The Dallas Stars have dealt with depth-taxing injury issues this year that have threatened to jeopardize the season. Even Tuesday night, the Stars added to the list, at least temporarily, with Antoine Roussel sitting out due to an injury sustained in practice. One player who has played a part in the lack of depth is the departed young Russian Val Nichushkin.
Nichushkin has struggled so far as an NHLer, but undoubtedly an extra body with NHL experience would have been helpful early in the season. After tough negotiations this offseason, Nichushkin signed a two-year contract with CSKA Moscow of the KHL, but presumably he’ll be back in the NHL when that contract expires. The question will be this: what kind of player will come back?
Nichushkin had his issues. Missing a full season due to injury didn’t help his development, but the two biggest issues he had in Dallas were an underdeveloped hockey IQ and an inability to elevate his shot. The KHL is a very good league, so you would think the IQ will continue to develop. If the coaches he interacts with in the KHL can somehow work some magic to get him to elevate his shots, Val could be looking at some serious coin.
A career shooting percentage of 8.4% is fairly mediocre over 166 games, but that’s what his NHL legacy is until he returns to attempt to rectify it. He simply isn’t a good shooter despite having just about every other offensive tool you could possibly want in a player. Val is the Italian sports car with the dented bumper and peeling paint. Everything's there except the finish, but for a potentially elite goal scorer the finish is the most important part.
We like to think of Nichushkin as a potential top-notch offensive player, but even Antoine Roussel has a career 12.3 shooting percentage. If Nichushkin only shot as well as Roussel has historically he’d have 34 goals in his pocket and we might not even be having this conversation.
When he’s on the ice, offense tends to be generated. If we use expected goals for (xGF) from Corsica Hockey, over the last four years Nichushkin is 52nd among forwards in xGF per 60 minutes of even-strength ice time. That certainly doesn’t suck, but his problem is the players ahead of him: Tyler Seguin (10), Jamie Benn (12), Mattias Janmark (14!), Radek Faksa (40), Jason Spezza (42), Antoine Roussel (44), and Ales Hemsky (50). You may also notice that all of those except Faksa have been hurt or are probably playing through injury.
The reality with Nichushkin is that he’s a quality player, but unless something changes during his time in Russia he’s depth for a very deep Stars forward group. In an odd twist of fate this season extra forward depth would have been very nice to have. Go figure.
