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Less than 48 hours after the Montreal Canadiens announced that Ivan Demidov was coming over from the KHL, his teammate — and former captain — will be heading to Raleigh. The Carolina Hurricanes officially signed Alexander Nikishin to a two-year entry-level contract on Friday, the team announced.
“He has all the tools to be a very effective all-around defenseman,” Canes general manager Eric Tulsky said, per NHL.com's Dan Rosen. “He can play a very physical game. He is a ferocious hitter. He has a good ability to manage and close gaps so he can be a really effective defender. Offensively, he sees the ice well. He can make plays. He has a strong shot. So he really has all the tools to do everything you want.”
The Hurricanes selected Nikishin in the third round, No. 69 overall, in the 2020 NHL Draft. He's been excellent in the KHL, and currently is the all-time scoring leader by a defenseman in SKA St. Petersburg history.
With 177 points in 288 games, Nikishin set a KHL record by a Russian-born defenseman two years ago, managing 55 points in just 65 games in 2022-23, per Rosen. He then broke that last year with an eye-opening 56 points in 67 games.
In 2024-25, he chipped in 17 goals and 46 points in 61 games from the back end — good for third among league defensemen. Captaining SKA St. Petersburg over the last three seasons — the team that Demidov led in scoring this year — he's emerged into one of the top blue liners outside of the National Hockey League.
“Our development staff does a great job of getting guys ready and SKA is actually the one KHL team that plays a style very similar to ours,” Tulsky said, per Rosen. “He is very well equipped to make the jump so it might be two practices and he's full speed and ready to go, it might be 20 games before he's comfortable with NHL pace.”
The 23-year-old is expected to join the team in time for the start of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, and could even be an option next Wednesday against the Montreal Canadiens or Thursday against the Ottawa Senators, Tulsky confirmed.
If he can't play by then — he does still need to get his United States and Canadian visas sorted out — he will almost certainly be in the lineup for Game 1 of Round 1 against the New Jersey Devils in a weeks' time.
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Alexander Nikishin should be huge boost for Hurricanes in Round 1
The Hurricanes are currently second in the Metropolitan Division with a 46-27-5 record through 78 games. They won't catch the Washington Capitals, who are a full 12 points up and have already clinched the Eastern Conference.
What Carolina will have is home-ice advantage against the Devils in the team's first playoff meeting since Round 2 of the 2023 postseason. The Canes won that series in five games before eventually being swept by the Florida Panthers in the East Final.
“We're heading into a Stanley Cup run where we think we're real contenders and want to take a run at it and this is a player that can help us,” Tulsky said of Nikishin. “We don't know how much he can help until we see him here, but there's no question at minimum he provides us with really strong depth, and so that has value.”
It'll be interesting to see how much the skilled young defenseman can contribute as the Hurricanes look to get over the hump and win a first championship since 2006 this spring.
