LEWISTON — Kirill Kabanov flipped the puck into the air, dribbled it on his stick as he continued skating toward the net, popped it high in the air and did a twirl, nearly knocking the puck into the net baseball style.

He definitely has a flashy side.

This, of course, came as the newest addition to the Lewiston Maineiacs was on the ice with only a handful of other players, long after the formal portion of the team’s practice had ended.

During practice, Kabanov, who has played just two games in North America in six months, looked right at home. He skated in line with his new teammates, and during the team’s power-play session, he connected on one-timer after one-timer from the left circle, almost invariably finding the net behind backup goalie Tyler Piercy on the short side.

“I’m pretty excited about this,” Kabanov said, still huffing and puffing from the extra work he put in after practice. “I hadn’t skated for 10 days. I’m just trying to be in shape.”

Kabanov began a topsy-turvy junior career in Moncton last season, a tenure that was originally delayed due to an IIHF transfer problem.

After scoring better than a point per game over 22 games, Kabanov suffered an injury. Upon his return, near the end of the Wildcats’ season, he returned to Russia, his home country under a cloud of controversy.

Over the summer, the New York Islanders drafted the skilled forward in the third round of the NHL draft. He spent time in the team’s rookie camp, and they then reassigned him back to Moncton. After two games there, he again returned to Russia for personal reasons.

Upon his return, Lewiston acquired him from the Wildcats.

Fourteen months, and nearly a dozen flights back and forth between North America and Russia.

“That is the life of the professional hockey player, right, the traveling?” Kabanov said in near-perfect English, one of five languages he can speak.

Traveling, and playing the game, of course, something he said Thursday he’s anxious to do.

“I will try to play hard (Friday) to do the best that I can, just try to help the team a little bit,” Kabanov said.

Houle was less committal about Kabanov’s status for the weekend’s games.

“He’ll be a game-day decision, Houle said. “We’re going to go over some systems and some situational things with him between now and then, and we’ll see where he is after (Friday’s) skate. He hasn’t played in a while, too, so we have to make sure he’s in game shape.”

In an effort to welcome him to the team, Lewiston captain Cameron Critchlow accompanied assistant GM Tim Schurman to Halifax to pick Kabanov up.

“It was great for the captain to do that,”Kabanov said. “He showed he’s a good captain, and he can be my captain for the next year, so it was a good step for the team. I was really excited to see that.”

“I knew his billets in Moncton, too. I’ve played golf with them, so I was able to go down and talk to him, explain to him what it’s like,” Critchlow said. “It’s a little different being in the United States. He’s been on a couple of different continents, so I wanted to make sure he knew what was going on.”

From what he’s seen, Critchlow is optimistic his new teammate is going to be just fine.

“He really seems to be fitting in fine, all the boys are really excited that he’s here,” Critchlow said. “Just to have a player of that caliber around. Hopefully he’ll be a really good asset to our team.”

Houle worked Kabanov out with the team’s first power-play unit Thursday. Kabanov took to the new system quickly.

“I was pretty much a playmaker in Moncton, I played with the puck more,” Kabanov said. “Here it looks like I’ll be on a one-timer pretty much. It’s just a new way to play the game.”

And within a couple of hours of arriving in Lewiston, Kabanov saw his new team collect an important win, a 4-3 decision over league-leading Quebec.

“The team did a really good job,” Kabanov said. “Quebec is a tough team to play. The team is playing great, and I’m really excited to be here on this team. There’s a lot of really talented guys, with a lot of skills.”

It will be a change, Kabanov admitted, but a change he’s ready for.

“I was feeling pretty good in Moncton, too, they had a couple of guys it was fun to play with and be with,” Kabanov said. “But I was traded here. I am happy to be her. I’m happy to be with the guys. It’s a nice team here, and I’m ready to play hockey.”