Yea, he's pretty small, but he's also not your typical skilled and tiny russian winger, who only can dominates the juniors leagues due to his puck skills, which will never translate well to the NHL (like Tkachev). He's hard working player, who already plays pretty much proffesional hockey. Goes right to the net to battle for the puck, sometimes even wins board battles, not afraid of contact at all. Really reminds me Tyler Johnson a lot. But maybe more creative and with the better hands too. That kind of a hockey player, whose motor never stops and who is always industrious, fast and all over the place. But yet lacking of Johnson's two way game for sure. He's still learning.
RW/C Vitalii Abramov - CSKA Moscow, KHL (2016, 65th, CBJ; traded to OTT)
- Thread starter MrGeno101
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Yea, he's pretty small, but he's also not your typical skilled and tiny russian winger, who only can dominates the juniors leagues due to his puck skills, which will never translate well to the NHL (like Tkachev). He's hard working player, who already plays pretty much proffesional hockey. Goes right to the net to battle for the puck, sometimes even wins board battles, not afraid of contact at all. Really reminds me Tyler Johnson a lot. But maybe more creative and with the better hands too. That kind of a hockey player, whose motor never stops and who is always industrious, fast and all over the place. But yet lacking of Johnson's two way game for sure. He's still learning.
Fantomas
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Caser
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I'll disagree, pre-injury Tkachev was very good: U18, MHL, SSS, QMJHL, Edmonton training camp - he was totally fine before the injury struck him.
Abramov is something different though, looking at how easy he scores so much makes me really frustrated that he won't be able to play in AHL next two years, as I don't know if playing in the Q can help him progressing further, as he is almost scoring at will there already.
Pavel Buchnevich
"Pavel Buchnevich The Fake"
Caser, are you going to do an update to your 2016 Draft rankings? I really enjoyed the pre-season version.
Fantomas
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I was commenting on Tkachev's play in major junior, to be exact. The guy was a major bust in the QMJHL. No denying that.
Caser
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Yeah, I already made the rankings itself, just need to write some comments, so it wouldn't look too dry.
Probably will finish it somewhere around next weekend and will post it in the same thread as pre-season.I don't know, his connection with Barbashev was good, imo. But again, I'm talking only about the pre-injury period.
Fantomas
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what really scares me is that Yak's rookie season in the CHL. I can easily see all thse great stats from the Q turn into another russian CHL bust.
Abramov now is 2nd in scoring in the league and has more points than Dubois, who is considered a top10 pick in 2016 draft. And if you compare their linemates, it's become obvious who's a better player.
Emerz
#1 PLD Fanboy
There's more to the game of hockey than points, and Abramov having .04 PPG higher than Dubois doesn't make him a better player.
You realize Dubois is the best player on his line right? So I really don't understand what you're even implying by that.
But I mean if it's obvious like you say than sure.
While I agree with that Dubois is the greater player due to his size and exellent defensive skills and generally amazing all-around game I believe that Abramov obviously deserves to get more love from scouts and fans of hockey. He's absolutly first-round material even with his size. If we start to judge only on pure talent he's top-10 guy in this draft for sure. And words about linemates are worthy to take into account. Even if Dubois is the best on his line he's playing with 1st-rounder and really skilled kid who is one of the best in QMJHL while Abramov is only one AINEC who has first round talent on his team.
kp61c
Registered User
well, to be frank, if abramov had the same heigt as Dubois he'd be considered a top 3 pick, not top 10. size matters
You mean he's better than both Svechnikov and Lazarev, who both have better PPG, than Dubois? Alright, it's a matter of taste, but it's exactly what I'm saying about: Dubois's playing with Svechnikov and Lazarev, who are even better scorers (right now), than him, and Abramov is clearly the main weapon of his team, being a rookie and one of the youngest.
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Dubois is really already superior than both Svechnikov and Lazarev, it's not only about stats and PPG you know. He has better tools than both of his linemates - amazingly smooth skating, exellent vision and IQ, good shot, quick and silky hands. He is an all-around threat. Really reminds me of Jamie Benn with shades of Malkin sometimes.
Just watch this video.
And I really believe that Abramov is no less talented than Dubois, just he hasn't such a good size and not so strong defensively yet.
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The russian factor is my favourite cognitive bias. I hope he manages to somehow fall to Montreal's 2nd for no good reason at all. I can dream.
I thought there's more size factor and QMJHL factor (the weakest league from the three according to common opinion) too, than russian factor in Abramov's case. But anyway he's great prospect who deserves more attention from people.
If Dubois is Jamie Benn, then Abramov is Patrick Kane. And I take Kane before Benn 11 times out of 10.
I really dont see that. In Abramov's age Patty already had world class hands and best playmaking ability and hockey sense on his draft. That's why he was selected 1st overall despite his tiny size. Abramov has it all too but it's not that great. He's more like Tyler Johnson in my eyes with slightly better hands and creativity. But he might very well end up as the new Panarin at least.
I don't think Dubois is Benn, nor is Abramov Kane.
That said, even if they were, your opinion that Kane is that much better than Benn is just that (an opinion). Even with the Stanley Cups and current scoring pace, I suspect there are many who would choose to build a team around Benn instead of Kane, if they had the opportunity.
Benn is one nasty piece of business, with size, skill, and grit that is hard to find. He may not have the resume that Kane has, but that may have more to do with each player's team mates more than the individual player.
If the two players were traded for each other, Chicago would still be a Stanley Cup favorite with Benn. Dallas, on the other hand, wouldn't be any better off with Kane (positional requirements aside, because Benn takes a lot of faceoffs for Dallas).
Many is an interesting word. Even 1% out of millions hockey fans are a lot of people. You may say many about them... Of course Benn is a great player, it's just Kane is Kane. And as to team mates, Benn has very good ones in plenty.
But it's not about Benn vs Kane, or rather it's about it in a way, who is better, an elite offensive forward or a forward who isn't as good in attack, but has other benefits. To me, Abramov is outscoring Dubois, while playing with significantly less gifted players, and it means something.
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I think he has most dynamic offensive skills in entire draft. If he was 6'0+ i think he would go top 5. Another Kucherov in the making?
