Former Vancouver Canucks and San Jose Sharks prospect Nikolay Goldobin has been playing out of his mind since returning to Russia, and at 28 years old, it seems like he’s now entering his prime.
Goldobin was drafted 27th overall by the Sharks in the 2014 NHL Draft and was traded to the Canucks for Jannik Hansen on March 1, 2017. In two short years in San Jose, Goldobin managed to play in only 11 games, scoring one goal and one assist. Hansen, meanwhile, was done in the NHL following the conclusion of the 2017-18 season.
A then 22-year-old former first-round pick already on his second NHL team, Goldobin would play parts of the next two seasons in Vancouver with the Canucks, scoring eight goals and 14 points in 38 games in the first, and seven goals and 27 points in 63 games in the second. At the age of 24, he played only one NHL game in the 2019-20 season and spent his year almost exclusively with the Utica Comets, where he scored 50 points in 51 games before heading home to Russia.
Goldobin played in the KHL for the first time in the 2020-21 season, and produced 19 points in 40 games between CSKA Moscow and Metallurg Magnitogorsk. He’d spent the next two seasons with Metallurg, combining for 75 points in 101 games between them. Now, Goldobin is producing at a pace that could shatter the KHL scoring record with Spartak Moscow.
Through 20 games, the ex-Canucks winger has scored 15 goals, 16 assists, and 31 games. Currently, that puts him on pace to score 49 goals, 55 assists, and 104 points in 68 games. Only three players have scored 80 or more points in a season in the KHL’s history: Sergei Mozyakin, Nikita Gusev, and Alexander Radulov. Mozyakin scored 85 points in 60 games in the 2016-17 season, which still stands as the record today.
Want your voice heard? Join the The Canuck Way team!
It would be fascinating to see Goldobin set such a record, given how his current pace has him comfortably ahead of 85 points. During his time with the Canucks, the Russian struggled defensively and was a little ahead of the time of Quinn Hughes and J.T. Miller and the prime years of Elias Pettersson and Thatcher Demko. It’s a shame Goldobin didn’t pan out for the Canucks, because he’s clearly got a ton of skill and offensive talent.