Alexander Radulov eyeing potential NHL return in 2016
The 2016 NHL free-agent pool just got a lot more intriguing.
Alexander Radulov wouldn't rule out taking a third shot at the NHL after his contract expires with KHL club CSKA Moscow. The 29-year-old signed a four-year pact with CSKA in 2012 after his second failed stint with the Nashville Predators. He led the KHL in scoring last season with 71 points in 46 games.
With free agency looming as he enters the final year of his deal with CSKA, Radulov appears to want another shot at winning the Stanley Cup.
"You see, I'm not so young. I'm not 20 years old, and it is possible that I will have the last chance to compete for the Stanley Cup," Radulov told Business-Gazeta in a roughly translated interview. "If it is a great option in a team that will fight for the title, then why not? But now, perhaps, too early to tell."
Radulov's tenure with the Predators was a messy relationship with an unceremonious ending. He left the team to sign in Russia before the end of his entry-level deal in 2008 and was required to finish his contract with Nashville upon his return to the NHL near the end of the 2011-12 season.
The Predators decided to cut ties with the prolific scorer after he and Andrei Kostitsyn violated team curfew during the 2012 postseason, making him an unrestricted free agent. Radulov recorded 47 goals and 102 points in 154 regular-season games with Nashville, adding 14 points in 18 playoff contests.
Radulov is the latest high-profile KHL player to either leave or consider leaving for the NHL in recent months. Artemi Panarin and Viktor Tikhonov both signed with NHL franchises following successful KHL stints, while the Kostitsyn brothers have both expressed interest in returning to North America.
While the KHL is still reeling from the impact of Russia's financial crisis, Radulov doesn't believe it has made a difference on the ice - yet.
"I do not think that the level of our league is really down," Radulov said. "But you want me to give an answer to the question about the future right now, and I do not have that answer."
At the moment, Radulov is enjoying the freedom that free agency will bring. He could re-sign with CSKA or join another KHL club, but he will decide based on what is best for him and his family.
"I've been waiting for the opportunity to be free, with no obligations to some club, to determine my own fate," he said. "So probably I'll wait (to decide), but now I cannot guarantee anything."
- With h/t to The Hockey News