Rumors regarding the possibility of Russian defenseman Ilya Nikulin signing with an NHL team began to swirl earlier this week. Now a report in rSport has confirmed, via a local Russian source, that discussions between the Washington Capitals and Nikulin are indeed taking place. The 33-year-old defender is an unrestricted free agent. The story also stated (via Google Translate):
According to the source, the club, which is in talks with representatives of the Nikulin is “Washington”. [Nikulin] himself has not confirmed this information. “Now I’m uncomfortable talking. Call the next week”, – said Nikulin on the phone.
Last season, Nikulin spent 58 games in the regular season CHL, which [he] scored 28 points (13 + 15) with a rating of “18”. [The] 33-year-old defender is a three-time world champion in [on] the national team of Russia (2008, 2009 , 2012). As part of “Washington” are Russian hockey player[s] Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeni Kuznetsov and Dmitry Orlov. (Google Translate)
