Top Russian Prospect Slips Away from the Toronto Maple Leafs After Sudden Twist

As the Stanley Cup Playoffs kick off a little over a week from now, teams are making some last minute adjustments and additions in order to make sure they are well-equipped for a long run.

We've seen Ivan Demidov head over from Russia to sign with Montreal, and we also saw former Stanley Cup Champion Evgeny Kuznetsov leave himself open to a potential return to a contender, and now the Carolina Hurricanes are getting in on the action and picked up a massive star in the process.

SKA St. Petersburg's captain Alexander Nikishin mutually terminated his contract with SKA in order to sign a contract with the Carolina Hurricanes; his former club will still retain his rights should things not work out in North America.

Carolina's 69th overall pick in 2020 finally signed his entry-level deal, and after a fantastic three seasons with St. Petersburg, it was time for him to ply his trade over here.

This season, Nikishin had 46 points in 61 games while captaining St. Petersburg (17G, 29A) and a plus-19 rating. The 6'4, 213-pound defenseman is a very good two-way player and had a lot of hype around him recently, as teams tried to acquire his rights but the Hurricanes knew what they had and declined.

Toronto certainly could have used him, especially with the litany of injuries the team has come across over the last few days, and while it wouldn't have been feasible to sign him without acquiring his rights, it's a tough thing to hear when Brad Treliving may have been able to persuade them at the deadline, and now is left out.

Carolina will certainly get some fantastic years out of the 23-year old, and if can already bring the type of impact to the world's second-biggest pro hockey league, there's no telling what he can do here in North America.

Toronto better get used to seeing Nikishin for the foreseeable future, as there's no doubt he's going to cause them a lot of headaches for potentially the next decade.