The Senators signed former Toronto Maple Leafs forward to PTO
If you saw the news out of Ottawa on Thursday, I can almost guaranteed Toronto Maple Leafs fans did a double take and said “he’s still playing?”.
Former Toronto Maple Leafs 30-goal scorer Nikolay (Nikolai) Kulemin signed a professional tryout with their provincial rivals to make an attempt at resurrecting an NHL career.
The Russian forward made his rookie debut with the Maple Leafs back during the 2008-09 season, two years after being drafted in the second round of the 2006 NHL Draft after putting up six points in a four games at the 2006 World Junior Championship tournament.
After being selected 44th overall, Kulemin went back to Russia for two seasons with Magnitogorosk Metallurg where he would score 48 goals over two years.
The Senators signed former Toronto Maple Leafs forward to PTO
Kulemin would make his North American debut in the NHL as he made the team out of training camp and it wouldn’t take him long to impress as he would score the eventual game winning goal midway through the third period in that first game against the Detroit Red Wings when he picked off a neutral zone pass from Brett Lebda to go in on a breakaway to beat Chris Osgood blocker side.
The Maple Leafs young winger would finish his rookie season with 15-goals and 31-points; and would build on that over the next two seasons as he recorded his first and only 30-goal season in 2010-11 finishing just two goals and seven points behind team leading Phil Kessel. Unfortunately, Kulemin could not continue his scoring touch as he would combined for just 23-goals over his next three years with the Maple Leafs and depart in free agency after the 2013-14 season.
Kulemin would go on and sign with the New York Islanders on a four-year deal worth approximately $16.75 Million per season and would see mild success recording double digit goals in two of those years topping out with 15 in the first year of the contract. The past six seasons he has been playing in the KHL with Magnitogorsk and Ufa Salavat Yualeyev where he has averaged over 13-goals a season for those last three years.
