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Interesting development today: Nikita Filatov is loaned back to CSKA Moscow for the rest of the year, at his wishes.
Personally, its the best move right now for both parties. This all started at the end of last season, when Filatov was called up from Syracuse (who was in the middle of a playoff race) so that he could "experience the playoff atmosphere" by sitting in the press box every night. Something just didn't seem right about that situation, as well as his comments over the summer that he would consider offers from Russia if he ended up in Syracuse.
Fast forward to this season, where Filatov hasn't been impressive at all and hasn't earned a top-6 spot. He's just not strong on the puck at all. Hitch had enough on Friday night when he ended up out against Getzlaf's line and turned it over THREE times in the defensive zone on the same shift. Filatov was scratched last night.
Filatov just needs playing time to continuing his development, and the only way he would do that is if he played top 6 minutes for the Jackets. There's no way he can handle that with a team that is a hopeful playoff team. If he doesn't want to go to Syracuse (which hasn't been direcly stated, but it is a safe assumption), this is probably the best move.
However, this is the KHL we're talking about here, so nothing is safe.
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