Antiillafire
Registered User
The main question: Is Belarus doing a better job of developing players in their “national team projects” in comparison to Slovakia?
This past year’s draft, Belarus had 3 players drafted. All 3 spent significant amount of time with the Belarus national development program. Levshunov, taken second overall by Chicago played 2 full seasons with the Belarus U18 team. He then had a smooth transition to the USHL and into college hockey. Ilya Protas, 75th overall, also went to the USHL after playing with Belarus U17 and U18. Pavel Moysevich, played with Belarus U18 before playing in Russian junior leagues.
Slovakia in the 2024 draft, including in consideration the weak 2006 class, had 1 player drafted. Satan Jr was taken just a few picks before the completion of the draft, spent time with the U18 project this past season. Now let’s look back at the handful years of before this.
From 2018 to 2023, Belarus had these players (currently) affiliated with NHL clubs come through their program: Alexei Kolosov, Alexei Protas, Dmitri Kuzmin, Danila Klimovich, Andrei Loshko, Yegor Sidorov, Vadim Moroz, Artyom Levshunov, Daniil Karpovich, Pavel Moysevich, Ilya Protas.
From 2019 to 2023, Slovakia’s players from the program currently affiliated with NHL teams: Jakub Demek, Simon Nemec, Martin Chromiak (1 game), Adam Sykora, Martin Misiak, Adam Zlnka, Samuel Honzek, Adam Gajan, Juraj Pekarcik, Miroslav Satan Jr.
The thing with the Slovak NT, is that most of these players are from the great 2004 generation. The influence of the project on them is minimal as many were playing significant games with their clubs, Nitra, Trencin, etc. Of course, the prominent Slovaks are playing with their club teams or outside of Slovakia. However the concern has surfaced especially in the past 2 seasons with few Slovaks being drafted, who developed in this team. Yet Slovakia has made the semi’s the past 2 U18 WC’s (yes I know Russia isn’t playing).
Has belarus established a better training format and schedule or are they playing more suitable competition? Again looking at the 2025 draft, Belarus is producing strong players through their U18 program while the best Slovak has developed via Sweden mostly. Yaroslavl Bryzgalov looks like he could be a very strong prospect, developed via the Belarus national program.
This past year’s draft, Belarus had 3 players drafted. All 3 spent significant amount of time with the Belarus national development program. Levshunov, taken second overall by Chicago played 2 full seasons with the Belarus U18 team. He then had a smooth transition to the USHL and into college hockey. Ilya Protas, 75th overall, also went to the USHL after playing with Belarus U17 and U18. Pavel Moysevich, played with Belarus U18 before playing in Russian junior leagues.
Slovakia in the 2024 draft, including in consideration the weak 2006 class, had 1 player drafted. Satan Jr was taken just a few picks before the completion of the draft, spent time with the U18 project this past season. Now let’s look back at the handful years of before this.
From 2018 to 2023, Belarus had these players (currently) affiliated with NHL clubs come through their program: Alexei Kolosov, Alexei Protas, Dmitri Kuzmin, Danila Klimovich, Andrei Loshko, Yegor Sidorov, Vadim Moroz, Artyom Levshunov, Daniil Karpovich, Pavel Moysevich, Ilya Protas.
From 2019 to 2023, Slovakia’s players from the program currently affiliated with NHL teams: Jakub Demek, Simon Nemec, Martin Chromiak (1 game), Adam Sykora, Martin Misiak, Adam Zlnka, Samuel Honzek, Adam Gajan, Juraj Pekarcik, Miroslav Satan Jr.
The thing with the Slovak NT, is that most of these players are from the great 2004 generation. The influence of the project on them is minimal as many were playing significant games with their clubs, Nitra, Trencin, etc. Of course, the prominent Slovaks are playing with their club teams or outside of Slovakia. However the concern has surfaced especially in the past 2 seasons with few Slovaks being drafted, who developed in this team. Yet Slovakia has made the semi’s the past 2 U18 WC’s (yes I know Russia isn’t playing).
Has belarus established a better training format and schedule or are they playing more suitable competition? Again looking at the 2025 draft, Belarus is producing strong players through their U18 program while the best Slovak has developed via Sweden mostly. Yaroslavl Bryzgalov looks like he could be a very strong prospect, developed via the Belarus national program.