No Mas Teeks?

I wish I could say that the possible "relocation", shall we say of Coyotes forward Viktor Tiikhonov is a shock. It's not so much to me. Not exactly what I wanted to start my weekend out with, but it could've been worse I suppose. Reports this morning from RussianHockeyFans.com say that Tikhonov was spotted in Moscow recently and is said to be interested in joining the KHL team CSKA. His father, Vasily Tikhonov, is quoted as saying the following to Sovetsky Sport:

"My son has been sent to the KHL, he has already landed in Moscow and he's ready to play for CSKA. The only problem is that the league is investigating where his rights belong to. He left the NHL playing for Severstal Cherepovets, but that was two years ago".

Now... I'm sure many Coyotes fans would tell you that this, if in fact accurate; is caused by the poor play down in San Antonio, the firing of the coach, better money... etc. I think it's something different, at least in part. I think losing Tikhonov to Russia is the first of what we may see more of as time goes on, maybe not. I believe Tiki's departure is due to the lasting effects of the DoG: Departure of Gretzky.

What does that mean? Well, for those who may not be familiar with the Coyotes situation, Viktor Tikhonov along with Kyle Turris & Mikkel Boedker all played the majority of last season with the Coyotes. And none of them should have. They should've been shipped off to Texas to develop like good little rookies during training camp. But Gretzky insisted upon keeping his young guys there. Don't get me wrong, they were an impressive group of youngsters, just not nearly ready for the rigors of a full NHL schedule. So with the DoG and the rise of the Tippett era, the young kids were sent to San Antonio where they belong, for now. Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I'm certain that they weren't happy about being demoted. So when opportunity came knocking, Tiki fled for greener pastures...