Alexander Nikishin is on his way back to Raleigh to join the Carolina Hurricanes after signing a one-year contract on Sunday.

It was a months long saga to get to this point, as negotiations were not easy between the Russian blueliner's camp and the team, with neither side budging an inch all throughout the offseason.

Despite multiple trade rumors and reports that the two sides would not be able to reconcile, Nikishin's side finally did cave once was Connor Hellebuyck was traded.

However, many in the fanbase are still concerned that feelings around the standoff could have bled into the room with Nikishin reportedly wanting out of Carolina, however, talking with guys in the room, that doesn't appear to be the case at all.

"Everyone loves him," said Seth Jarvis. "He's an awesome guy, obviously a great player, so I'm super happy to have him back. It was a long, drawn out process, but I know everyone here is pumped to have a player like that back in here."

"He's my friend and I'm very happy he's back," said goaltender and fellow Russian Pyotr Kochetkov. "It's probably good for everybody. For the team, for sure. For him hopefully too. I very happy."

For one, everyone in that room were part of a Stanley Cup championship with Nikishin, which is a special bond they'll always share. And second, everyone knows the business side of the game and how much of an influence it has.

"It's great to have him back, obviously," said alternate captain Sebastian Aho, who is no stranger to difficult negotiations having signed an offer sheet himself back in 2019.. "Just happy to have him back. It's hockey, but it's also business. Obviously we understand it wasn't probably the easiest negotiation by any means to say the least, but from our perspective, we're just happy to have him back."

Even coach Rod Brind'Amour said that he isn't blaming Nikishin for how everything went down.

"These guys hire agents to tell them what to do and sometimes it's good advice, sometimes it's not so good advice," Brind'Amour said. "But at the end of the day, it doesn't affect us when we get the guys in the locker room and we're all together and those guys [the agents] are out of it."

Nikishin wasn't on the ice with the team on Monday and currently they don't have a timeline for his return, but being that he has been out of action since the Stanley Cup, it's safe to say he'll need a bit of time.

"I haven't seen him, but hopefully he's healthy and we're not dealing with any of that and that it's just a matter of getting through a mini training camp before we can get him going," Brind'Amour said.

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