After not being tendered a qualifying offer by the Detroit Red Wings, the Russian winger became an unrestricted free agent and hit the open market. But as of right now Evgeny Svechnikov is still without an NHL team. Andrei Svechnikov‘s big brother is still without a team in the NHL. While he’s not the same caliber of player as Andrei, Evgeny could be a decent pickup for the Canes.
Evgeny Svechnikov was the 19th overall pick in the 2015 NHL entry draft and has shown flashes of the talent he once had in Detroit, despite largely being considered a miss in that draft. Not even being tendered a qualifying offer really does reflect just how poor his stint in the Motor City was. He’s been underwhelming, to say the least.
Now, in fairness to Evgeny Svechnikov, he is not someone whose skill has been derailed due to his own lack of effort. He’s been incredibly unlucky with the injuries he has had to fight and overcome during his brief career. He’s only played 41 games in the NHL, most of them coming in the 2020-21 season. He’s been taking steps forward with his development.
In his 21 games during the 2020-21 season, Evgeny tallied 8 points in the form of 3 goals and 5 assists. Not fantastic. In his career, he does have a total of12 points, so roughly 66% of his career NHL points came last year in a covid affected year after coming off a major injury with his leg. He’s shown potential, and he could be a decent low-risk option for the Canes if they need a bottom-six guy or an extra forward.
This player might be drawn to Carolina for multiple reasons. Obviously, there’s his little brother here. Andrei is an RFA and is going to get a new contract at some point… I hope. If Evgeny does want to come to Carolina, one reason very well could be how much Andrei loves the fanbase, organization, and his teammates.
Alternatively, Carolina is a unique team with its roster positioning. They do not have a set in stone bottom six at this point in time, and it would offer Evgeny a chance to earn NHL time on a team with ambitions to go on deep playoff runs. While the Canes could survive without him, it never hurts having extra players around whenever you have the chance.
I could imagine Evgeny Svechnikov signing a two-way deal so the organization would even save money if they waived him and decided he needed to be moved down to the Chicago Wolves for a while in order to build up his confidence or just to get him up to speed. Anything to keep him warm in case the Canes could use him in the hypothetical scenario that they signed him.
Evgeny is 24 years old and at 6’3, 210 lbs, he’s certainly capable of playing that larger body role in the bottom six. He’s versatile, and while he doesn’t have the same skill set as his little brother, I can’t help but wonder about the Canes and how they could potentially sort so much of their bottom six issues on the right side with one player.