The Russians are coming. They’re just taking their sweet old time to get here.
Twelve years after Vadim Shipachyov was passed over in the NHL Entry Draft — Sidney Crosby was the No. 1 overall pick that year — the player known as the “Russian Crosby” is finally heading over to the NHL.
Shipachyov, who finished third in scoring in the Kontinental Hockey League with 26 goals and 76 points in 50 games with St. Petersburg SKA last season, signed a two-year contract worth US$9-million with the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday. If he wanted to, he could have been playing in the NHL much earlier.