that was the PR game both sides played, but i'd be quite surprised if it played out like that. Filatov was saying things to the effect of "the coach has his opinion of me as a player", i don't know what will be changed after a year in the KHL. Cls told him to gain muscle over the summer, and he did- coming into camp 20 lbs heavier, i think it was. is he going to really improve a whole lot on his defense playing in Russia? it has to be a Hitchcock thing, can you tell me that Filatov's less NHL ready than other rookies like Anisimov or Kulikov, who are consistently getting 15 mins/g of TOI?