Alexander Radulov has made it clear that he’s coming back to the NHL in 2016-17, but does the price make sense?
Radulov is coming into the league as an unrestricted free agent, which makes him enticing to teams because he won’t cost them any assets in a trade. What he will cost is money and lots of it.
“A number of teams are interested in Alex Radulov no question about that, including Detroit,” TSN’s Darren Dreger said on Insider Trading. “The belief is the Red Wings are comfortable at a one-year deal at around $4 million, but a couple of sources have indicated he wants two years as $7.5 million per.”
Yup, $15 million over two years. Pretty rich for a guy who’s played just nine NHL games since 2008-09.
Radulov, who’ll be 30 in July, scored 23 goals and 65 points in 53 games with CSKA Moscow last season. The last time he played a full NHL season (2007-08), he found the back of the net 26 times and had 58 points in 81 games. He did have seven points in nine games with the Preds back in 2011-12, but was suspended in the playoffs after breaking curfew.
Even though he can be a bit of a headache to deal with at times, someone will roll the dice on Radulov because his skill level is still there. It just probably won’t be at the price he’s looking for.