Stierlitz

I mean this is good for both Nikita and Canucks in a long run...

Well, as my favorite poster J.R. said four posts ago, "He's not NHL ready yet and is playing in a very good league that's better than AHL level in his home country. There's almost no reason to bring him over for another like 2+ years". So it is what it is

They should not have any problem with that since this is pretty young team and they don't have any expensive player. Yekaterinburg is large industrial city with 1.5 million population (2.5 mln. with surroundings) and supports a KHL team very well.

And back to Brendan Gaunce - did anyone notice that he was on the ice for 5 on 3 PK today and won important faceoff despite the fact that he did not play centre for a year?

Yes, he is playing out last year of his ELC two-way contract and is expecting offer from his KHL club for new contract with much more money on the table.

Interesting enough that in the latest game against CSKA on Sep 13 Tryamkin was playing as center forward in the last two periods due to inquiry to the centre Ondrjey Roman. According to Nikita, it was hard for him to play in that position because he needed to skate much more than usual. He even won couple of faceoff.

Avtomobilist is currently leading the eastern conference in KHL after winning 5 out of 7 games of new season. The team has new head coach Andrey Razin who is known to get the best from his players which helps them to advance to the next level. Nobody expected such early success from this young team. I think this change with the head coach is great for Nikita's development.

Well I think with his size and style of play the bug description fits pretty well...

Zhuk means beetle in Russian )

2015-2016 KHL season starts on Aug 24. Avtomobilist team has just finished one of the preseason tournaments. BTW schedule for Spengler Cup is released. In its first game Avtomobilist plays Team Canada on Dec 26 which is Saturday.

Well in his last interview with Russian sport website on Aug 10 he said that he did not have any plan for NHL yet and did not look too much ahead. He is open to consider offer from Avtomobilist for his new contract during coming season. This is link for those who read in Russian http://www.sport-express.ru/se-money/news/905642/. I think that Canucks management should be more active in convincing Nikita to come to NA. This is very tough decision for him mentally by itself and he needs as much support as he can get from the organization.

Just a general thought about Nikita's salary... At age 17 he signed his standard 5-year KHL contract (kind of ELC) which is going to expire on Apr 30, 2016. Under KHL regulations the minimum salary for player under 22 years is 750,000 roubles that used to be around $25,000 and is now twice less. At that time Tryamkin was just unknown junior so I would be very surprised if his salary exceeds 50,000 USD in last year of this contract. The next one would be a different story. Minimum salary for player 22 years and older is 3,000,000 rubles which is about a half million dollars now, which is still much more than in AHL. So he is playing out the last year of his current contract and hoping to be paid much more with the next one either in KHL or NHL. In one of his last interviews he said that he did not get any offer for new contract from his KHL club yet.

His KHL team Avtomobilist from Yekaterinburg is chosen to participate in Spengler Cup this year in Dec 26-31, 2015 so we might have chance to see Nikita play on TSN, at least against Canadian team http://thehockeyhouse.net/international-hockey/avtomobilist-yekaterinburg-named-as-fifth-entry-for-2015-spengler-cup/