{"id":903678,"date":"2026-09-21T04:30:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T04:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/903678\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T04:30:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T04:30:09","slug":"snapshots-nikishin-canucks-injuries-novotny-pro-hockey-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/903678\/","title":{"rendered":"Snapshots: Nikishin, Canucks Injuries, Novotny \u2013 Pro Hockey Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n By Brian La Rose<\/a> |
\n at September 20, 2026 7:59 pm <\/p>\n

While Hurricanes defenseman Alexander Nikishin<\/a> remains unsigned in the midst of a trade request, there\u2019s one card he evidently isn\u2019t willing to play.\u00a0 His Russian agent, Alexander Chernykh, told Match TV\u2019s Pavel Lysenkov<\/a> that he\u2019s not interested in pursuing a deal in the KHL.\u00a0 Chernykh noted that teams are interested in trading for him; it\u2019s just a matter of Carolina finding a trade they like for him.\u00a0 Nikishin played in 81 games in his rookie season, notching 11 goals and 22 assists while averaging a little over 18 minutes per night of playing time.\u00a0 The belief is that he\u2019s seeking a more prominent role in the lineup like he had back home plus a contract that is pricier than what the Hurricanes can afford cap-wise.\u00a0 But instead of looking to go back to Russia, Nikishin will continue to play the waiting game for a suitable trade.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere around the NHL:<\/p>\n

Canucks wingers Akil Thomas<\/a> and Mackenzie MacEachern<\/a> have no timeline to return to practice, GM Ryan Johnson told reporters including Izzy Cheung of The Hockey News (Twitter link<\/a>). Thomas is in his first season with Vancouver after playing with AHL Ontario last season while MacEachern spent last season in Vancouver\u2019s system, including eight NHL appearances where he had a goal and three assists.\u00a0 Both players were already in tough to break camp with the big club and these injuries won\u2019t help.\u00a0 If MacEachern isn\u2019t cleared by the start of the season, he will have a small cap charge on Vancouver\u2019s books, proportional to the percentage of time spent on the NHL roster last season.
\nStill with the Canucks, Adam Novotny<\/a> might not be OHL-bound after all. Taken 24th overall back in June, Novotny is eligible to go to the AHL this season, notes Postmedia\u2019s Patrick Johnston<\/a>.\u00a0 While Novotny is only 18 and was drafted out of junior, he was technically on loan last season from Mountfield in Czechia.\u00a0 Accordingly, he\u2019s not subject to the new rule that a Canadian major junior player can only go to the minors at 19 if they\u2019re a first-round pick.\u00a0 Players drafted internationally as Novotny technically was are eligible to go to the AHL at any time.\u00a0 This doesn\u2019t mean that the Canucks will have him start with Abbotsford but they at least have the option to do so.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Brian La Rose | at September 20, 2026 7:59 pm While Hurricanes defenseman Alexander Nikishin remains unsigned…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":903679,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[164244,312559,150185,49,48,748,8030,312560,448,7587,82,452],"class_list":["post-903678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-adam-novotny","tag-akil-thomas","tag-alexander-nikishin","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-carolina-hurricanes","tag-khl","tag-mackenzie-maceachern","tag-nhl","tag-snapshots","tag-sports","tag-vancouver-canucks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=903678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/903679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=903678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=903678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=903678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}