Pierre Lebrun of ESPN, has some interesting quotes from Nikolai Zherdev’s agent Rolland Hedges.

“We were hoping that New York wanted to negotiate with us,” Zherdev’s agent, Rolland Hedges, told ESPN.com on Wednesday night. “All we’ve had is a qualifying offer. It left us no alternative than to file for arbitration.”

Rangers GM Glen Sather, through senior team spokesman John Rosasco, responded Thursday by saying that in fact both sides have had “several discussions” with the Zherdev camp, but “we’re now going through the arbitration process after he elected to file last week.”

Seems like a case of he says, she says. You can decide which is which if you choose.

As for Russia:

“To be fair, we haven’t played the Russian card,” Hedges said. “We can play in Russia tomorrow if we want to. We can make more money in Russia, no question; it’s nontaxable. But Nikolai Zherdev wants to play in the NHL. The only way he’ll go to Russia is if he’s not wanted in the NHL at fair market value. We just want to see what New York is prepared to pay on a fair-market-value basis.

“If we’re successful in arbitration and they want to walk away, then we’ll see what the fair market value will bring on the open market [in the NHL]. And if it doesn’t bring it, he can play in Russia. But it’s not his first option.”

Gotta respect the honesty out of Hedges in regards to Russia. A while back similar quotes out of Zherdev’s camp appeared saying that Zherdev wanted to stay in New York. So if he can make more money and play in Russia “tomorrow” then what other reason does Zherdev want to play in the NHL. It seems like he wants to prove himself as an NHL player and if the Rangers walk away in arbitration this could literally be Kovalev 2.0.