We hope that this breakdown helps give a better idea of why we value this player as highly as we do. Mintyukov has a high ceiling and can do everything and the things he’s slightly weaker at, we believe, can be coached out of him. This includes primarily his sometimes higher risk play which was already improving by the end of the season. He can skate the puck with his exceptional skating mechanics. He’s athletic enough to challenge explosive players defensively in transition, while sidestepping them when he’s activating offensively. He can spin off pressure, incorporate his frame, deliver big time hits, out smart, out think, and out pace the opposing team. He’s an exceptional playmaker and he brings a versatile offensive game. It’s extremely tight at the top in this class between the top defenseman. There’s pro’s and con’s to each one.
We feel that Simon Nemec is safer, and he has a bevy of international experience to draw upon during our evaluation relative to Mintyukov’s. Simon is more structured, more polished, he’s played against better competition, but he lacks the offensive upside of Mintyukov, and he’s not as tenacious in his own end of the ice. We value players that are extremely driven, and show that drive on the ice. Nemec has that, but Mintyukov presented it more often. His skating is better than Jiricek’s, albeit he has a less imposing frame and isn’t as dangerous from the offensive line. There’s upside and downside to each player, but we felt that Mintyukov was the defenseman we would be the most excited to theoretically draft out of any of them.
