Creative is a subjective term, especially if you're talking about a physical two-way type. From a playmaking standpoint, Zdeno Chara isn't creative. Neither is Shea Weber. Yet they put up points. Breakout passes and bombs from the point are two things Kuznetsov excels with. He'll go end to end as well and join a rush.
Disagree he doesn't make plays under pressure. Tweeted an example two days ago where he skates into traffic and slips a lead pass that trapped the forecheckers. That's only one example, but it reinforces what I saw with UConn. Peels away from pressure frequently.
Also, Russia hasn't gotten anything from their dmen this tournament. Golubovich seems to promote a forward-centric attack (always has). Kirsanov and Zotov are highly active in MHL games but have been more reserved at the WJAC.
I tend to think that you have average hands and look to throw low percentage shots on net instead of keeping possession of the puck or looking for an open teammate, you aren't going to end up a big scorer. Even those players you named like Chara and Weber, at their best, were more than capable of making highly skilled offensive plays. They had good offensive instincts. The "bombs from the point" is also an outdated term, in my opinion. How many players in the league anymore score with a lot of slap-shots? Is he going to shoot the puck like Weber or Chara? Because if he doesn't, having a slightly harder shot from the point than others doesn't matter if its inaccurate and he can't get it through.
But if you've seen him this season with UConn, I'll defer to your expertise. I can only comment on what I've seen, and I would not project much offense because he looks to have very average hands and offensive instincts.
I don't know if their defensemen at this tournament have had great tournaments or not. When I'm watching this tournament, I'm not really looking that closely at that type of stuff. I'm looking at their skill-sets, and what I think translates and doesn't translate to the NHL. Based on what I've seen, I'd say that their defense instead of their offense is where most of their better prospects are going to come from. Aside from Khusnutdinov, Pashin and Ponomaryov, I haven't been very impressed with their forwards. It looks like a weak crop from this team. On the other hand, I would say among their defensemen, Kuznetsov, Mukhmadullin, Chayka, Kirsanov and Grushnikov all look to be good prospects, and I've liked the goalie Guskov, as well.
