Entered the KHL as a 17 year old and has since played over 200 games (reg. + playoffs) in the second best professional league in the world.
You say that, but what has he done to show he won't be a worse player than they are? I doubt he puts up better AHL or NHL numbers than Brown did in his first year. And I question whether he can have the same defensive success that Gauthier had in the AHL playing a shutdown role.
It's easy to point to bad players who we've had years to watch and pick apart and say that he'll be better than them. In reality though, he may not be even close to an NHL level player.
What has he done? Well, for reference (pulling this from the Leafs sub), by 22 years old:
- Panarin recorded 50 goals in 209 games over 5 seasons, or 0.24 G/GP.
- Korshkov recorded 24 goals in 172 games over 5 seasons, or .14 G/GP.
Now, looking at point totals after their first 5 seasons:
- Korshkov - 0.378 PPG
- Panarin - 0.385 PPG
If you adjust for 2 years post-draft, which might be more accurate given Panarin was 16/17 in his first small sample size year, then it looks like:
- Panarin put up 50 regular season points, in 93 games.
- Korshkov put up 45 regular season points, in 88 games.
Korshkov has also played on Lokomotiv for his entire career, which is typically a lower scoring team, whereas Panarin played for Vityaz/SKA. He's also suffered from several major injuries that derailed his seasons, such as a broken leg and shoulder injury. You have to factor in rehabilitation and recovery in to his stat line.
Those stat comparables are just to illustrate how difficult it is to produce in the KHL at such a young age. Korshkov and Panarin aren't really comparable at all, as Korsh plays a more straight line PWF game around his size. I think there is a lot of reason to be excited for a top 9 forward who was picked just outside of the 1st round a couple years ago.
