LD Shakir Mukhamadullin (2020, 20th, NJD; traded to SJS)

[brakeyawself]

He had all those skills when he was drafted and before he was traded, I certainly don’t listen to the talking heads at any of these prospect sites, they are sheep that spit out the same bland catch all scouting reports. “Strong skater, good in transition, plus defender who displays a physical game.”
There is no context which leads me to believe they aren’t actually watching the prospects but instead box score counting.

Edit: I was one of the few very high on Mulhamadullin right from the get go. I’m just not sure he thinks the game well enough or sees the ice well enough in the offensive zone to become a top pair defensmen. He could become a high volume shooter from the point.

Passing off all these "sites" as if they all are equivalent and just use the same scouting report and thats it is a completely fallacious and unrealistic argument. And It's just not true. There is no real consistency among most of the major rankingsites, and some have far more insightful and professional than others. Sure, some are just some guy reading a scouting report. But that's like suggesting we shouldn't take any NHL teams assessment of draft prospects seriously because they all have copies of some of the major scouting reports....... which would be insane.

Muk is ranked anywhere from 18 to like 50th depending on site, that Ive seen at least. SO I do not think the paradigm you are suggesting is actually a legitimate phenomenon. It is in the case of fan made writeups and clips. But this is Hockey Writers. They were doing this when the only option was print. And they tend to take it a bit more seriously. Plus its clear from what he ACTUALLY WROTE that he's not just basing this on a handful of generic scouting reports. Again, this isnt the final say on the issue. But writing it off like that is equally fallacious as suggesting to know for certain hes going to be a superstar.

 

[Jason MacIsaac]

Passing off all these "sites" as if they all are equivalent and just use the same scouting report and thats it is a completely fallacious and unrealistic argument. And It's just not true. There is no real consistency among most of the major rankingsites, and some have far more insightful and professional than others. Sure, some are just some guy reading a scouting report. But that's like suggesting we shouldn't take any NHL teams assessment of draft prospects seriously because they all have copies of some of the major scouting reports....... which would be insane.

Muk is ranked anywhere from 18 to like 50th depending on site, that Ive seen at least. SO I do not think the paradigm you are suggesting is actually a legitimate phenomenon. It is in the case of fan made writeups and clips. But this is Hockey Writers. They were doing this when the only option was print. And they tend to take it a bit more seriously. Plus its clear from what he ACTUALLY WROTE that he's not just basing this on a handful of generic scouting reports. Again, this isnt the final say on the issue. But writing it off like that is equally fallacious as suggesting to know for certain hes going to be a superstar.

Im not going to sit here and argue the validity of all these websites, I have poked enough holes in numerous rankings including terrible takes on Mukhamadullin from one’s Chief Scout. If you want to debate Muk’s game based on your viewings, I will oblige. If you are going to reference some ranking, I’m out.

 

[Skinnyjimmy08]

Does he have QBing the PP abilities?

 

[My3Sons]

Does he have QBing the PP abilities?

Maybe. He can pass and has a bomb of a shot. He has good mobility. Whether he will see the ice creatively remains to be seen. Something tells me he will slowly develop the ability to be PP QB with reps and experience but I doubt he will ever be a top guy at it. Maybe he does well as a second unit guy.

 

[HockeyVirus]

So is this guy busting or something else going on? About to be 23 years old in a few weeks and has 6 points in the AHL -3. You would expect most top 4 NHL dman to be in the NHL by this point of their careers not floundering in the AHL.

 

[Cas]

So is this guy busting or something else going on? About to be 23 years old in a few weeks and has 6 points in the AHL -3. You would expect most top 4 NHL dman to be in the NHL by this point of their careers not floundering in the AHL.

He got hurt, but he's probably not going to surpass bottom 4 defenseman at this point. Maybe we'll still get lucky, and he was good last year before getting hurt.

 

[WarriorofTime]

So is this guy busting or something else going on? About to be 23 years old in a few weeks and has 6 points in the AHL -3. You would expect most top 4 NHL dman to be in the NHL by this point of their careers not floundering in the AHL.

Injured + waiver-exempt, should have sense if bust or still TBD by end of this year.

 

[coooldude]

He looked pretty solid in the AHL last year, but yeah, this year he's not popping. I personally have not watched any of him in the AHL this year, but I read a lot of SharksHFB and if he were really killing it, we'd be hearing about it. Instead we're hearing about and talking about Cagnoni leading/nearly leading AHL d men in points as a 19yo.

At this point hopefully he can find his way to being a 2LD but the clock is definitely ticking.

 

[Deas]

I even drafted him in a keeper league (multicat and he blocked like crazy in his limited games last year).

A shame about the early injury.

 

[SoundAndFury]

He looked pretty solid in the AHL last year, but yeah, this year he's not popping. I personally have not watched any of him in the AHL this year, but I read a lot of SharksHFB and if he were really killing it, we'd be hearing about it. Instead we're hearing about and talking about Cagnoni leading/nearly leading AHL d men in points as a 19yo.

