Montreal Canadiens Will Regret Not Acquiring Nikita Gusev

The Montreal Canadiens were one of the few teams that had the resources and the salary cap space to acquire Nikita Gusev. They will regret not trading for the Russian winger in the future.

The Montreal Canadiens were one of the few teams in the National Hockey League that had the resources and the salary cap room to acquire Nikita Gusev. They already have 12 picks in next year’s NHL Draft and currently have about $6 million in cap space for next season.

The Vegas Golden Knights brought Nikita Gusev over from the KHL at the end of last season. Though he did not appear in a game, he finished the season as a restricted free agent. The Golden Knights have already spent over the cap for next season and could not afford to sign Gusev.

It was obvious that Vegas would have to trade the KHL star. Also, due to their cap troubles, it was obvious the return would have to be draft picks and not a player that will count towards the cap next season. There were also plenty of rumours in the last few weeks that Gusev was looking to sign a two-year deal with a cap hit around $4 million.

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Yesterday, the New Jersey Devils acquired the Russian winger, and got him for a bargain price. The cost to acquire a 27 year old who just led the KHL in scoring was a second round pick in 2021 and a third round pick in 2020.

That return is slightly less than the Canadiens got for Andrew Shaw. Why didn’t the Habs take those picks and flip them for Gusev? He would have been a perfect fit for the Habs next season.

The Moscow native has been the best player in the KHL for the past three seasons and was the best forward at the most recent Olympic Games. Those games didn’t include NHL players but showed Gusev is the best player outside the NHL. He has dominated at the last three World Championships as well, scoring 34 points in 24 games.

Gusev is a right-shooting forward who typically plays left wing. He is primarily a setup man, and would have quickly found a home next to goal scorers on the Canadiens like Max Domi, Brendan Gallagher or Jesperi Kotkaniemi perhaps.

Gusev completely dominated the KHL last season. He scored 82 points in 62 games, leading the league in scoring by 13 points. When Alex Radulov returned to the NHL with the Canadiens after playing in the KHL, he had just scored 65 points in 53 games. Artemi Panarin had 62 points in 54 games before heading to Chicago and becoming a point per game player with the Blackhawks. Evgeni Dadonov scored 66 points in 53 games before signing with the Florida Panthers.

Gusev has just as much, if not more potential than those players had when they crossed over from Russia to North America. His numbers over the past three years are far more impressive than Radulov’s, Dadonov’s and even Panarin’s.

Sure, Gusev has not proven anything at the NHL level. He hasn’t even put on an NHL uniform just yet. But there is nothing more he could possibly do to show he is ready to play in and dominate the NHL. He has not had a problem playing against Canada, Sweden, Finland and the United States at the past three World Championships. He put up jaw dropping numbers at the KHL level which is the second best league in the world.

All he has left to do is show what he can do in the best league. Chances are he will dominate that level as well. The KHL traditionally is not a very high-scoring league. The best goaltenders will often have goals-against averages around 1.75 or lower. Gusev was the second player to ever score over 80 points in the league’s existence.

There is no question he is a dynamic offensive player who could possibly be the quarterback for a team’s power play. The Canadiens aren’t willing to risk more than a second and a third round pick for that? They could easily have tossed in a fourth rounder on top of the two Blackhawks picks to get Gusev, especially considering they already own four fourth rounders next year.

The $4.5 million cap hit would have been easy for the Canadiens to digest as well. They already have everyone signed heading into next season and will be about $6 million under the cap once Karl Alzner and Dale Weise pass through waivers and head to the minors.

Gusev would have been a huge upgrade to the Habs top six and would have come at a very reasonable price. Giving up a second, third and fourth round picks was basically the return they got for Shaw and Nicolas Deslauriers. Flipping Shaw and Deslauriers for a potential game-breaking talent would have been a huge win for the Habs.

Instead, the team took a pass because Gusev is not proven at the NHL level. Unfortunately, he will now prove to be an excellent playmaking winger for the New Jersey Devils instead of the Montreal Canadiens because the Habs general manager is terrified of taking any risk.