Alexander Nikishin may be done with the Carolina Hurricanes, and Chris Johnston didn't soften the message Monday.
On the Chris Johnston Show, the insider said that at this stage he doesn't think "we're gonna see him back with the Hurricanes."
And he went further. Johnston expects more talk at some point about the defenseman potentially heading back to the KHL.
That's a jarring turn for a blue liner who just played 81 games in his first NHL regular season.
Nikishin finished 2025-26 with 11 goals and 33 points. He also went plus-18, the kind of number that earns trust on Rod Brind'Amour's bench.
Carolina does hold one safety net. Johnston noted the club owns his NHL rights for the next few years.
Rights look nice on paper. They don't block shots in October, and Eric Tulsky still has no clear timeline.
Eric Tulsky's KHL problem lands right before opening night
The Hurricanes open the regular season September 29 at home against Florida. That's the same club that beat them 6-3 in preseason on Sunday.
Before that, Carolina hosts Nashville on Thursday. Every exhibition date without an answer on the back end gets harder to ignore.
The KHL threat isn't hypothetical. Nikishin spent three seasons with St. Petersburg SKA, topping out at 56 points in 2023-24.
He scored 17 goals in two separate KHL campaigns. Offense like that travels, and any club over there knows exactly what it would be buying.
So how does a regular season like his end with KHL talk in September?
Johnston didn't spell out why. Until somebody does, the silence says plenty.
Holding NHL rights without the player in the room is a bit like owning the deed to a lake cabin after the road washed out.
The spring didn't build much of a case for patience either. He went 17 playoff games last postseason with just one assist.
Still, letting a 24-year-old left-shot defenseman drift overseas would be a bad outcome for Carolina. Tulsky will wear that one.
This was a third-round find, 69th overall in 2020. Walking away from a draft win like that stings in any front office.
Brind'Amour sets his opening-night blue line in a week. Johnston made it sound like the next move in this saga could come from the KHL side, not Raleigh.
Should the Hurricanes trade Alexander Nikishin's NHL rights now?
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