One of George McPhee's most intriguing moves of the past few weeks was acquiring the rights to Russian winger Nikita Gusev from the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The move raised questions due to the fact that Gusev still has a year remaining on his current contract with the KHL's SKA St. Petersburg. On Saturday, McPhee provided some clarity on the situation.
"That's at least a year away," McPhee said when asked about the young sniper, according to NHL.com. "We knew that when we traded for him, it might be a year away. But he came in for a little bit here and hope that he liked what he saw. We'll talk to him next spring."
Gusev, 24, is coming off an impressive season for SKA in which he buried 24 goals while adding 47 assists in 57 regular-season games - good enough for fourth in league scoring.
While Gusev would have clearly added offensive punch to McPhee's lineup, he would have, perhaps more importantly, also formed a nice tandem with former St. Petersburg teammate Vadim Shipachyov. The duo played the past two seasons together in Russia, helping SKA to the 2016-17 league championship.
The reunion, however, will have to wait at least one more year.
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