There have been several stories circulating in recent days discussing Vadim Shipachyov’s current situation in Russia. Habs fans have been paying close attention, especially since it’s been established they’re the team pushing the hardest to acquire this talented centre.
Essentially, Shipachyov wants to come to the NHL, however his current contract may prevent him from doing so. The lack of a transfer agreement between the KHL and the NHL isn’t helping the situation either.
To clear things up, we’ve collected all the stories in one place.
What we know for certain
- Shipachyov wants to come to the NHL. His agent, former Habs player Petr Svoboda, made that clear in July. [Source]
- Shipachyov has attempted to terminate his contract with SKA. [Source]
- The Habs are definitely interested in signing him. This was originally reported in late March. [Source]
- Montreal is not the only team interested in signing him. He’s become a hot commodity. [Source]
- His current team, SKA, attempted to re-sign him. [Source]
- SKA is pushing hard to counter any offer from the NHL [Source]
- The Habs have actively negotiated with him recently, and have moved closer to a deal. [Source]
- If there’s any hope for him to join a team in the NHL, he will have to buyout his current contract. [Source]/
Not confirmed
- It appears that Shipachyov missed the deadline to file for contract termination, though there is a suggestion that the deadline was moved ahead after the papers were filed. [Source]
- There’s a possibility that he could only join an NHL team once the proper time passes, which would be in December, due to the KHL changing the time frame needed before filing for a contract termination. SKA is intent on keeping him until then. [Source] /
It appears as if the ball is firmly in SKA St-Petersburg’s court. If they decide to play hardball, they can hold his rights until December, at which point Shipachyov would become an unrestricted free agent.
At this point it doesn’t seem like there’s much more the Canadiens can do, other than holding provisional negotiations, and await SKA’s decision.
A special thank you goes out to Aivis Kalniņš for helping us source the details.
