Breaking down the fantasy impact of Vadim Shipachyov signing with Las Vegas.

Las Vegas announced the signing of Vadim Shipachyov to a two-year, $4.5 million contract Thursday night. The contract alone has probably already solidified the 30-year-old Russian as the No. 1 offensive center in all situations, and after posting 26 goals and 76 points through 50 KHL games this season, there is a target-worthy fantasy floor.

The peaks and valleys of a first-year player in the league should be expected from Shipachyov, and unlike Artemi Panarin, Shipachyov won't have a Patrick Kane-type star to play pitch and catch with. Still, close to 20 minutes of ice time with approximately three minutes on the power play per game should help Shipachyov avoid any lengthy slumps. He'll also have the benefit of playing from behind a lot, which typically means the ice becomes tilted in favor of the trailing team as opponents sit back on their leads.

Where this signing really becomes interesting — and difficult to forecast — is what the supporting cast is going to look like. As long as the Golden Knights grab a couple capable wingers in the expansion draft (Jason Zucker and Vladislav Namestnikov perhaps), Shipachyov should be a solid fantasy asset. His floor is probably going to be more attractive than his ceiling, and 20 goals could be a stretch, but the skilled playmaker is going to be fantasy relevant in all settings.

It's also interesting to see if other Russian players follow Shipachyov to Las Vegas. Ilya Kovalchuk has been his teammate the past four seasons in Russia, and Alexander Radulov, Andrei Markov and Dmitri Kulikov are also all unrestricted free agents. The Golden Knights need to get to the salary floor, so throwing money at Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, T.J. Oshie, Patrick Sharp and Jaromir Jagr could also be in play.

While Shipachyov's offensive ceiling will likely be capped on an expansion team, the late-bloomer will see a sizable offensive role. As long as he has some talented wingers to play with, he'll be a serviceable fantasy asset.