Bit of a nothing post here. He lost his PP time to the kid who is an undersized offensive defenseman and excellent at it. No shame there. So stat sheet isn't going to tell you a whole lot.

As for the rest of the game, he plays for one of the best defensive teams in the league and defensive work never gets any attention from an average fan. It's just how it is and it's understandable. So unless SharksHFB has posters with a track record of scouting, noticing these things and shouting it out, him going unnoticed is completely normal with much shinier new things in town in Cagnoni and Graf who gobbled all the attention a casual viewer can spare.

 

[coooldude]

Bit of a nothing post here. He lost his PP time to the kid who is an undersized offensive defenseman and excellent at it. No shame there. So stat sheet isn't going to tell you a whole lot.

As for the rest of the game, he plays for one of the best defensive teams in the league and defensive work never gets any attention from an average fan. It's just how it is and it's understandable. So unless SharksHFB has posters with a track record of scouting, noticing these things and shouting it out, him going unnoticed is completely normal with much shinier new things in town in Cagnoni and Graf who gobbled all the attention a casual viewer can spare.

Nice condescension. SharksHFB well akshually has a fair few posters who focus on the Cuda and pay close attention. You're trying to big time me/us by saying we don't watch the games, but people do and he isn't playing like a future core piece, which you would hope for your second best defensive prospect. Not like Thrun and Ferraro and the ghost of Vlasic are major impediments to a promising prospect forcing their way to the NHL roster...

If I were just stat watching, I might think that Cagnoni is our second best D prospect, but it should be Mukh. Luca still needs a lot of refinement on the DZ side of things and he's still got an uphill battle due to size. Mukh has the size skill and mobility to be a solid 2 way D in the NHL. But he seemingly hasn't taken a step up on that front since last year and you'd like to see that player force the issue.

I stand by my "nothing post" that unless he steps it up significantly he's just going to fade into the long list of less likely prospects for the sharks fans paying attention to the rebuild. Nobody wants him to succeed more than the fans.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Nice condescension. SharksHFB well akshually has a fair few posters who focus on the Cuda and pay close attention. You're trying to big time me/us by saying we don't watch the games

I learned here all too well that whatever topic there is to discuss Europeans are going to sound too blunt or rude or whatever to the Americans but I assure you you are projecting something that wasn't my intention at all here. I wasn't trying to "big time" you or even more so Sharks fans collectively.

I simply said that your post reads as "well I don't know for sure but I didn't read anything about him playing well so it might be bad". There wasn't any real information there other than your concern based on the stat line and lack of positive chatter on the Sharks board. While your concern is valid the reasons you provided do not seem well-founded.

Your "I personally have not watched any of him in the AHL this year but don't you dare to say I'm stat watching because I read SharksHFB a lot" attitude also doesn't help to take that concern more seriously. If you have this growing concern it really shouldn't be a huge chore to watch a couple of his AHL games or simply ask for informed opinions of those who follow Barracuda and whatever impression or response you get, it would carry different weight completely.

 

[coooldude]

I learned here all too well that whatever topic there is to discuss Europeans are going to sound too blunt or rude or whatever to the Americans but I assure you you are projecting something that wasn't my intention at all here. I wasn't trying to "big time" you or even more so Sharks fans collectively.

I simply said that your post reads as "well I don't know for sure but I didn't read anything about him playing well so it might be bad". There wasn't any real information there other than your concern based on the stat line and lack of positive chatter on the Sharks board. While your concern is valid the reasons you provided do not seem well-founded.

Your "I personally have not watched any of him in the AHL this year but don't you dare to say I'm stat watching because I read SharksHFB a lot" attitude also doesn't help to take that concern more seriously.

Let me rephrase. People who exclusively watch the Barracuda and post updates on how the team and prospects are playing, have said that Mukh is not playing poorly, but is not really standing out either, and is either stagnating or taking a slight step down from what he looked like last year, which was pretty exciting. Those people are not me, but I trust those people.

I do not trust a poster who comes with this attitude: "please excuse me, I'm European, but also kind of a dick, and I think your post is worthless but also I said nothing really useful either, however, I do want to make sweeping statements about stat watchers in general which sort of, kind of, definitely paints you and other posters as useless stat watchers."

So we both get 2min penalties and I'll move on from here with this statement which I will stand by: Shak needs to step up or else he's not a meaningful part of the Sharks future. His trajectory looks less exciting in December 2024 than it did in December 2023.

 

[Hinterland]

Bit of an overreaction here. His upside in the NHL has to be determined just because he didn't play a lot. Other than that he has very little left to prove. He's not the first and not the last hockey player to temporarily lose a step or two after a lengthy injury. No reason to freak out. Mukhamadullin is gonna get recalled later this season when he's up to speed again and I've no doubt he's gonna do well for the Sharks.

 

[SoundAndFury]

definitely paints you and other posters as useless stat watchers."

Shak needs to step up or else he's not a meaningful part of the Sharks future. His trajectory looks less exciting in December 2024 than it did in December 2023.

