2023 NHL Draft: Russian Prospects

[Caser]

Ok, it's time now for me to read Bob McKenzie's scout survey/rankings:

#5 Matvei Michkov
#19 Dmitry Simashev
#22 Daniil But
#23 Mikhail Gulyayev
#66 Aydar Suniyev
#69 Roman Kantserov
#97-#110 Yegor Rimashevskiy
#97-#110 Alexander Rykov

 

[57special]

Ok, it's time now for me to read Bob McKenzie's scout survey/rankings:

#5 Matvei Michkov
#19 Dmitry Simashev
#22 Daniil But
#23 Mikhail Gulyayev
#66 Aydar Suniyev
#69 Roman Kantserov
#97-#110 Yegor Rimashevskiy
#97-#110 Alexander Rykov

What do you think? Agree, for the most part?

 

[Caser]

What do you think? Agree, for the most part?

Surprisingly, but this time I mostly agree (if we adjust my opinion with the Russian factor that is there nowadays particularly notable for the non-elite guys):

Michkov even though ranked at #5, it was stated that "he also received consideration at Nos, 2, 3, and 4".

Simashev is higher than I would take him, but it might be just me, being a bit not a fan of his hands. Still skating*size combo is worth gold in scouts' eyes, so that's totally explainable.

But and Gulyayev have been ranked in that region all season long - I think it basically should be interpreted just that they are in that big 11-25 tier.

With Suniyev it is hard to judge for me, it is a bit surprising to see him there rather high with almost every report I see questioning his skating, but maybe there are a lot of other good stuff.

I view Kantserov as a second half of the second round type of guy (so more like 50-60), but if adjusting to the Russian factor it certainly fits that they have him at 69.

I'd certainly have Rykov much higher, but as I mentioned I'm kind of a fan of him, but returning to the skating*size combo it is good, but there's nothing wow, so no surprise that not much of the scouts are having the same opinion. Have no issues with having Rimashevskiy there, I'm not a huge fan of him, even though in my mind his draft stock should be higher.

Also should be noted that usually for the overagers this survey has much lower accuracy and that for the goalies there kind of is a separate draft within the draft, so evaluating their draft stock in line with the skaters doesn't make too much sense, as likely it will be kind of different at the draft day.

 

[Caser]

Maybe a bit of an interesting note that during the recent Russia U20 tournament some guys were offered to predict which team drafts them, Simashev named the Red Wings and Kantserov named the Penguins. Might be sort of an indicator of which teams showed interest so far.

To collect some more rumors in one place:


*Insert a Milstein/Canucks joke here.*



Interesting that if last season it was reported that the Flyers have withdrawn their Russian scout then this season it was confirmed that he was there scouting again.

Also found an interview with Rimashevskiy where he talks about an interest of up to 10 NHL teams, but he didn't mention anything specific.

 

[SeaOfBlue]

To be honest I seen them mostly sporadically (especially the CHL ones) and analyzed less than Russian ones too, but since I've been really impressed by their crop this year, let's try to do it.


So as a first tier I'd pick the guys who are surefire draft candidates in my eyes: Karpovich, Volochko, Sidorov, Moroz (probably could rank them in that order).

The second tier would be the guys who have had a decent season, but I'm not that convinced in them as in case of the first tier guys, so that would be these guys: Bourosh, Anoshko, Suvorov, Loshko.

And in the third tier I'd have Stepan Zvyagin, Arseny Kovgorenya and Lorens Zinaddin - occasionally they looked very interesting, but totally not sure about them, still there could be something.

So that's kind of how I see it, but should be taken with a solid grain of salt.

Thanks! I had it pretty similar. I had Loshko and Suvorov in the top group with Anoshko being on the fringe and then Bourosh + Volochko with the guys from the 3rd group. Bourosh's skating still needs a little bit too much work for me to put him higher, and IDK much about Volochko.

 

[Caser]

A bit of other interesting things to take away from Bob's rankings:

If I counted everything correctly Michkov actually received the following votes: 1 2nd, 2 3rd, 2 4th and 5 5ths - so if we apply 5-point system here it would be combined 19 points. #4 ranked Will Smith received 1 3rd, 6 4th and 3 5th place votes, which would be 18 by the same system, so it is actually arguable if Michkov shouldn't be the one at #4.

Simashev even got one Top 10 vote from a polled scout, 5 had him in the Top 20 and one lower than that yet still in the first round. However 3 scouts didn't view him as a first round guy.

About But: 8 scouts have ranked him in the range of 14-24, 1 scout lower than that yet still in the first round and another one had him outside of the first round.

7 scouts had Gulyayev in the 17-29 range.

 

[Caser]

Simashev at #6 to Arizona to me is a bit crazy to be honest.

