RJNSmith
Opinion on Nikolai Zherdev
Posted 2:12 AM ET | Comments 1
Opinion on Nikolai Zherdev
So Wednesday afternoon I come home from work, and splashed all over my twitter account is the possible signing of Nikolai Zherdev. Immediately I thought of him playing with the Blue Jackets getting 60 points. He could very well be a great addition to our team, and finally someone that could work with the JVR-Giroux line. Although I’d prefer Bobby Ryan, Zherdev may have to do. But then I do a little research on his background and see he has somewhat of an attention problem and has locker room issues from time to time. This is not someone I want on my team. I don’t care if you score 50+ goals a season – I do not want a troublemaker in the locker room. Period. End of discussion. If he can get these problems worked out, as I said earlier he could work wonders on the Flyers.
With all that being said, there is one more issue that comes to mind after reading around online. Last year in the KHL, Zherdev made about $4 million. This would really hurt the Flyers in cap space this year and for years to come. Now obviously we would have to trade Gagne weather he makes $4 million or not, but is still a very steep price for only a 20+ goal scorer. In my opinion, the Flyers should sign him for $2.5 million or less. Any more than that, I’d suggest the Flyers stop and keep looking around. There are better and bigger fish out there they can get at $4 million that won’t cause any potential locker room problems.
The great thing about Zherdev, is that he is still young (25 years old) and still could have about 10+ years left in his tank, which may turn out to be a very good thing. All in all, if he behaves himself for the most part, and possibly takes a decent sized pay cut, I believe he would work out very well for our team.
So Wednesday afternoon I come home from work, and splashed all over my twitter account is the possible signing of Nikolai Zherdev. Immediately I thought of him playing with the Blue Jackets getting 60 points. He could very well be a great addition to our team, and finally someone that could work with the JVR-Giroux line. Although I’d prefer Bobby Ryan, Zherdev may have to do. But then I do a little research on his background and see he has somewhat of an attention problem and has locker room issues from time to time. This is not someone I want on my team. I don’t care if you score 50+ goals a season – I do not want a troublemaker in the locker room. Period. End of discussion. If he can get these problems worked out, as I said earlier he could work wonders on the Flyers.
With all that being said, there is one more issue that comes to mind after reading around online. Last year in the KHL, Zherdev made about $4 million. This would really hurt the Flyers in cap space this year and for years to come. Now obviously we would have to trade Gagne weather he makes $4 million or not, but is still a very steep price for only a 20+ goal scorer. In my opinion, the Flyers should sign him for $2.5 million or less. Any more than that, I’d suggest the Flyers stop and keep looking around. There are better and bigger fish out there they can get at $4 million that won’t cause any potential locker room problems.
The great thing about Zherdev, is that he is still young (25 years old) and still could have about 10+ years left in his tank, which may turn out to be a very good thing. All in all, if he behaves himself for the most part, and possibly takes a decent sized pay cut, I believe he would work out very well for our team.