yave1964 Posted November 1, 2017 Share Posted November 1, 2017 Vadim Shipachyov was supposed to be the answer for George Mcphee as to how to find offense for his expansion team. Instead his very brief stay in North America ends as a curious footnote to the expansion Golden Knights season. I really cannot tell you what happened, I imagine only a handful of people sitting in a room and forced to tell the truth could get the whole story out. Was he lazy? A prima donna? Was he incredibly homesick and realize that he had made a mistake in coming here? Why did Mcphee invest so much in the KHL superstar who is a god in his homeland making him a centerpiece of his preseason planning only to shock everyone by demoting him to the AHL at the end of the preseason and a so so camp? Shipachyov did not report, it kept coming out that he was not going to play for the Chicago Wolves then he would and instead he was recalled, appeared in three games totaling a bit more than ten minutes of ice time and scoring a goal in his first NHL game and then was sent back down to the AHL again only to again refuse to report and instead asking out of his contract. McPhee said that Shipachyov could work out a deal with another team, Montreal appeared interested as they have been for years and then that fell apart. Now he is gone, a minor blip on the radar in North America, gone back to the KHL which he has long dominated. Not sure what the Hell happened. Doubt we ever will know the whole story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hf101 Posted November 1, 2017 Share Posted November 1, 2017 It sure makes you wonder who the Knights would have drafted differently if they weren't planning on signing Shipachyov as their first line center. Shipachyov is also expected to pay back the signing bonus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pilldoc Posted November 1, 2017 Share Posted November 1, 2017 Very curious indeed ....... now he is gone like dust in the wind. Agree with @yave1964.... we will never know the full story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TropicalFruitGirl26 Posted November 1, 2017 Share Posted November 1, 2017 @yave1964 Agreed that very few people ever will really know why he isn't playing in the NHL right this minute instead of on a plane heading to the KHL. That said, even before this happened, there was speculation amongst various NHL analysts talking about why he wasn't allowed to stay with the Vegas Knights. Foremost in the speculation was that the coaching staff didn't feel that he was quite grasping the speed of the game here in North America due to the smaller ice surface as compared to the KHL. It was believed that although he has great hockey instincts and is obviously talented, because the ice surface wasn't as large, things happened just a bit faster than he was anticipating, other players were on top of him before he fully made decisions, and was just generally a 'step behind' on any given play. Apparently, McPhee believed he COULD adjust to the smaller ice surface (and thus the speed at which decisions needed to be made), but it was best done at the AHL level..... I.E., they basically wanted to send him to the Wolves to adjust his game as had been done to countless players coming over from Europe before him. Now, where things get really murky is, did Shipachyov's ego get in the way to the point where he felt he didn't need to be playing in the minors with guys 'not as good as he is'? Did the coaching staff misdiagnose the Russian player and he just needed a few more games at the NHL level to play like he did in the KHL? These are the types of things that only those few handfuls of people would really know the answers to. Perhaps Shipachyov preferred to be the big fish in the small pond as opposed to the smaller or mid sized fish in the much larger lake? Maybe Ship is a Milton fan (the author)...... and agrees with Milton when he wrote in the epic book, Paradise Lost, "Tis better to rule in Hell than to serve in Heaven"? (literary nerd alert, literary nerd alert! ). I wonder if we will ever see him back in the NHL ever again. He wouldn't be the first player to leave the NHL, go to the K, then come back under a real nice contract with a different NHL team. Of course, if the real reason WAS how he plays in the KHL and his inability to adjust to the more 'in-your-face' North American game, then he may never ever really fit in with any NHL club. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadDevil Posted November 1, 2017 Share Posted November 1, 2017 Well, this the same GM that traded Filip Forsberg for Martin Erat... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted November 1, 2017 Author Share Posted November 1, 2017 5 minutes ago, MadDevil said: Well, this the same GM that traded Filip Forsberg for Martin Erat... THIS may be the quote of the year!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pilldoc Posted November 1, 2017 Share Posted November 1, 2017 8 minutes ago, MadDevil said: Well, this the same GM that traded Filip Forsberg for Martin Erat... Bingo! and we have a winner! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musky Posted November 1, 2017 Share Posted November 1, 2017 he,s russian to soft for our game here not enough room to play and even our worst players will put him on his ass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TropicalFruitGirl26 Posted November 1, 2017 Share Posted November 1, 2017 5 hours ago, musky said: he,s russian to soft for our game here not enough room to play and even our worst players will put him on his ass. Well, I am not gonna say he ISN'T soft (only those who have played with him can know that for a fact), but to say he is 'soft' because he is a Russian player is a broad stroked flash of incorrect generalities. Ovechkin, Radulov, Kucherov, Sergachev...just to name a few. Russian players...hardly soft. And there are many more, but those come to mind right away. Could very well be that Ship perhaps didn't like going into the 'dirty areas'....or simply wasn't used to the up n personal constant contact. I believe THAT was why the front office wanted him in the AHL...to acclimate himself to that. And it's not like that would have been impossible. Minnesota's Mikael Granlund... a small Finnish forward who developed for the Wild in Europe, WITH the big ice surface, had a hard time adjusting to not only NHL speed, but the incessant contact and close quarters of the NHL game when first brought over. Some people called him soft. And maybe, to a degree, he was. But Minny sent him to their minor league, at the time, Houston Aeros, to get used to the North American game, and next time he came back, he was a bit grittier player, seemed to make decisions faster, and even stuck his nose in places on the ice he wouldn't have before. And to this day, while he still isn't the most physical player you'll find, he holds up pretty well to the abuse other players dish out on him. If a so-called 'soft' Fin could adjust to the North American game, so could Shipchayov. Has NOTHING to do with the fact he is Russian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musky Posted November 2, 2017 Share Posted November 2, 2017 Ovechkin the only 1 of those that is not soft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted November 2, 2017 Author Share Posted November 2, 2017 4 minutes ago, musky said: Ovechkin the only 1 of those that is not soft. I think you have been drinking way too much of the Cherry Kool Aid. The soft Russian play myth has been dispelled many times many ways for many years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musky Posted November 2, 2017 Share Posted November 2, 2017 3 hours ago, yave1964 said: I think you have been drinking way too much of the Cherry Kool Aid. The soft Russian play myth has been dispelled many times many ways for many years. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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