There has been quite a bit of speculation about the fate of the 23 year old centre who has spent the last couple of seasons playing in the KHL. He last played with the Jets in the 2012-13 season when he played in 44 games finishing the year with 4 goals and 6 assists for 10 points. He then signed a two year contract with AK-Bars on July 8th, 2013.
There was talk last year that he may jump ship and return to the NHL for the 2013-14 season but this was quashed by Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Sun who said Burmistrov would honour his remaining year in the KHL.
Then today we got this tweet from Igor Eronko who usually has a good pulse on all things Russian:
Alex Burmistrov plans to return to #NHL and is not going to extend his contract in the #KHL as Kazan’s @GazetaBOsport reports #NHLJets
— Igor Eronko (@IgorEronko) May 1, 2015
In the two years with AK-Bars Burmistrov has played in 107 games with 20 goals and 43 assists for 63 points.
Now the question remains whether he will play for the Jets who still own his rights or if he will be traded? It will be interesting to see how coach Maurice, who acknowledges his time in the KHL helped him to better understand players from overseas, is able to influence the situation.
