NASHVILLE — Andrey Pedan is happy to help because he knows better than most what Nikita Tryamkin is going through.
A few years ago, Pedan left Russia to play junior hockey with the Guelph Storm of the OHL. He had taken some English lessons before leaving home, so he had some of the basics down.
Still, there were challenges.
One day a teammate says to me, ‘what’s up,” Pedan said with a laugh. “I had no idea what that means. Afterwards, I picked up some of the slang and within four months I was pretty comfortable with having a conversation, but not as comfortable as now.