Alexander Burmistrov is headed back to North America, and this time the former top-10 pick is landing in the ECHL.
The 34-year-old Russian center has signed an ECHL deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs organization and will join the Cincinnati Cyclones. It marks a return to this side of the Atlantic 16 years after the Atlanta Thrashers made him the eighth overall pick in the 2010 NHL Draft.
Burmistrov was once viewed as one of the brightest young pieces in the Winnipeg Jets pipeline after the franchise moved from Atlanta to Winnipeg. Coming out of that draft, he went before a cluster of players who would go on to carve out notable NHL careers, including Mikael Granlund, selected one spot later by the Minnesota Wild, and Cam Fowler, taken six picks after him by the Anaheim Ducks. That same class also featured Brock Nelson, Vladimir Tarasenko, Justin Faulk and Charlie Coyle.
The promise never fully translated at the NHL level. By the 2016-17 season, Burmistrov had settled into more of a depth role, producing around 20 points rather than the impact numbers expected from a top-10 selection. Winnipeg moved on, and the Arizona Coyotes claimed him off waivers.
He spent the next season with the Vancouver Canucks, appearing in 24 games before heading back to Russia. In six NHL seasons, Burmistrov recorded 37 goals and 64 assists for 101 points in 348 games.
Most of the last 12 seasons have been spent in the KHL, where he most recently played for the Shanghai Dragons. There, too, he was mostly used as a depth forward, finishing with 46 goals and 108 assists for 154 points in 423 KHL games. He also had a short North American stop in the AHL, where he posted 11 points in 22 games in 2012-13.
Now Burmistrov gets another shot in North America, starting at the ECHL level with Cincinnati.
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