In the past week, rumors have surfaced about 27 year old Nikita Gusev being available and the Rangers, as always, are one of the candidates. With a little over 8 million dollars in cap space, and 4 RFAs still to be signed (Trouba, Buchnevich, Lemieux and DeAngelo), can Gorton make it work? Let’s dive into that but first: Who exactly is Nikita Gusev?
When the Tampa Bay Lightning used a 7th round pick back in 2012 to select Nikita Gusev, no fan could have predicted how well the then 19-year old winger would develop. Celebrating his 20th birthday just 2 weeks after the draft, Gusev was draft eligible for the 3rd time that year, having gone undrafted in both 2010 and 2011.