According to Rick Dhaliwal, who covers the Vancouver Canucks quite closely, Nikita Tryamkin’s agent Todd Diamond notes that his client is looking to make a return to the NHL. After leaving the Canucks and going to the KHL over what was said to be beef valued at about $200K, Diamond notes, “There will be a tremendous demand for Nikita. Nikita has turned down a contract extension from his KHL Club. He is currently focused on the KHL season, then we will turn our focus to the NHL. Vancouver’s exclusivity is no longer a factor.”
There will likely be interest in him. A six-foot-eight, 258-pound defenseman will draw some attention by NHL teams. The question will be, does the interest equal the sell job his agent appears to be trying to drum up with these comments? The league does have its fair share of big defensemen, but the market for players of size that don’t offer much else varies. Even in Vancouver, where the Canucks are rumored to be trying to offload Tyle Myers, they know firsthand that size doesn’t mean everything.
Tryamkin can skate, which will help as he and his agent look around the league. It would be unfair to call him exclusively big but slow.
The Canucks drafted Tryamkin in the third round of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft. He played 79 NHL games for the team then chose to return to Russia to play for his home club of Yekaterinburg Automobilist in the KHL. He signed a two-year extension in 2021. Some are wondering if his agent’s comments might be an attempt to motivate his current KHL or another one to up their offers, but reports are he has already told the KHL he won’t be returning next season.
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