solid game from him today defensively. It's almost shift by shift of Silayev.
Better than the last game.
Impressive showing, the knee injury seems to be history. That Silayev will go very high, I have him as my favorite defenseman of this draft.
Keep in mind thats a 6'7 kid who hasnt filled out yet, he is still growing into his body, once he gains more strength, the synchronism will be even better.I thought he looked very positionally sound and used his size well. His mobility continues to be mind boggling given his size. Showed high straight line speed on one backcheck.
On the downside, he gets tunnel vision nearly every time he touches the puck and locks onto his first read. When that's the right read, he made a few good to great outlet passes or plays on the o zone, but when it's not the right read (which it often isn't in hockey) he seems to force it anyway. Maybe that's coachable or maybe it comes with confidence. If he were better on the puck he'd be clear #2OA in my opinion. Since he's not, plus the three year contract, I'm guessing he could fall to 4-6 or so.
Yes, absolutely, it's why he's a top prospect. I'm just saying he has a long way to go to make NHL plays with the puck.Keep in mind thats a 6'7 kid who hasnt filled out yet, he is still growing into his body, once he gains more strength, the synchronism will be even better.
With that size and mobility, you cannot let this guy be around by the end of the top 10 even though I agree the limited offensive ability likely keeps him out of the top three.I thought he looked very positionally sound and used his size well. His mobility continues to be mind boggling given his size. Showed high straight line speed on one backcheck.
On the downside, he gets tunnel vision nearly every time he touches the puck and locks onto his first read. When that's the right read, he made a few good to great outlet passes or plays on the o zone, but when it's not the right read (which it often isn't in hockey) he seems to force it anyway. Maybe that's coachable or maybe it comes with confidence. If he were better on the puck he'd be clear #2OA in my opinion. Since he's not, plus the three year contract, I'm guessing he could fall to 4-6 or so.
Mentioned in an interview that all the NHL teams have talked to him, but he feels the most interest so far have been from the CBJ and the Coyotes (or whoever they are now).
Nice big Top 3 D prospects there if they go that route.Yay, I hope he goes to Utah, I think Silayev, Simashev, and Lamoureux would be a great way to start a massive d-core that can skate, and building from the backend out is generally a good idea.
Big is an understatement.Nice big Top 3 D prospects there if they go that route.
Mentioned in an interview that all the NHL teams have talked to him, but he feels the most interest so far have been from the CBJ and the Coyotes (or whoever they are now).
Yes, absolutely, it's why he's a top prospect. I'm just saying he has a long way to go to make NHL plays with the puck.
Arizona was obvious since they took Simashev and But.Mentioned in an interview that all the NHL teams have talked to him, but he feels the most interest so far have been from the CBJ and the Coyotes (or whoever they are now).
Arizona was obvious since they took Simashev and But.
They're building an army of massive Russians.
Sounds like he's going to get drafted highly cause his size + skating package is unique and potentially game changing. Any thoughts on his offensive potential? I've read mixed thoughts so far, and also hear he's not a finished product so he could possibly develop some of the offensive game large dmen who can dominate the ice develop (e.g. Chara/Hedman/Hamilton).
I get he started hot and cooled off, but how much of that is just early luck v. usage?
15 minutes/game is high minutes in the KHL, however he wasn't playing on the PP much anymore, so indeed not exactly in all situations.As the season went on, he was 6/7th D for Torpedo, seeing 10-15min / game, not "high minutes usage in all situations" like many draft reports state
Maybe because he was just 17 during the season and KHL is a pretty exhausting league, so he just naturally ran out of gas (he was given a week rest at the start of February, so that is kind of telling).
- I don't know enough to say why he cooled off so much. I guess one of two things are possible, 1) it was complete puck luck and the last 45 games were more representative than the first 8-ish, or 2) he actually has more offensive capability but it was coming at the expense of his D and Larionov asked him to rein it in.
Yeah I think it's more of a conditioning issue.Maybe because he was just 17 during the season and KHL is a pretty exhausting league, so he just naturally ran out of gas (he was given a week rest at the start of February, so that is kind of telling).