Write up on Ustinkov, having a good tournament with the Swiss:
NHL Draft
#29 – Danill Ustinkov, LHD, Zürich
Daniil Ustinkov is a solid defensive defensemen and has been excellent at eliminating gaps all season against men in Switzerland (National League). He isn’t overly assertive with his pressure, but makes does an excellent job of using his positioning to shield lanes to the inside and forces play to low danger. When attackers look to use pivots to shake free from pressure, Ustinkov matches edge for edge and doesn’t leave a gap. On the flip side, he will use pivots to shake free of pressure when he has the puck. From a transition perspective, Ustinkov looks to usually make an outlet pass from the backend to a teammate further up in the defensive zone and let his forwards push play up ice. But, there are some shifts in which he looks to be a bit more of a driver in transition. He will skate up the offensive zone blue line to be a passing option for his teammates in the neutral zone, facilitate a controlled zone entry once he has the puck on his stick, push the puck up the boards and try to find a gap to get a pass off to a teammate down in the zone. When off puck and the oppositional breakout is about to kick off, he will skate up to the backside of an attacker off of the boards to make it a challenge for that attacker to grab control of the puck off of a pass from a the defenseman looking to complete a breakout pass. (Josh Tessler)
