After a tough negotiation that saw him go from the Dallas Stars to CSKA St. Petersburg, Valeri Nichushkin was expected to dominate the KHL. He has been picking up points, yet has been criticized by coaches. He found out the hard way that the KHL isn’t going to be a walk in the park after getting into a fight in which he exited as the clear loser.
He faced off against Sibir captain Evgeny Artyukhin. Hopefully this is the beginning of a wake up call for Nichushkin who has had an up-and-down career thus far. When a player has all of the potential in the world, what else can you possibly do for them?