GENE'S BLOG: A Klim Slate

There are trades that happen which just don't fully grab your attention. You notice them, but they don't really register because at first glance it doesn't look like a move that's going to make a big impact on the team, or maybe there is just a vague recognition of those involved in the deal.
All these factors may have come into play when Edmonton decided to deal defence prospect Dmitri Samorukov to the St. Louis Blues on Oct. 9. Samorukov was selected in the third round of the 2017 NHL Draft and had played one game for Edmonton, coincidentally against St. Louis.
In return, the Blues sent Klim Kostin, a veteran of 46 NHL games who was the final pick of the first round of the 2017 Draft. The deal looked like an exchange of one guy not working out for one team, for a guy not at the NHL level with the other team.
Samorukov was playing in the AHL with the Bakersfield Condors at the time, so it really wasn't 'Kostin' Edmonton General Manager Ken Holland very much to make the swap of two friends, who called each other thinking they were joining one another, until they found out they were both in the deal.
Teams make these under-the-radar deals all the time, but this one was different. Kailer Yamamoto and Evander Kane were both injured in Tampa about a month after the trade, so Edmonton went to Bakersfield and plucked Kostin off the farm. Expectations weren't high, or maybe better put, they were unknown. Kostin had the kind of start you might expect from a new player in a new organization -- slow and steady for the Russian.

The 23-year-old's first goal came in his eighth game against Minnesota. His next goal was three games later against Arizona, but he also added an assist and a fight with former Oiler Zack Kassian for the Gordie Howe Hat Trick. After that performance, the love affair between the player and the fans was on.
Since then, he's done nothing to dampen the desire in Oil Country. Kostin has filled the role of what Kassian ironically used to be -- a man of the people. Like Zack, Klim puts the blue in blue collar. He works, he hustles, he hits, he fights, he protects teammates, and he scores.
Klim has endeared himself to the fans with his charm and self-deprecating humor. Harken back to New Year's Eve against the Winnipeg Jets when the fans cheered his deployment on the Oilers power play in the dying minutes of the game. He appreciated the response, but jokingly tried to cool the fans' expectations.
"I'm 21 not 97," he laughed.
Kostin has also had some more serious moments in the season, like when he scored twice for the second time as an Oiler during last Wednesday's game in Anaheim. When he was asked about a potential first career hat-trick he said, "I didn't deserve a hat trick. I have to work a little harder. Not time for a hat trick."
Feels like what your parents told you and now you tell your kids: you want great things to happen you have to work for them -- a good life lesson provided by the winger.

Kostin has certainly provided much more than was expected. He's a treat to cover, unless you're trying to do that on the ice. At 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds, he's a beast of a man who can skate, is physical and isn't afraid of fisticuffs. Along with the Kassian clash, there was the Los Angeles dust-up with the Kings pest Brendan Lemieux. The game was over on the scoreboard but not on the ice. Kostin didn't 'Klim' his clock but when you display passion like that, the stick taps and pats on the back are a little stronger and more meaningful from the teammates.
Outside of all the physical play, Kostin is scoring a lot. If I didn't know how much, I was reminded by a Sunday tweet sent by Bob Stauffer. In the last nine games, Kostin has seven goals, which is one more than Connor McDavid and two more than both Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman.
The goals and everything else mentioned before are why Kostin has become an Oil Country favourite after a trade to Edmonton provided him with a 'Klim Slate'.