Zherdev Gone to Russia

The reports are now surfacing that newly-unrestricted free agent, Nikolai Zherdev, has found a new home in Russia, instead of finding a new home in the NHL. Zherdev has reportedly signed with Yulaev Salavat Ufa in the KHL, thus putting his NHL career on hiatus for the time being.

This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, as Zherdev has been fairly poor at delivering in the clutch for both Columbus and New York in his five seasons in the league. His arbitration award was awfully high for a player for a career-best 27 goals and 3 game-winners player at $3.9 million. Zherdev has also been a distraction once or twice in his career, raising some questions about how good of a teammate he really is.