for him to adapt. I think he’s doing better and better every day.”
During Monday’s practice, Nikishin often sat next to Orlov on the bench when not on the ice. There was a constant dialogue and Orlov at times used his stick to point out where Nikishin needed to be during the drills.
“He’s not a kid anymore,” Orlov said. “He has played a lot of hockey since a young age. He needs to learn a few things here, but he should be fine and will be a very good player herein the future. He’s excited about being in the organization and the NHL and he’s just waiting for his opportunity.”
As for when that might come …
The Canes’ top six defenseman have remained healthy, getting through the first round of the playoffs unscathed against the New Jersey Devils. Unless there’s an injury in the D corps, Brind’Amour apparently won’t be making any changes, sticking with the guys who got the Canes this far.
“We have a real good sense of where he is right now and obviously we love the potential of this player,” Brind’Amour said. “In watching him just in a practice setting, obviously it’s all there.
“On the flip side, it’s really tough to throw somebody in who doesn’t speak the language. All the thousands (of) reads and quick switches that are going on in the game that have to be communicated, that’s a tough ask. And really, there’s really no reason at this point to change the lineup.”
Brind’Amour did add a caveat: “We’d definitely like to see him in there. We’ll see how it goes.”
The Canes took Nikishin in the third round of the 2020 draft, the 69th overall pick. He quickly developed into one of the best defensemen in the KHL with his size, mobility and skill, and served as SKA’s captain.
“He played in the KHL for many years and obviously the NHL is a different world,” Svechnikov said. ”Still, he has been playing pro hockey for a while and is older, smarter, wiser.
“I know it’s hard for him, but all of our D guys are healthy right and hopefully we’re going to stay healthy. Those guys have been playing the whole year and have all the (coach’s) trust). It’s just one of those things.”
Svechnikov, who sits next to Nikishin in the Invisalign locker room, has done what he can to help Nikishin by answering his questions and perhaps offering a little advice. He has had Nikishin to his house to eat a meal or two and, like Orlov, Svechnikov can sense Nikishin developing a better comfort level with his new surroundings, his new team and coach.
“Life-wise, he’s getting better with everything,” Svechnikov said. “He’s still learning a lot because he has come to a different culture and I think he’s adjusting pretty good, I feel like.
“But we’re all here for hockey, right? So I think you adjust the most from the experience of playing hockey and not just practicing. But life-wise he’s good already. But he’s going to adjust very quickly once he starts playing in the hockey atmosphere of the NHL.”
This story was originally published May 6, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
