The amount of buzz surrounding Alexander Nikishin's arrival at the end of last season was deafening, so the thought of finally getting him for a full season was something we were incredibly excited for. I'll admit that it didn't completely blow me away, but Nikishin still accomplished a few things that we'd never seen in the franchise. The league certainly took notice.
Nikishin came out of the gates producing, opening the regular season on a four-game point streak. This included his first career goal in Anaheim in the fourth game. However, the scoring slowed down, as one would expect. Nikishin scored just five points over the next 24 games, and you would've thought the world was coming to an end when he was scratched in Winnipeg before Thanksgiving.
This streakiness was present through the Olympic break. Nikishin produced another four-game point streak in mid-December, and his numbers leading into the break were still solid. Nikishin had his first multi-point game in the team's 9-1 rout of the Panthers on January 16, scoring a goal and an assist. At the break, he had seven goals and 22 points, putting him on a collision course with team history.
By the break, Nikishin was already nearing previous team bests for rookie defensemen. It didn't take him long to clear his first hurdle, passing Justin Faulk for the most goals by a rookie defenseman by scoring his ninth goal in a win over Pittsburgh on March 10. His tenth goal made him the first to reach double digits, scoring in overtime to beat Toronto ten days later.
A month after setting the goals record, Nikishin conquered the record for points, recording an assist in the team's final home game against the Bruins. In his first full season, Nikishin finished with 11 goals and 33 points, second among all rookie defensemen in the NHL this season. The only rookie better than him was the Calder Trophy winner and fellow All-Rookie recipient Matthew Schaefer.
Nikishin received 184 of a possible 195 points during the voting, running away with the second spot behind Schaefer. He's the sixth Hurricane to be named one of the league's top rookies, joining Shane Willis, Jeff Skinner, Justin Fauik, Alex Nedeljkovic, and Pyotr Kochetkov. Ivan Demidov, Beckett Sennecke, Jimmy Snuggerud, and Jakub Dobes rounded out the All-Rookie team.
The postseason hasn't been as kind to Nikishin. He has just one assist through 18 games. He's entering the summer as a restricted free agent despite only playing one season in the NHL. His name had been floated around as a potential trade chip heading into the deadline, but a bridge deal feels like the most reasonable course of action. Before then, there's still some business to handle.