I don't know why you so insist on dragging other posters into this. It's you and me in this conversation, nobody else said anything.

Excitement is a very accurate word you used here. One could say, this is what our conversation is all about. Has he stagnated as a prospect or has he ceased to be exciting. Because those might be 2 different things entirely.

 

[coooldude]

I don't know why you so insist on dragging other posters into this. It's you and me in this conversation, nobody else said anything.

Ah, OK, then even easier, you definitely painted ME ONLY as a stat watcher. Nice. But maybe you regret writing this next quote, which assumes that a lot of Sharks fans are just enamored with shiny objects, and isn't only about me?

So unless SharksHFB has posters with a track record of scouting, noticing these things and shouting it out, him going unnoticed is completely normal with much shinier new things in town in Cagnoni and Graf who gobbled all the attention a casual viewer can spare.

"I'm not talking about anyone other than you, except when I am." anyway,

Excitement is a very accurate word you used here. One could say, this is what our conversation is all about. Has he stagnated as a prospect or has he ceased to be exciting. Because those might be 2 different things entirely.

I am arguing that he is both less exciting and is stagnating until he clearly proves otherwise. Both in terms of points like a dumb stat watcher like me pays attention to, and also in terms of minutes, usage, actual play, likelihood to get called up and get real minutes, and so on. You may be an expert on all things and already know this, or maybe you don't, but many Sharks fans were hoping/expecting he'd make the NHL squad out of camp and it wasn't an unrealistic hope/expectation given his play last year in the AHL and his decent debut games in the NHL, plus the horrifying NHL lineup on the left of Walman/Ferraro/Thrun/Vlasic. Today, there's no such talk of an imminent call-up or even much talk of a later-season call-up absent a trade, and it's not because Cagnoni is about to get the call-up... it's because Shak doesn't seem imminently ready to take a spot on the roster. The optimistic read is that his injury set him back and he's still getting up to speed. The pessimistic read is that he's at risk of stagnating.

Does this mean he's never going to play more NHL games, or won't establish himself as a solid middle pair D? No, that's not what I'm saying. What I am saying is, the future range of outcomes will be narrower and median lower in June if he doesn't pick it up, on the stat sheet and in non-counting stats play.

As I said, I absolutely am rooting for the kid. We talk on Hockey's Future about the Future of Prospects. I'm not making a definitive claim about his outcome. That doesn't mean what I'm saying is a nothing post. What I'm saying is that his future range of outcomes is narrowing, and unless he shows a significant step up by the end of the season, he'll be less exciting AND stagnating. But if that's not good enough for you, my greatest apologies and have a nice day.

 

[coooldude]

Rather than the previous shit fight, here's just one recent fan-driven deep dive on his play, with the following optimistic summary:

• Recovering from lower body injury suffered in camp - still looks like he's regaining his skating speed and confidence
• Role has changed from #1/2 to defensively minded #3/4, including taken off PP as prev discussed - impacting counting stats
• Still getting minutes but very different usage than last year
• Hope is that he gets his feet under him, keeps shoring up the D side of his game, keeps building confidence, keeps getting stronger, and establishes a foundation to try to make the NHL squad in 2025-26
• Possibility (with injury/trade) to see some games at the end of this season, which I hope/agree with.

That's a solid effort to dig into what's going on, and an optimistic take. I'm a bit more skeptical because we didn't trade for him to be a defensively-minded D and that has not been his prospect profile and projection, but I'll hope that he can pull both sides of his game together in camp in 2025, establish himself on the NHL roster for good, and be a solid #4/5 LD for us. However, competition from Sam Dickinson and Cagnoni is coming, both of whom would love to make an early jump to NHL and establish themselves behind Walman as a PP2 guy who can hold their own in other minutes. Ferraro rounds out the squad, whether we like it or not. There's a bit of a logjam developing at LD.

 

[RussianShark]

He needs to bulk up. He's getting bodied in the AHL. I was at a Wranglers/Cuda game a few weeks ago and was shocked when a smaller guy on Calgary absolutely bundled Shakir. He bounced right back up but it's not everyday you see a taller defenseman take a massive hit like that.

I hope the injuries haven't derailed him, he looked much more engaged last season. Defensively, he seems a step behind the play and offensively he isn't setting himself up to use his shot, which looks NHL-caliber when he can let it loose.

 

[Erep]

I didn't watch much of the last Barracuda game, but apparently he was playing right side and looked back on track with how he was last year, pre injury. (2 assists in a 2-1 win.)

He was apparently stealth recalled in a swap with Jack Thompson this morning (just showed up as a scratch on the team roster.) Possible this is some odd paper transaction, in the middle of a road trip, but with Vlasic supposedly close to coming back, sending a RD down for a LD would be odd.

My guess is they want to just let him run with this swap to the right side and see if he can carry it over to the NHL.

 

[Star Platinum]

 

[CaptainShark]

According to SJHockeyNow he will suit up against the Blues…