- Rod Brind’Amour blamed agent advice after Alexander Nikishin’s lengthy holdout
- Nikishin missed the first 13 games before signing a one-year, $3 million deal
- Read below for Brind’Amour’s full comments and the agent change behind them
Rod Brind’Amour thinks Alexander Nikishin got some bad advice.
The Hurricanes head coach was asked Monday about the defenseman’s one-year, $3 million deal and the holdout that kept him out for the first 13 games. He said the locker room has no hard feelings, but he pointed at Nikishin’s representation for how things played out.
Brind’Amour talked about it after practice. Watch the full session:
“You know these guys, they hire agents to tell them what to do,” Brind’Amour said. “Sometimes it’s good advice and then not so good advice. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t affect us. When we get the guys in the locker room, we’re all together.”
Nikishin split with Quartexx Management’s Benjamin Kreyzerman and Ryan Barnes in late September. He hired Paul Theofanous, who also represents Kirill Kaprizov, Artemi Panarin, Sergei Bobrovsky and Hurricanes goalie Pyotr Kochetkov.
Brind’Amour was also asked when Nikishin might play. He doesn’t know yet.
“It’s going to be way different as far as the timeline because he hasn’t done anything,” Brind’Amour said. “He missed all the training camp. So we’re a little different window there. I haven’t seen him. Hopefully, he’s healthy and we’re not dealing with any of that and it’s just a matter of getting through a mini training camp before we can get him going.”
General manager Eric Tulsky took a more diplomatic line on The Sheet. He said the agent change didn’t move Carolina’s position at all.
“I really believe in being pretty straightforward in every negotiation about what we are willing to do and what we aren’t,” Tulsky said. “So when they change agents, it doesn’t change anything about our position or our messaging.”
The 25-year-old asked for a trade after the Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup and reportedly wanted around $9 million a year. We covered the signing on Sunday, when the team made it official:
Carolina hasn’t missed him much so far. The Hurricanes are 9-4 and sit atop the Eastern Conference.
The short deal makes Nikishin both offer sheet and arbitration eligible this summer, so this story has a sequel coming.
