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LD Yan Kuznetsov (2020, 50th, CGY)

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Caser said:
Well, so far he has played only one game at the WJAC, as he was late to the party and also didn't have a lot of practicing with the team, so no surprise the offense isn't there.
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Yeah, I worded that poorly. He joined for the second game. I’m basing what I’ve seen of him this season off that one game. The others have played two games. But I saw him play last year, and I didn’t think he had much in the way of hands, playmaking, chance creation. He makes very basic plays with the puck, never really looks to make anything happen that is creative.

That was only my assessment of his offense. That seems to be the main question about him. But maybe he is starting to improve his offensive game and I haven’t seen it yet.
 
Pavel Buchnevich said:
Does anyone watch UConn regularly? I've seen a few games of his at the WJAC, and I see very little offense. No better offensively than what I saw last year. Little skill, can't make difficult plays under pressure. His puck moving isn't bad and he can make the high percentage play, but he doesn't seem to initiate much offense.
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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.
 
Steve Kournianos said:
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.
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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.
 
Russian defenceman Yan Kuznetsov has been playing in North America for the last two seasons. He spent this past season playing in the NCAA with the University of Connecticut Huskies. Kuznetsov was one of the youngest players in college hockey. He scored two goals and nine assists for 11 points in 34 games this season. Kuznetsov also played six games for the Russian Under-18 National Team, picking up one assist. He also played for Russia in the World Junior A Hockey Challenge, picking up one assist in five games and helping the team to a gold medal.

Last season, he played for the Sioux Falls Stampede in the USHL. Kuznetsov scored four assists in 34 games. While he didn’t play in the playoffs due to injury, he was a big part of the club that went on to win the Clark Cup. Kuznetsov also played for Team Russia at the Under-17 World Hockey Challenge, picking up one assist in six games and again helping the club to win a gold medal. Overall in 10 games with the Russian Under-17 National team, he scored one goal and two assists for three points.

Our Full Report
https://lastwordonhockey.com/2020/05/19/yan-kuznetsov-scouting-report/
 
Cool.

No idea what to think about this kid. Hope he pans out. :)
 
Any one actually watch him and have comments? Seems a bit off the board for the Flames
 
Bond said:
Any one actually watch him and have comments? Seems a bit off the board for the Flames
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Big defenseman with good skating ability. Can rush the puck. Pretty good defensive player. I'm between thinking there's untapped potential offensively, and thinking he's just not much of an offensive guy. Hard to know. I only saw him play with Russia this year, but he did put up some points this year at UConn. Not a bad pick in the second round.
 
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A rare case of me liking the pick because he is in the US system instead of the CHL. Ithink he might develop into something.
 
Good pick. Wanted him for my team,but am happy with what we ended up doing.
 
Brings no offense at all at the AHL level, it's hard to expect him to be an NHLer if he can't get a single point in 18 AHL games. Feels like he should have staye din the NCAA one more year.
 
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