A promise of a spot in the top-six and ample pp ice time this is not. When Murray finagled Filatov out of Columbus one fan comment stood out to me, even though it was delivered tongue firmly in cheek:
“I fully admit that Filatov has a volatile personality. Speaking metaphorically for a second, I figure that Cocacola has about a zero percentage chance of exploding unless you throw the Mentos in there. Columbus thew the Mentos in there, even if the Cocacola probably deserved it. I hope Ottawa will be careful and keep the Mentos safely locked up, and we will just have tasty, tasty Cocacola.”
Per Joy Lindsay, this afternoon Nikita was reassigned to Binghamton.
Colour me surprised. While he wasn’t exactly lighting the place on fire, his preseason was promising enough. And a sample size of two regular season games seems a bit hasty to be sent to the minors, especially with a serviceable stat-line of 1A +1.
Here’s what Paul MacLean was saying last week:
“We felt that if Nikita was going to play on our team, it was going to be in the top six,” said MacLean. “He has the still level to be a top-six forward in this league, so we’re giving him that opportunity. I don’t think he’s played his way out of that opportunity at this point.”
Little did we know that opportunity would only last for 27 minutes. (a dearth of two-way contracts is likely playing a factor here as well)
Having played few games at any level since being drafted, at this stage the most important thing for Filatov is to be playing minutes. If the best place for that to occur is in the A than so be it. Furthermore this demotion as much for his development, seems to be a test of his commitment to the organization:
*fingers crossed*
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