Ex-Canucks defenceman Nikita Tryamkin strikes out in NHL free agency

After his agent boasted that he would receive “tremendous demand” from NHL teams in free agency, Nikita Tryamkin is staying in Russia.

The now 28-year-old former Vancouver Canucks defenceman has played the past six seasons for Yekaterinburg Automobilist in the KHL, after his surprise decision to leave Vancouver in 2017.

Tryamkin has signed a two-year deal to remain with his hometown team. It realistically ends any chance at a return to the NHL, given the 6-foot-7, 251-pound defender will be 30 years old when his contract expires on April 30, 2025.

Tryamkin’s agent Todd Diamond said in February that the big blueliner turned down a contract extension with his KHL team, with the plan to turn his focus to the NHL after the season. The Canucks no longer own his NHL rights, so he was free to sign with any team as an unrestricted free agent.

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Despite having the kind of size that every NHL team would love to have on their back end, it appears Tryamkin was underwhelmed with the offers he received.

“They couldn’t get the money they were looking for on a one-year deal,” CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal said on Donnie and Dhali this morning. The offers he received were “not enough for him to uproot his family for one season” Dhaliwal added.

Tryamkin captured the imagination of the fan base in Vancouver after he arrived in 2016. Fans were tantalized by his size and imagined what the 2014 third-round pick could become.

An unfinished product in Vancouver, Tryamkin flashed some skill and showed off a mean streak — including a memorable fight with Jamie Benn.

Just 23 when he bolted back to the KHL, Tryamkin scored 25 points (9-16-25) in 51 games with Automobilist in 2017-18 and was named to Russia’s squad at the IIHF World Championship. But he hasn’t put up numbers like that since, scoring just 11 points in 64 games last season.