Let me state up front that this is a crazy idea in that we could get nothing from him at all, but what some of us have talked about is as good as the kids in our system are and many of them can be top 6 forwards none of them really project to be a superstar/game changing talent.  The talent level with Filatov has never been a question, the concern has always been the Russian influence and the KHL which he obviously left Columbus to go back to.  Obviously that fact being out there shows the risk involved in making any move for Filatov, but also is the reason that he would be available.  Not to excuse what he did, but let us also remember the coach was Ken Hitchcock who while a very good coach, he is not big on young players.

The reason I bring the idea of Filatov up is because I just saw this:

TheFourthPeriod Received a weird late-night text (not the good ones)... Apparently Blue Jackets are shopping Filatov. Will know more tmrw.

This kid has all the talent in the world to be a true first liner, put up 9G 13A in 26 KHL games, and while there is baggage I think the KHL factor is less when it comes to NY, especially vs Columbus.  All the talk leading up to now was that since Hitch was gone he was coming back for camp this year, but now if that tweet is right and he is on the market, it is hard not to be interested.  If I had to come up with a comparison in terms of skill I would probably go with Semin.  I havent completely lost my mind so I am not proposing giving up a 1st rounder or any of our best prospects to take the gamble, but I wouldnt cry if we gave up our extra 2nd next year and d-man (Girardi/Gilroy) since columbus is apparently hot on the D market.  The idea of Filatov-Anisimov-Grachev makes me smile pretty big.  Filatov and Anisimov played together on a line at the World Junior's a few years back, the other linemate was Cherepanov.

Artie scoring from Filatov http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ8qbcjYe5I

Anyway, more fun to think about that rather than dwelling on parts of what we did to start FA.