ROBENHYMER: Mikhail Maltsev is Ready to Realize his ‘Childhood Dream to Play in the NHL’

Mikhail Maltsev is done feeling like a broken record.

“A lot of people ask me why I didn’t stay in the KHL and why I wanted to play in the NHL, and I ask them, ‘Why not?’” the native of St. Petersburg, Russia said with a shrug. “It has been my childhood dream to play in the NHL. I always wanted to play here because it’s the best league in the world and everyone knows it. I believe that all players, even players in Russia, want to be here playing in this league. It’s the best and I want to be one of the best. I don’t understand why this is a question.”

It’s one that Greg Royce, European scout for the New Jersey Devils, asked him quite a bit last season. The Devils drafted Maltsev in the fourth round of the 2016 NHL Draft and an expiring contract with his hometown team SKA of the KHL cracked