What's going on with Gusev??

[Bubba55]

Title pretty much says it all. Apparently, the Devils are now buying him out. He's then free to sign anywhere. Is this not a whole lot of weird?? I must be missing something.

[Axeman33]

He's making too much money and isn't producing so they bought him out. He's free to sign with whoever he wants for as much as he can get. It doesn't get any easier than that.

[Dennis]

They didn't even buy him out. He just forfeited the remainder of his contract.

[kovalchuk17]

you know a guy is unhappy when hes willing to give up some coin to get out of there. granted its pro-rated to like 1/4 of an already shorter season so for him he'd rather be able to choose his team than make a couple hundred grand.

[ericdaoust]

you know a guy is unhappy when hes willing to give up some coin to get out of there. granted its pro-rated to like 1/4 of an already shorter season so for him he'd rather be able to choose his team than make a couple hundred grand.

It's his only route to maybe getting a contract this summer

[vandalay]

He’s just not all that good. Slow and weak. Puck skills can only make up for so much. It would take almost the perfect scenario for him to have significant success in my opinion.

[FrozenInferno]

He’s just not all that good. Slow and weak. Puck skills can only make up for so much. It would take almost the perfect scenario for him to have significant success in my opinion.

This. I also suspect having a bout of Covid early on has slowed him down further which makes it all that much worse.

He basically needs heavily sheltered top six minutes, tons of o-zone starts, a team system that doesn't rely on speed, and PP1. Any good to contending team already has those roles filled and is unlikely to disrupt that to coddle Gusev. If he signs somewhere its probably to be a third line depth winger and likely PP2. Might be better than he was getting in NJ but he's certainly not going to turn into Panarin.

I know Dobber has continued to be high on him, and there's nobody in fantasy who's opinion I respect more, but I'm just not seeing it. I'd love to be wrong as I was excited to see him come over last year and I've been holding him in my minors since trading for him recently (woof) but my gut is telling me maybe he gets a short, cheap look ROS and perhaps into playoffs depending on a destination but likely ends up back in Russia next year where he can go back to walking KHL defensemen on big ice. The NHL has been too heavy for him.

[CHunter]

This. I also suspect having a bout of Covid early on has slowed him down further which makes it all that much worse.

He basically needs heavily sheltered top six minutes, tons of o-zone starts, a team system that doesn't rely on speed, and PP1. Any good to contending team already has those roles filled and is unlikely to disrupt that to coddle Gusev. If he signs somewhere its probably to be a third line depth winger and likely PP2. Might be better than he was getting in NJ but he's certainly not going to turn into Panarin.

I know Dobber has continued to be high on him, and there's nobody in fantasy who's opinion I respect more, but I'm just not seeing it. I'd love to be wrong as I was excited to see him come over last year and I've been holding him in my minors since trading for him recently (woof) but my gut is telling me maybe he gets a short, cheap look ROS and perhaps into playoffs depending on a destination but likely ends up back in Russia next year where he can go back to walking KHL defensemen on big ice. The NHL has been too heavy for him.

He managed 44 points in 66 games last season, I think a team takes a fly on him