Best Scoring 19-Year-Olds In Soviet/Russia/KHL, Last 50 Years.

[Staniowski]

In anticipation of Matvei Michkov possibly joining the NHL....these are the best scoring Russian 19-year-olds (i.e. final year of WJC eligibility) in their top league through the years, min. 30 games played.

Points-per-game

1. Pavel Bure - 1991 - 1.05
2. Vladimir Krutov - 1980 - 1.05
3. Evgeni Malkin - 2006 - 1.02
4. Alexander Korolyuk - 1996 - 0.98
5. Andrei Khomutov - 1981 - 0.95
6. Sergei Makarov - 1978 - 0.86
7. Kirill Kaprizov - 2017 - 0.86
8. Matvei Michkov - 2024 - 0.85
9. Boris Alexandrov - 1975 - 0.85
10. Evgeni Kuznetsov - 2012 - 0.84

No adjustments have been made.

There were a couple players - Zimin and Yakushev - beyond 50 years who were even higher scorers. And some of the stats for other players (e.g. Maltsev) from the 1960s might be deficient.

Click to read more...

 

[seventieslord]

Michkov looks pretty good on this list considering it's not his last year of WJC eligibility yet. That'll be next year.

 

[JackSlater]

Michkov looks pretty good on this list considering it's not his last year of WJC eligibility yet. That'll be next year.

He's now too old for the WJC. His eligible tournament was January 2024.

 

[Staniowski]

Michkov looks pretty good on this list considering it's not his last year of WJC eligibility yet. That'll be next year.

Michkov is the same age as Slafkovsky, who just finished his 2nd NHL season

 

[Staniowski]

In addition to being the highest scoring 19-year-old ever, Pavel Bure was also the highest scoring 17-year-old ever.

 

[JackSlater]

In addition to being the highest scoring 19-year-old ever, Pavel Bure was also the highest scoring 17-year-old ever.

Bure's career is a disappointment given his talent. That's why his star status when he played doesn't necessarily match what his career looks like in retrospect.

 

[seventieslord]

.... So was Michkov drafted a year late or something?

Or is there a different cutoff date for WJC and NHL entry draft eligibility that I've never noticed?

Because I'm used to players being eligible to play in the WJC in their D+2 years, as they're in their last year of junior hockey.

 

[seventieslord]

....wow, so I've just never noticed that the 1/3 of players born after September 15th and before December 31st (about 29% of players??) are only eligible for one more WJC following their draft season and not two?

Crazy

 

[seventieslord]

... Now I kinda hate finding out there's not an international standard for what a junior hockey player is.

 

[JackSlater]

.... So was Michkov drafted a year late or something?

Or is there a different cutoff date for WJC and NHL entry draft eligibility that I've never noticed?

Because I'm used to players being eligible to play in the WJC in their D+2 years, as they're in their last year of junior hockey.

You've seen this before. I randomly looked at this thread a few weeks ago when looking for a different thread that I made.

World Junior Team That Produced The Most NHLers?

It really wouldn't make sense for an age based tournament to base eligibility on the draft of any league, the NHL or otherwise.

 

[seventieslord]

You've seen this before. I randomly looked at this thread a few weeks ago when looking for a different thread that I made.

World Junior Team That Produced The Most NHLers?

It really wouldn't make sense for an age based tournament to base eligibility on the draft of any league, the NHL or otherwise.

.... Jesus Christ, what has become of me

 

[JackSlater]

Also interesting that Ovechkin, best player of the lot, scored at a rate of 0.73 in his relevant season.

I have a soft theory that Ovechkin may be more suited to NHL play than he is to European/international hockey, but I think Russian fans would have a much better idea of that than I do.

 

[jigglysquishy]

Also interesting that Ovechkin, best player of the lot, scored at a rate of 0.73 in his relevant season.

I have a soft theory that Ovechkin may be more suited to NHL play than he is to European/international hockey, but I think Russian fans would have a much better idea of that than I do.

I do wonder how much of that comes into the weirdness of the 2004-05 Russian Superleague season. With no NHL season, a large volume of NHLers went to Russia.

Of the top 10 in scoring that season, 6 were NHLers (Morozov, Rosa, Kovalchuk, Frolov, Zherdev, Zinovyev). Some weren't regulars, but it's a big influx on non-KHL regulars. That's ignoring Jagr (12th in scoring) who lead the league in PPG.

Or Kozlov, who left the NHL for the KHL.

