It’s a deal that will either become a footnote in hockey history or pay off well for the St. Louis Blues– taking a gamble, tight against the salary cap and looking to cash in on a Stanley Cup championship one of these days– but the Toronto Maple Leafs traded 24-year-old forward, Nikita Soshnikov on Thursday.
St. Louis received a 4th round pick in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft in return.
Soshnikov played in three games with Toronto this season and was placed on the injured reserve on December 12 with a lower body injury. The Nizhny Tagil, Russia native has 7-7–14 totals in 70 career games with the Maple Leafs since signing as a free agent in 2015.
Undrafted by any NHL team, Soshnikov played two seasons in the Kontinental Hockey League. In his last season with Moscow (KHL), he had 14-18–52 totals in 57 games played.
He will report to St. Louis after he has obtained a U.S. visa.
In related news, the Blues are taking a stab on another forward with something to prove, but without many results in the NHL thus far (a la Nail Yakupov, 2016-17, and Magnus Paajarvi, 2013-18). Time will tell.
Down the Frozen River 
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