It’s fantasy hockey time once again and it reminds me of my biggest draft day blunder of all time. Some of you don't know the name Vadim Shipachyov...and why should you? His NHL career only lasted 3 games. Well, if you don't know about this guy, I will tell you, his story. Shipachyov was an elite playmaking center in the KHL (Russian League). In 456 games, he totaled 137 goals and 276 assists for 413 points. If you don't know, the KHL is a league where goals and points are hard to come by. Before the 2017-18 NHL season, he was the big free agent that teams in the NHL were looking to sign to a contact. After the Vegas Golden Knights signed their first free agent in Reid Duke, their focus quickly turned to Shipachyov.
With Vegas being the expansion franchise, then General Manager George McPhee looked to make a splash when he signed Shipachyov to a 2-year deal with an annual value of $4.5 million. Surely with that kind of cash being assigned to a player who never played in the NHL, the Golden Knights were hoping their new playmaker would help put buts in seats. Now that their new franchise center was signed, the Golden Knights front office looked to add to their roster heading into the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft. They soon added more depth at center with selections of Erik Haula, William Karlsson and Cody Eakin.
Training camp of 2017 rolled around, and Vadim was placed on the top line between Reilly Smith and Jonathan Marchessault. When preseason hit, Shipachyov couldn't adjust to the smaller NHL surface, clashed with coaches, wasn’t defensively responsible and didn't really gel with his teammates and rumors had spread that he didn't enjoy his time spent in North America.
On opening night, the Golden Knights scratched Shipachyov from the lineup in the game vs. the Dallas Stars and quickly decided to send him to the AHL. However, Shipachyov never reported to their AHL affiliate (Chicago Wolves). Later on, in the month of October, he was called up for his first NHL game against the Boston Bruins on October 15th, 2017. In the 2nd period of this game with 2:14 left, he would pot his first NHL goal against Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask.
He would play in 2 more games for the Golden Knights before being sent back to the AHL again once Jonathan Marchessault returned from an injury. This time, Shipachyov would report to the Golden Knights AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves. However, he would only participate in 1 practice before leaving the team for good. This led to a suspension from the Golden Knights, and he demanded to be traded.
George McPhee tried to locate a trade partner for the disgruntled Russian center, but there were no takers from any of the other NHL teams. In a weird turn of events, Shipachyov decided to retire from the NHL in order to have his contract voided by the Golden Knights. He ended up going back to the KHL where he currently plays for Minsk Dynamo.
Why do I care about this guy enough to post on my blog? Well, I play in a hardcore fantasy hockey league. It's very involved and it's also a keeper league. We keep 6 players every year and there are trades involving multiple players, draft picks, with a lot of smack talk in between. In the previous season of 2016-17, I was the league champion and also had three 3rd round draft picks from previous trades. One of those was spent on Mr. Vadim Shipachyov. He did get me 1 point that season in 3 games played, but it turned out to be a wasted pick. I wanted so bad for this guy to be good, but it never happened.
My league mates and I have an open chat and last night one of the guys asked, "Does anyone remember when Bryan took Shipy in the 3rd round of our draft?" After a lot of smack talk back and forth at my behalf, I actually thought about Shipachyov for the first time in a long while. This led me to this rabbit hole in the paragraphs above. I did have a bunch of Shipachyov cards that season, and actually kinda collected the guy. My collection sometimes is a lot of oddball stuff, but I am a bit of an oddball myself. One of the better cards I had of his was a SP Game Used Green Storm RC 1/1. When my wife and I were building the house, we currently live in, I did let it go when someone offered me $150 for it. I would have been stupid not to at that price. It can currently be seen on eBay for the low price of $499.99. Woof!
Oh, what could have been had Vadim Shipachyov lived up to his NHL potential. Maybe the Golden Knights would have won the Stanley Cup their first season rather than losing in 5 games to the Washington Capitals in the Stanley Cup Final? And maybe, just maybe I would have been a back-to-back champion in my fantasy hockey league. It is what it is I suppose. So, for now, you get this blog post. Not the usual post from me, but a post, nonetheless. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I had fun recalling this strange turn of events from his 3 game "tryout" in the NHL.
For your viewing pleasure, since this is after all a sports cards blog, the one Vadim Shipachyov that I still own and will probably own forever. It is his best card possible, and the first time I have ever really showed it off to anyone, so enjoy:
2017/18 UD The Cup Vadim Shipachyov Black RC 1/1
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