Some lines after the last couple of games

1) It's Khusnutdinov. There's a t in there.

2) SKA St. Petersburg is extremely deep at center. They're considered a top 3 team in the KHL because of it. They literally have no need for him to play there. But they recognize his skill and want him on the KHL squad. He started out strong and was playing in their top six because of it. But lately has hit a bit of a slump and dropped down into their bottom six of late.

That said, I don't think he'll get sent down to the MHL. He's too valuable for them to have on the KHL squad. Given their depth at center, and that it's more valuable that he's gaining much needed experience in the 2nd best league in the world, I'm not particularly worried about him playing on the wing.

Russo has said in the past that the Wild brass still view him as a center in the NHL, and they're not concerned about him playing wing either. And if they're not, I'm not.

Yep, but they had significant issues at C at the start of the season. They apparently were dissatisfied with Ivan Morozov’s desire to go to VGK next year and sent him down.

Concerning Marat, I can see a trend in all that stuff. I still remember the reaction that overseas expert had when Capitals were switching Kuzy to C. They were saying that they would ruin him as a player. Developing a center is a job harder that developing a wing. Teams usually choose a path of less resistance. And this is one of the reasons why we don’t have a lot of NHL centers.

Ska is no longer regarded as a top 3 KHL teams too.

Although I do trust Russo, I also watch a lot of Russian hockey to be cautious about that. But once again, this is just an opinion.

Aw, man, why did you break up Hartman and Pitlick? The dude just scored a hatty with Hartman assisting all of them...

kinda want to fix our second line a little bit.

As far as I know, SKA was trading places with Jokerit for the best team in the KHL back and forth up until the last time I checked in on them. Which was sometime about a week to a week and a half ago. I typically check on them every Monday or every other Monday to see how they and Marat are doing.

If they dropped out of the top 3, it's pretty recent.

I also wasn't aware they moved Morozov down. It's seems pretty unusual to move your 28 yr old 1C down to the MHL when you're competing for the Cup this year. Killing and tanking your season just because your best center isn't coming back isn't smart, especially when you had a real chance at the championship.


Otherwise, turning a winger into a center is a lot harder than turning a center into a winger then back to center again. So I can't agree with you on that one. A natural center isn't going to just forget how to be a center or play that position after only spending a single year on the wing. Khusnutdinov has often played on the wing, so it's nothing new to him, but he's always been primarily a center. It's his natural position.

Furthermore, he's been asked multiple times by Russian media what his plans are after his contract is up at the end of the year. He's always responded by saying his goal is to come to North America and that he can't wait to come over. He's already planning to make the jump to come over here as soon as next year. Which means the Wild will have control over where and what position he plays moving forward. Even if he's unlikely to make the Wild roster next year he'll be playing center for Iowa. A year playing on the wing in the 2nd best league in the world isn't going to derail that. It'll only give him valuable professional playing time and experience. That's it.

Both Trevor Zegras and Dylan Cozens have spent time in the NHL on the wing before getting sent down and moved back to their natural center positions and eventually called back up. That process didn't hurt them, it only helped them to become better players.