It was rumored early Friday that the Calgary Flames were looking at bringing defenceman Nikita Nesterov to the NHL. By mid-afternoon, the team had officially confirmed those rumors and announced they had inked the blueliner to a one-year contract with an AAV of $700,000.
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The deal is a one-way, one-year pact that him leaves the Flames with $486K in projected cap space with 22 players signed (14F/6D/2G). The Flames had lost Derek Forbort, Erik Gustafsson, Michael Stone, T.J. Brodie and Travis Hamonic in NHL free agency and after adding Chris Tanev, were looking to add one more piece.
There was some talk the Flames might revisit the idea of Hamonic coming back to the Flames but this deal likely rules that out.
Nesterov Has Plenty of NHL Experience
Nesterov played last season with CSKA Moscow in the KHL and in 53 games, scored seven goals and added 16 assists for 23 points. The defenseman has 132 career NHL games on his resume, spending time with the Tampa Bay Lightning from 2014-17 and the Montreal Canadiens in 2016-17. During that span, Nesterov had nine goals and 24 assists for 33 points and 81 penalty minutes. He added a goal and six assists in 28c career NHL playoff games. Needless to say, the NHL is not new for the veteran.
Nesterov has also represented Russia several times including serving as captain of the gold medal-winning team at the 2018 Olympics in Pyeonchang.
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