Rumor: KHL megastar on the verge of being traded to an NHL team.

A huge trade on the horizon.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 4 years ago
Rumor: KHL megastar on the verge of being traded to an NHL team.
Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS/Zuma

It appears that one of the Kontinental Hockey League's premiere superstars may be headed to the National Hockey League, although it does not sound like he will be playing for the team that currently holds onto his rights.

According to a report from Las Vegas Golden Knights insider Jess Granger of The Athletic, it now appears that the negotiations between KHL MVP Nikita Gusev and the Golden Knights have reached a standstill. The Golden Knights are already above the NHL's salary cap for the 2019 - 2020 NHL regular season and it sounds like Gusev is looking for a major payday before he will sign an NHL contract, a combination of factors that has led Granger to believe that Gusev will find himself traded. 

Golden Knights general manager George McPhee did not confirm that a trade would be forthcoming, but he certainly left open the possibility of a move of that type.

“We think (Gusev) is a really good player,” Golden Knights president of hockey operations George McPhee said as per The Athletic. “We’d like to work something out here, but if that doesn’t work out we’ll look at options.”

That may not seem like a huge deal to fans in North America who have no knowledge of the day to day in the KHL, but for those familiar with Gusev this is truly a bombshell report. Gusev has been named the KHL's MVP in back to back seasons and has produced offense at a staggering rate while playing in the world's second best hockey league. 2 seasons ago Gusev recorded 22 goals and 40 assists for 62 points in just 54 games played, and he outdid himself this season when he appeared in 62 games and recorded 17 goals and a staggering 65 assists for a total of 85 points on the season.

It is not difficult to see how Gusev could have an immediate impact on any team in the National Hockey League, and you can bet that his agents know that as well. It is for that reason that the Golden Knights and Gusev are reportedly more than $2 million apart on salary, and it is for that reason that there is now a very real belief that Gusev could be in the NHL next year, but not on the Golden Knights.

Source: