Great news for the Columbus Blue Jackets, although this certainly wasn’t much of a surprise. Yet we have confirmation, from Nikita Filatov himself, that the young prospect will be back for Blue Jackets training camp this summer. From Aaron Portzline of the Puck-Rakers Blog:
“Yes, I’m sure I’ll come for training camp,” Filatov said.
“The coaching change doesn’t mean much for me,” Filatov said. “Anyway, I was going to be back. When I left (in November), I said I was coming back, and that was no matter who the coach will be.”
He may say that the coaching change wasn’t a factor in his coming back to Columbus, but you have to think that with Ken Hitchcock gone Filatov would be much more eager to give it another go in the NHL. He was a healthy scratch in six of the first 19 games of the season, and was extremely displeased with how he perceived the coaching staff as not giving him a chance to succeed.
In 26 games with CSKA Moscow, he was named the KHL’s Rookie of the Month, and scored nine goals in 26 games, with 22 points overall.