 

[Caser]

Michkov looks quite shocked going to the Flyers right after his buddy Simashev, he will certainly hate the Coyotes all through his career lol.

 

[Caser]

Fun stuff continues with But at 12 also to Arizona, I hope they know that they won't be able to bring the Yaroslavl arena there.

 

[awfulwaffle]

Fun stuff continues with But at 12 also to Arizona, I hope they know that they won't be able to bring the Yaroslavl arena there.

Give it a rest, why the arena jabs? What are your thoughts in the Yotes taking them where they did?

 

[Caser]

Give it a rest, why the arena jabs? What are your thoughts in the Yotes taking them where they did?

Sorry, that just really was my first thought when I saw the pick.

As you can see in the OP I probably would have them lower, but Simashev is a pure size/mobility combo and But also moves his feet well for someone with his frame, so I can understand what they were looking for and teams tend to reach for what they are looking for.

 

[Caser]

Gulyayev at 31st to the Avs, makes sense since Cale Makar is his favorite player.

 

[awfulwaffle]

Sorry, that just really was my first thought when I saw the pick.

As you can see in the OP I probably would have them lower, but Simashev is a pure size/mobility combo and But also moves his feet well for someone with his frame, so I can understand what they were looking for and teams tend to reach for what they are looking for.

Well I hope they pan out for us! Thank you for these write ups!

 

[Caser]

Only Kantserov in the second round, yet relatively high - at 44th to Chicago, after all you want a forward to produce and that's what he does.

 

[Caser]

In the third we have Suniyev at 80th to Calgary and Zavragin at 87th to the Flyers. I guess things are going more or less according to the draft predictions so far.

 

[Caser]

So in the remaining rounds we had:

ROUND 4
100 Carolina Hurricanes Alexander Rykov
110 Montréal Canadiens Bogdan Konyushkov
126 Carolina Hurricanes Stanislav Yarovoi
ROUND 5
142 Pittsburgh Penguins Mikhail Ilyin
144 Montréal Canadiens Yevgeni Volokhin
155 Colorado Avalanche Nikita Ishimnikov
158 Carolina Hurricanes Ruslan Khazheyev
ROUND 6
163 Carolina Hurricanes Timur Mukhanov
176 Calgary Flames Yegor Yegorov
ROUND 7
202 St. Louis Blues Nikita Susuyev
203 San Jose Sharks Yegor Rimashevskiy
222 Carolina Hurricanes Yegor Velmakin


No major surprises, but my taste in terms of the players definitely differs from the scouts' taste.

 

[Astyanax]

Simashev at #6 to Arizona to me is a bit crazy to be honest.

Love your right ups. Love your assessment. Love the Russian players in general, because they are the ones who returned the cup to Detroit. And I was hoping Detroit could land him in the early 2nd or maybe with our 2nd 1st, but top ten I feel is a reach. Disappointed but glad to see my assessment isn't that far off.

 

[Astyanax]

So in the remaining rounds we had:

ROUND 4
100 Carolina Hurricanes Alexander Rykov
110 Montréal Canadiens Bogdan Konyushkov
126 Carolina Hurricanes Stanislav Yarovoi
ROUND 5
142 Pittsburgh Penguins Mikhail Ilyin
144 Montréal Canadiens Yevgeni Volokhin
155 Colorado Avalanche Nikita Ishimnikov
158 Carolina Hurricanes Ruslan Khazheyev
ROUND 6
163 Carolina Hurricanes Timur Mukhanov
176 Calgary Flames Yegor Yegorov
ROUND 7
202 St. Louis Blues Nikita Susuyev
203 San Jose Sharks Yegor Rimashevskiy
222 Carolina Hurricanes Yegor Velmakin


No major surprises, but my taste in terms of the players definitely differs from the scouts' taste.

Would have liked Detroit to fit rykov in. I mean instead of a bruiser who can't skate in the 2nd.
Oh well. Nothing to do now but go to sleep and dream about next year.

 

[Guadana]

Love your right ups. Love your assessment. Love the Russian players in general, because they are the ones who returned the cup to Detroit. And I was hoping Detroit could land him in the early 2nd or maybe with our 2nd 1st, but top ten I feel is a reach. Disappointed but glad to see my assessment isn't that far off.

He was an option only for 9th pick. Cesar like little bit more offense. But Nhl is about defense as it is about offense. Simashev has potential to be the best two way defenseman from this draft even without best production. As second round pick it’s crazy to dream about.

 

[Astyanax]

He was an option only for 9th pick. Cesar like little bit more offense. But Nhl is about defense as it is about offense. Simashev has potential to be the best two way defenseman from this draft even without best production. As second round pick it’s crazy to dream about.

