Nikita Nesterenko

This Season So Far

The 2025-26 season has not started. The empty row above is his, and both it and this paragraph fill in on their own from the morning after he first plays: what he has done, what it is worth against his own last season, and the run he is on when the two disagree.

Last Season

4 goals and 2 assists in 20 games for 6 points, minus-4, on 10:19 a night.

4 goals on 20 shots is 20 per cent, in twenty games, which means nothing at all. The useful observation is that he was not obviously out of place, which for a bottom-six forward on a first look is the whole test.

The Finesse Game

Adequate at the level and not more. The shot is ordinary, the hands work at moderate speed, and 6 points in 20 games is neither encouraging nor damning.

What there is to like is that he plays a simple game — puck deep, retrieve, get it to the middle — without the young player’s habit of trying to make one more play than the shift allows.

The Physical Game

6-2 and 203, and he is willing on the forecheck without being punishing. He does not lose battles by being outmuscled, which at this weight is the minimum requirement.

2 penalty minutes in 20 games. Too small a sample to read.

The Intangibles

A sixth-round pick who went the college route, came over in a trade, and has spent three seasons in the American League waiting.

The realistic ceiling is a fourth-line winger. On this roster that job is genuinely available, which is more than most players in his position get.