Lots of goalies jumped too. Nabokov and Markkanen jump out.

So Ovechkin's season is really against a KHL+.

 

[MadLuke]

Malkin sudden jump, 0.61 to 1.02 make it sound possible, but that was an elite big guy developing fast.

 

[JackSlater]

I do wonder how much of that comes into the weirdness of the 2004-05 Russian Superleague season. With no NHL season, a large volume of NHLers went to Russia.

Of the top 10 in scoring that season, 6 were NHLers (Morozov, Rosa, Kovalchuk, Frolov, Zherdev, Zinovyev). Some weren't regulars, but it's a big influx on non-KHL regulars. That's ignoring Jagr (12th in scoring) who lead the league in PPG.

Or Kozlov, who left the NHL for the KHL.

Lots of goalies jumped too. Nabokov and Markkanen jump out.

So Ovechkin's season is really against a KHL+.

That's definitely a good point. He was just behind Datsyuk for second on the team in points per game.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Michkov looks pretty good on this list considering it's not his last year of WJC eligibility yet. That'll be next year.

Late '04. Next year's WJC will be '05s and younger

 

[WarriorofTime]

Also interesting that Ovechkin, best player of the lot, scored at a rate of 0.73 in his relevant season.

I have a soft theory that Ovechkin may be more suited to NHL play than he is to European/international hockey, but I think Russian fans would have a much better idea of that than I do.

I think just has something to do with RSL at the time. Very stingy on ice time with young players, a lot of mutual trapping. There's a thread somewhere deep in the HFBoards archives during the 2003-04 season confused why a guy with just OK stats was getting so much draft hype. Notably, Ovechkin always dominated in junior tournaments and still holds the U18 goal record by a comfortable 5 goal margin. Probably posts a monster season if he waits another year to come over and plays 2005-06 in RSL like Malkin just with how things go and players get progressed in terms of their role over there.

 

[JackSlater]

I think just has something to do with RSL at the time. Very stingy on ice time with young players, a lot of mutual trapping. There's a thread somewhere deep in the HFBoards archives during the 2003-04 season confused why a guy with just OK stats was getting so much draft hype. Notably, Ovechkin always dominated in junior tournaments and still holds the U18 goal record by a comfortable 5 goal margin. Probably posts a monster season if he waits another year to come over and plays 2005-06 in RSL like Malkin just with how things go and players get progressed in terms of their role over there.

Yeah I'd have to defer to anyone who actually followed the Russian league at the time. I don't remember the hype surrounding Ovechkin lessening much based on Russian league stats. His WJC was great but didn't totally blow people away (he's the greatest player who ever played the WJC as a 19 year old) but with such a small sample size it means very little.

 

[WarriorofTime]

(he's the greatest player who ever played the WJC as a 19 year old) but with such a small sample size it means very little.

Were 04-05 and 12-13 the only years everyone was (presumably) available?

Outside of those years, I imagine he'd primarily be competing against other Russians (Malkin the next year, other Soviets), but not all (like Kovalchuk was NHL right after being drafted). Canadians always have a bunch in NHL which is pretty seamless with the CHL-Transfer Agreement. Rarer for Americans but a really elite talent will leave the NCAA before their age 19 year. Places like Sweden, Finland also have transfer agreements so a player isn't too likely to stick around.

One thing I'm not sure is if Ovechkin would have come over for the 2004-05 NHL season if it had happened. There was no KHL at the time, but based on antics with Malkin's contract, I don't think it's a for sure he'd be over if he had a contract that required him to stay, the way I could confidently say he'd be over if he was playing in Sweden.

 

[JackSlater]

Were 04-05 and 12-13 the only years everyone was (presumably) available?

There were lockouts those years and in 1995. NHL teams still held a few players out each of those years though. Strangely 2006 is the closest the tournament ever came to having every available player, by my count, with only 1 player (Crosby) held out due to the NHL. There weren't any all time great prospects in 1995 or 2013 who played in the tournament as 19 year olds.

 

[Michael Farkas]

Yeah I'd have to defer to anyone who actually followed the Russian league at the time. I don't remember the hype surrounding Ovechkin lessening much based on Russian league stats.

Ovechkin generally played top line with Alexei Chupin. His hype was not lessened by his RSL stats. Besides Malkin (12), Ovechkin had more points than every other draft eligible player combined in SuperLeague that year (24 vs 20).

