Rod Brind’Amour Discusses Rookie Defenseman Alexander Nikishin’s Healthy Scratch In Winnipeg
November 25, 2025
Let's all relax and remember this is a process.
13 comments
Yeah I’m not thrilled but also not a coach so what do I know.
I just wonder what Rod sees that we don’t see on TV. Time to double or triple the English lessons I guess.
He’s still a new player in the league, there’s gonna be shit to work on. This is a non-issue lol
He’s the coach and clearly sees stuff we don’t. I thought he was one of, if not the best, D we had out every time he was on the ice. Along with Reilly before the oopsy last game lol
[deleted]
It’s not the healthy scratch that bothers me, I just feel like Rod does NOT like Nikishin. It’s rare that he calls players out but he’s pretty open about his flaws and talked about how bad he was in the playoffs last year on that Adam Gold interview. It’s not something I sweat about, I just think Nikishin looks really good and would hate to Rod drive him away because he’s “getting off on pure skill” or whatever.
I like that at least he’s recognizing that Niki will be good eventually and this is being done to help his development long term to iron out kinks as opposed to he sucks and he got benched because he sucks
My theory is if the Canes trade Svech then Nikishin ain’t resigning.
Nikishin is a very good player and has a long future with the team.
With that being said he’s a rookie who’s gonna make rookie mistakes. This is so not the big deal people made it out to be
Nothing helps your development like sitting in the press box
Honestly I felt like the reason Nikishins physicality and play style has changed compared to where it was at earlier in the year is probably due to Rod trying to change him. I hope that’s not the case but his play style is what made him special and not everyone needs to fit into Rods mold of expectations. Time will tell but I hope he gets back to what he was doing the first few weeks.
I get the reasoning, but it’s not how I think a team should approach it. Far too similar to the situation bringing Fensore up to run pp2 and he gets caved all night: there is little to no value at all in asking guys that either aren’t at an nhl caliber or are a career 7th D (Reilly should have been and should be the scratch, I like his game for the most part but there’s a solid chance he moves on after this season) to play over a young player with a long future with the team (Boom and Nystrom, who has really stepped up into a very helpful but not particularly flashy D). I get wanting to go with a veteran over a young player because they might make fewer mistakes, but not allowing future fixtures at a position opportunity isn’t going to be helpful in the long run.
I said it before and ill say it again
“Lets assume the coaches know more than we do”
Youd think the world was ending and we’re trading Nikishin to the Canadiens the way some people were acting
13 comments
Yeah I’m not thrilled but also not a coach so what do I know.
I just wonder what Rod sees that we don’t see on TV. Time to double or triple the English lessons I guess.
He’s still a new player in the league, there’s gonna be shit to work on. This is a non-issue lol
He’s the coach and clearly sees stuff we don’t. I thought he was one of, if not the best, D we had out every time he was on the ice. Along with Reilly before the oopsy last game lol
[deleted]
It’s not the healthy scratch that bothers me, I just feel like Rod does NOT like Nikishin. It’s rare that he calls players out but he’s pretty open about his flaws and talked about how bad he was in the playoffs last year on that Adam Gold interview. It’s not something I sweat about, I just think Nikishin looks really good and would hate to Rod drive him away because he’s “getting off on pure skill” or whatever.
I like that at least he’s recognizing that Niki will be good eventually and this is being done to help his development long term to iron out kinks as opposed to he sucks and he got benched because he sucks
My theory is if the Canes trade Svech then Nikishin ain’t resigning.
Nikishin is a very good player and has a long future with the team.
With that being said he’s a rookie who’s gonna make rookie mistakes. This is so not the big deal people made it out to be
Nothing helps your development like sitting in the press box
Honestly I felt like the reason Nikishins physicality and play style has changed compared to where it was at earlier in the year is probably due to Rod trying to change him. I hope that’s not the case but his play style is what made him special and not everyone needs to fit into Rods mold of expectations. Time will tell but I hope he gets back to what he was doing the first few weeks.
I get the reasoning, but it’s not how I think a team should approach it. Far too similar to the situation bringing Fensore up to run pp2 and he gets caved all night: there is little to no value at all in asking guys that either aren’t at an nhl caliber or are a career 7th D (Reilly should have been and should be the scratch, I like his game for the most part but there’s a solid chance he moves on after this season) to play over a young player with a long future with the team (Boom and Nystrom, who has really stepped up into a very helpful but not particularly flashy D). I get wanting to go with a veteran over a young player because they might make fewer mistakes, but not allowing future fixtures at a position opportunity isn’t going to be helpful in the long run.
I said it before and ill say it again
“Lets assume the coaches know more than we do”
Youd think the world was ending and we’re trading Nikishin to the Canadiens the way some people were acting