F Rodion Amirov (2020, 15th, TOR) - tragically passed away due to brain tumor 8/14/23

[ponder]

It's probably the best thing for his development. I assume with a 2 year contract extension, the club will give him more ice time as well.

Would be nice to get a Tarasenko/Kuznetsov-esque type product when he comes over (not suggesting he plays a similar style or will be as good as those two).

Agreed - from that 2010 draft alone, Kuznetsov and Tarasenko both spent 3.5 seasons post-draft in the KHL, while Panarin spent 5 post-draft seasons (2010 was his draft year, though he went undrafted). 3 of the top Russian players in the NHL today, and all were solid-to-elite from day 1 in the NHL.

And agreed that Amirov isn’t as good as Tank/Kuz were at the same age, but he’s a high skill, cerebral, puck possession type player, who I think would do well developing that game in the KHL. Switching to a more north-south, small ice, tight checking game too soon might limit his upside, vs. staying a bit longer in a league that will really emphasize his strengths.

Or ... I could be totally wrong, maybe the KHL isn’t the best path for him. But my gut feel says that this year and another 1-2ish more there would be good for his development.

 

[Canucks LB]

Amirov might be my favorite non Canucks prospect, what a beauty he is

 

[Minty Cowboy]

Amirov might be my favorite non Canucks prospect, what a beauty he is

I’m excited to see what him and Pod can do together this WJC

 

[Isaac Nootin]

I’m excited to see what him and Pod can do together this WJC

Hopefully centered by Abramov.

 

[TheKrebsCycle]

Hopefully centered by Abramov.

Leafland and Canucks land United would be something..

 

[weems]

Scored a nice goal today

 

[weems]

 

[majormajor]

I know he's not a big scorer but I could watch him dance all day.

 

[hockeeyyy]

IMO, best Russian prospect since Ovechkin. /s

 

[Antropovsky]

Seems to really be aware out there... anticipates exactly where the gaps are and the defenders are.

 

[Lainehasaweirdface]

He had a couple tough shifts out there and then just goes out and overpowers the goalie. Love it.

 

[Mickey Marner]

He looks a lot like a LHS Nylander with his movements.

 

[Peasy]

He looks a lot like a LHS Nylander with his movements.

Hadn't thought of that, but the second gif definitely has shades of Nylander, especially the edge work and having his head up the entire time.

 

[Rufus T Firefly]

 

[Fatass]

IMO, best Russian prospect since Ovechkin. /s

Serious? High praise for the kid, isn’t it?

 

[Peasy]

Serious? High praise for the kid, isn’t it?

The /s means sarcasm.

 

[Fatass]

The /s means sarcasm.

Interesting. I’m just learning these little guys.

 

[Atas2000]

His shot is really something.

 

[Atas2000]

Serious? High praise for the kid, isn’t it?

Michkov is the best russian prospect since Ovechkin and Malkin. Nonetheless Amirov is really, really good, because he has that huge amount of natural skill. His skating and shot are absolutely brilliant.

 

[hockeeyyy]

5 goals in his last 6 competitive games. This kid is something else. I don't know whether he's going to be a star or a very good complementary top-six player, but the boy can play, that's for sure. What would really be something is if he actually ends up defying the ceiling and giving the Leafs another blue-chip forward. The fact that he seems to be a very heady player is something that really sticks out when you want him skate -- almost little wasted movement.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

 

[BoredBrandonPridham]

RIP. The kid had so much promise, too.

 

[LeafChief]

For the posters that follow the KHL closely, will Soshnikov being traded from Salavat make room in the top 9 for Amirov or will the fact that he's leaving for the WJC mean that he will likely remain on the 4th line/13th forward when he returns?

@Caser @Atas2000 @Kshahdoo @SoundAndFury

 

[Rufus T Firefly]

The fact that he seems to be a very heady player is something that really sticks out when you want him skate -- almost little wasted movement.

I noticed this too.

He was pretty scary out there against SKA today. It looked like he was always wanting to attack the net when he was in the offensive zone, with and without the puck and definitely looked like he knew where he needed to go to create chances and put the most pressure on the D. And his skating was quite explosive, especially his edgework in the corners trying to elude defenders, but also in the neutral zone and entering the zone. He looked pretty decent in the d-zone as well, with his head constantly looking around and not puck watching, from what I remember.

If he can find the space in the NHL to get that shot off, he's going to be really good. With that combo of brains and skating though it looks promising. It'll be fun to see him on the top PP unit in the World Juniors. Let's just hope he doesn't take any more penalty shots

 

[De Montreal]

Something tells me the Leafs might rush him. It’s nothing against them because the organization knows how to develop well forwards - but with the cap crunch will they be too tempted to bring him over on an ELC?

him being a 40 pts guy at 850k would help them a lot with secondary scoring. They could use a guy like him in the middle six soon, not next year but maybe 2022-2023

but even then maybe he will indeed be ready anyway at that point