 

[WarriorofTime]

There were lockouts those years and in 1995. NHL teams still held a few players out each of those years though. Strangely 2006 is the closest the tournament ever came to having every available player, by my count, with only 1 player (Crosby) held out due to the NHL. There weren't any all time great prospects in 1995 or 2013 who played in the tournament as 19 year olds.

That's an interesting one.

NHL Scoring Leaders 2005-2006 (sort by age ascending). The only other teenager to exceed 9 games that year is Petteri Nokelainen ('86 birth), who it looks like he played two games, got injured and then came back at the end of the year. So I guess he'd be an injury unavailable than an NHL unavailable, and tough to say if he would have been made available or not if hurt.

Look through, 1986 birth year (aka 19 year olds in the 2005-06 WJC) was a down one for Canada, so I suppose not a big surprise that nobody was established in NHL yet. NHL Players Born in 1986

and just looking outside, Malkin had contract situation, Wheeler was a long-term project that did the wait to be a free agent NCAA thing, Krejci was not a big prospect, Oshie was a couple years away, Yandle was not a big prospect, Edler was not a big prospect... kind of a bad year in general.

87s were a pretty strong year even after Crosby, but with only age 18 season, it's not too surprising that only the first overall would stay in NHL already.

Just looking through Rosters, that 2005-06 Canada team definitely looks like the worst of their 5-year Gold Streak. But they went undefeated with a gritty, defensive effort and the goaltender, Justin Pogge was MVP. Really good blue line with Marc Staal, the late Luc Bourdon, future bust Cam Barker, Kris Russell and Kris Letang, even though there wasn't any real superstar upfront.

 

[JackSlater]

That's an interesting one.

NHL Scoring Leaders 2005-2006 (sort by age ascending). The only other teenager to exceed 9 games that year is Petteri Nokelainen ('86 birth), who it looks like he played two games, got injured and then came back at the end of the year. So I guess he'd be an injury unavailable than an NHL unavailable, and tough to say if he would have been made available or not if hurt.

Look through, 1986 birth year (aka 19 year olds in the 2005-06 WJC) was a down one for Canada, so I suppose not a big surprise that nobody was established in NHL yet. NHL Players Born in 1986

and just looking outside, Malkin had contract situation, Wheeler was a long-term project that did the wait to be a free agent NCAA thing, Krejci was not a big prospect, Oshie was a couple years away, Yandle was not a big prospect, Edler was not a big prospect... kind of a bad year in general.

87s were a pretty strong year even after Crosby, but with only age 18 season, it's not too surprising that only the first overall would stay in NHL already.

Just looking through Rosters, that 2005-06 Canada team definitely looks like the worst of their 5-year Gold Streak. But they went undefeated with a gritty, defensive effort and the goaltender, Justin Pogge was MVP. Really good blue line with Marc Staal, the late Luc Bourdon, future bust Cam Barker, Kris Russell and Kris Letang, even though there wasn't any real superstar upfront.

Yes I didn't include injured players, that makes it murkier. I made a thread going back to 1982 (based off another thread) looking at which players were held out of the WJC due to the NHL or other senior hockey commitments.

Canada 2006 was low on talent but very effective. I remember that Price was expected to be the goaltender but ended up not even making the team, and the defence was very strong. Sort of a down period for most countries at the time, looking at the rosters.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Yes, 1986 does appear to have just been a weak birth year, although not crazy or all time level bad. Just a bit down

103		1983	131 Players	41 014 GP	5322 Goals	10 186 Assists	15 508 Points
104		1984	143 Players	45 422 GP	7010 Goals	10 305 Assists	17 315 Points
105		1985	141 Players	47 347 GP	8040 Goals	12 950 Assists	20 990 Points
106		1986	138 Players	36 422 GP	4476 Goals	8681 Assists	13 157 Points
107		1987	144 Players	44 294 GP	6452 Goals	11 454 Assists	17 906 Points
108		1988	128 Players	35 468 GP	5792 Goals	8653 Assists	14 445 Points
109		1989	121 Players	38 375 GP	5787 Goals	9751 Assists	15 538 Points
110		1990	149 Players	44 214 GP	6041 Goals	11 730 Assists	17 771 Points
111		1991	144 Players	41 722 GP	6567 Goals	10 845 Assists	17 412 Points
112		1992	162 Players	41 725 GP	6679 Goals	10 187 Assists	16 866 Points

 

[Moose Head]

The Soviet era guys would look better on this list if their league was more liberal in giving out secondary assists like the KHL is, which is closer in line with NA standards.