Bolts By The Bay Mailbag: Will We Ever See Nikita Gusev In A Tampa Bay Lightning Uniform?

Welcome to this week’s Bolts By The Bay Mailbag, the place where we take any questions you may have about the Tampa Bay Lightning and give you answers.

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Tampa Bay Lightning

Tony asks: Will we ever see Nikita Gusev in a Lightning uniform? I know he is over in Russia right now, but he could be a good player for us.

Nikita Gusev is a dynamic scoring winger that the Lightning drafted back in 2012. The team understood just how skilled the young Russian was and they used a seventh round pick in the draft just to own his rights. What a small price to pay for someone that is so naturally skilled. A small price for a small (and I mean very small) forward. Let’s take a look at what we’re dealing with here.

Nikita Gusev is a 5’9 163 lb winger that has spent his entire playing career over in Russia. He has done well in two of the countries most talented leagues including the MHL and KHL. There he is playing with men on a large ice surface where he can take over a game with his speed. He seems to be all over the ice… Well, if you only pay attention to 1/3 of it.

Watching Gusev play, you never see him make an effort in the defensive zone. Heck, the only reason he even leaves the offensive zone at all is so he can stay onside. I highlighted this in our top ten prospects article earlier in the month.

With all the skill and speed Gusev has offensively, he just does not make an effort defensively. Once the puck is in possession of the opposition, he will stop moving his feet and stay out of the play. This is something that just cannot continue to happen if he wants to have a successful career in North America.

Even with all the skill in the world you won’t play with this team unless you are committed to play a 200-foot game. Over in Russia you can get away with it if you light the world on fire, but in the NHL things are different.

As for the question on whether we will see him in a Tampa Bay Lightning uniform in the near future, it will all be based on the opportunity that he will be presented with. Gusev is an older prospect at age 23 and has a ton of experience playing against men over in Russia. Rumor has it he would only be willing to come over if he was guaranteed playing time at the NHL level.

His contract with his current KHL team runs out after the 2015-16 season so the Lightning will have a shot to bring him over to North America. On a team that could be losing some of it’s key pieces due to salary cap trouble, there is a chance the team would be willing to offer him a one-way contract. Hopefully the team can bring another prized Russian prospect over and continue the ‘Russian Invasion’ that has helped the team have so much success over the past few seasons.

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