Former 1st round pick gives up on the NHL and signs overseas
2016 Philadelphia Flyers first-round pick German Rubtsov has signed a one-year contract with Spartak Moskva in the KHL, per the team.
Rubtsov, a 24-year-old center, was taken 22nd overall in 2016 with the upside of being a high-end, two-way middle-six center. Things have never quite panned out for him at the professional level, though, as his AHL production had steadily decreased over the past few seasons. The Flyers dealt Rubtsov to the Florida Panthers as part of the Claude Giroux trade last season.
While Rubtsov could still turn out to be something of a late bloomer, he won't get the chance to showcase that in the NHL this season, and given his inability to crack an NHL roster for any significant length of time since being drafted it seems unlikely that he ever will.
The pick begins to look even worse when you compare it to some of the names the Flyers could have taken a gamble on later in the draft, most notably with Alex DeBrincat being picked a full 17 spots later by the Chicago Blackhawks at 39th overall.
Rubtsov will join a Spartak team that's made the playoffs for the past five seasons.
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