A former Leaf hopes to return to the NHL next season
During the most recent edition of 32 Thoughts, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman brought up something very interesting in relation to a former Leafs winger who hopes to return to North America for the 2022-23 NHL season.
After spending his last 3 seasons bouncing around in the KHL, Russian winger Nikita Soshnikov has declared that he wants to make an NHL return next season.
Soshnikov was dealt from the Leafs to the St. Louis Blues during the 2017-18 season, but only suited up for the Blues in 17 games over his two years with the organization. Prior to his time with the Blues, Soshnikov spent 3 seasons with the Leafs organization, suiting up in 70 games with the Buds and 77 games with the AHL's Toronto Marlies.
While Soshnikov is likely not bound for a reunion with the Buds, it's certainly an interesting development - and who knows? Maybe he would be okay with starting out with an AHL deal as a means of playing his way back onto an NHL roster, much like we're seeing with Josh Ho-Sang in Toronto right now.
I certainly wouldn't be opposed to bringing Soshnikov back into the fold, if we were amenable to a return to Toronto, so long as he would agree to start in the American Hockey League. While he has struggled with injury troubles, he is still the type of player who empties the tank on every shift. That type of energy is contagious.
Would you welcome Soshnikov back to Toronto under the right circumstances?
