The Carolina Hurricanes have announced the signing of defenseman Alexander Nikishin to a two-year ELC.

The contract, which kicks in this year, will pay Nikishin $832,500 at the NHL level and comes with a $185,000 signing bonus.

“We are grateful for Alexander’s time with SKA, a premier European hockey franchise, which helped him develop into one of the top prospects in hockey,” said Carolina GM Eric Tulsky in a press release. “His size and skill have allowed him to have a record-breaking career in the KHL, and we believe he will be an impactful player in the NHL.”

The former SKA captain had his KHL contract terminated earlier today, paving the way for this deal to come about.

Nikishin is a 6-foot-4, 220lb defenseman who can score, hit, defend and do pretty much anything that is asked of him.

A unicorn of a player, Nikishin was SKA's all-time leader in scoring by a defenseman and no other Russian-born blueliner has had a more productive KHL season than the 2020 third-round pick (acquired from Buffalo in the Jeff Skinner trade).

Now we'll see how quickly the team can get him into game action.

Carolina Hurricanes' Russians Already Familiar, Ready To Help Fellow Countryman Alexander Nikishin With TransitionIt can be a really difficult transition for rookies coming to the NHL for the first time. 

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