New York Islanders‘ 2nd round pick in the 2018 draft (#39 overall), small and speedy Russian-born center Ruslan Iskhakov(37) couldn’t wait around to see if college hockey would play in 2020/2021, so decided it was time for him to turn pro.
The 5’8″ 150 lbs. forward signed a one-year deal with TPS and has gotten right to it with 9 goals, 25 assists in 46 Liiga games and a +5 rating.
He played two seasons at University Of Connecticut putting up 21 points for successive years and the thought was he would return for his junior campaign, but has voiced his desire to play pro as quickly as possible and this looks to be the best possible route to achieve it.
2-50 point AHL seasons scores him a 1st NHL recall and skated 20 shifts for 14:11 ice time with 2 shots, 1 assist and a 5-4 victory.