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I was pretty disappointed with his play at the WJC. He talks about himself as if he's an impact player, but as soon as the opposing defenses started keying in on him, he crumbled like a cookie. There's no doubt that the Russian roster was missing some key bodies, but that's no excuse.
What really got to me was that there was absolutely no urgency in his game when the puck wasn't on his stick. He never back checked! Ever! He just floated around in the neutral zone looking for stretch passes. I don't blame the coach for throwing him under the bus.
I was all for bringing him in, but the WJC really started to change my mind. Zherdev was a bit of a malcontent, but Filatov is on a different level entirely. What's worse is that he's extremely vocal about it. At least Zherdev did his thing quietly.
At this point, you need to get him as cheap as possible, or you just walk away. But honestly, I don't see the Rangers going for him. They got burned by Zherdev, so I can't imagine they're looking for seconds.
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