EP:
Alexander Agapov at eliteprospects.com
Agapov put up 3 goals and 1 assist in 13 regular season VHL games, but all of his production occurred over the last 5 games of the regular season. Agapov also plays for the same team as 2019 ARI pick Danil Savunov did in the two seasons prior to his draft, and Agapov's u18 NMHL production is better than Savunov's u18 production (although Savunov is a late December birthday and drafted as a u19).
Despite his 150 lbs frame, he's very active on the backcheck and uses his body frequently to separate players from the puck, or at least makes good attempts to against older players in the VHL. His skating and speed are good but with room for improvement. He's smart with puck possession, few giveaways or forced plays, and is good at maintaining puck control while cutting around defenders and maintaining possession in the corners.
He also played a couple exhibition games for the Russian u18 team in September against Latvia and had 2 goals in 2 games but hasn't played with the u18 team since (although he was on the camp invite list for the cancelled u18 WC).
He seems like a good gamble for the late stages of the draft.
Here's a compilation video of Agapov's regular season points (#13 in blue/yellow).
Devils team discussion (news, notes and speculation) - season begins!
