Here are the fantasy implications of the Montreal Canadiens signing forward Alexander Radulov from the KHL:
Four years since his last stint in the NHL, 29-year-old Russian winger Radulov is back in North America. While undeniably talented, the 15th overall pick in the 2004 draft has had an inglorious run as an NHLer.
After rookie and sophomore seasons as a Predator in which he tallied 44 goals and 51 assists in 145 games, Radulov jumped to the KHL for the 2008-09 season. He remained there until coming back to Nashville for 17 total contests in 2011-12. Things ended poorly that season, as Radulov was suspended by the team for breaking curfew during the playoffs, and he ultimately returned to the KHL.
In the four subsequent seasons, all with CSKA Moscow, Radulov recorded 78 goals and 160 assists in 181 games. Firmly in his prime, he's never had any trouble putting up points wherever he's played, be it at home or abroad.
Like with any free agent signed so early in the offseason, it's difficult to project where exactly he'll feature on his team, but given his offensive pedigree, he'll likely play on a line centered by either Alex Galchenyuk or Tomas Plekanec and see ample power play time.
The Canadiens gambled (and failed) on a one-year contract to a similarly "enigmatic" Russian last offseason, Alexander Semin, whose Montreal tenure lasted only 15 games. For fantasy purposes, Radulov likely represents a late-round flier. A best case scenario would be 20 goals and 30 assists, but the chief concern would be how much rust Radulov has after being away from the NHL for four seasons.
While he hasn't missed huge chunks of time due to injury at any point in his career, he sat out at least a handful of games during each of the last four KHL seasons, a concern given his physical style of play. Still, as a late-round gamble, Radulov has a lot of potential, especially if details of his expected usage in Montreal emerge closer to fantasy draft time.