That is fair. He was a big riser throughout the year, perhaps i misspoke. Early in the year most had him in the 2nd or even third. By draft time he was clearly a first rounder, I just selfishly hoped he would fall to us. I am still surprised he was the first Russian taken and that he went as high as he did. That said, I would not have been terribly angry had detroit taken him at 9; I have watched him and I really think there is some seriously untapped offensive potential in this kid.

 

[Guadana]

That is fair. He was a big riser throughout the year, perhaps i misspoke. Early in the year most had him in the 2nd or even third. By draft time he was clearly a first rounder, I just selfishly hoped he would fall to us. I am still surprised he was the first Russian taken and that he went as high as he did. That said, I would not have been terribly angry had detroit taken him at 9; I have watched him and I really think there is some seriously untapped offensive potential in this kid.

He was my prospect to being drafted by Detroit. He is from ~ the same tier where were drafted Sanderson and Edvinsson. A lot of writers thought they should be in the second tens or even lower, but nhl gms love capable defensive players with good size, skating and positional iq. Its a type of players who perfectly translate their game to nhl level and even if they are not productive, they still make a huge impact on the game.
As I understand Michkov wasn't interested in Arizona as potential place to build his career, so with unspoken agreement Arizona decided to pick Defenseman with top 4 or even top 2 potential. They have a lot of good offensive pieces in their prospect pool, but their defense needs a lot of work to build potential contender. I think they will draft defenseman next year too, may be Levshunov even if they will have 2-3 pick.

 

[Astyanax]

He was my prospect to being drafted by Detroit. He is from ~ the same tier where were drafted Sanderson and Edvinsson. A lot of writers thought they should be in the second tens or even lower, but nhl gms love capable defensive players with good size, skating and positional iq. Its a type of players who perfectly translate their game to nhl level and even if they are not productive, they still make a huge impact on the game.
As I understand Michkov wasn't interested in Arizona as potential place to build his career, so with unspoken agreement Arizona decided to pick Defenseman with top 4 or even top 2 potential. They have a lot of good offensive pieces in their prospect pool, but their defense needs a lot of work to build potential contender. I think they will draft defenseman next year too, may be Levshunov even if they will have 2-3 pick.

I appreciate the response and the insight. Again I would have loved him in Detroit, and while I know he was rising, I just didn't see him going in that tier. And I hear you. It just goes to show you, that you always need to trust your own eyes and not what you hear.(to wit scout talk/rumors) I was just sure he was the prime steal candidate wherever went, but that's not case so much st 6.

 

[Guadana]

I appreciate the response and the insight. Again I would have loved him in Detroit, and while I know he was rising, I just didn't see him going in that tier. And I hear you. It just goes to show you, that you always need to trust your own eyes and not what you hear.(to wit scout talk/rumors) I was just sure he was the prime steal candidate wherever went, but that's not case so much st 6.

Sorry, but he is. You didn't understand clearly what I said. Sanderson was fifth Edvinsson was sixth, Simashev was sixth. Its the same tier.
And if we talk about level of talent - All of them were claimed for lack of production and defensive first game, all of them are great skaters with their size and have very good defensive iq. All of them are very good in transition. And as I said, even if Simashev(and other two) isn't productive on nhl, he is still capable to play top 4 or even top two role as defensive first partner for his potential qb partner.

 

[Astyanax]

Sorry, but he is. You didn't understand clearly what I said. Sanderson was fifth Edvinsson was sixth, Simashev was sixth. Its the same tier.
And if we talk about level of talent - All of them were claimed for lack of production and defensive first game, all of them are great skaters with their size and have very good defensive iq. All of them are very good in transition. And as I said, even if Simashev(and other two) isn't productive on nhl, he is still capable to play top 4 or even top two role as defensive first partner for his potential qb partner.

I definitely understand. If I misspoke, I didn't mean to confuse the issue. I was simply trying to suggest that I thought he is the kind of player teams would kick themselves for not taking him sooner. But post draft, at 6, I can't say that anymore. Also, from what I've seen there is more offense potential there, then some think. Not really sure where the disconnect is, because I think we are in agreement. The only difference I see is that you knew better how GMs/ clubs viewed him.

 

[Guadana]

I definitely understand. If I misspoke, I didn't mean to confuse the issue. I was simply trying to suggest that I thought he is the kind of player teams would kick themselves for not taking him sooner. But post draft, at 6, I can't say that anymore. Also, from what I've seen there is more offense potential there, then some think. Not really sure where the disconnect is, because I think we are in agreement. The only difference I see is that you knew better how GMs/ clubs viewed him.

I absolutely think that he was drafted higher(I would draft Michkov and Leonard over him), but its not so badly higher. May be one or two spots.
And sorry for misconnection, English isn't my language, and I can miss with color of delivered message.