Who is the most hyped Russian prospect of the last 20 years ?

[10YearsHaveGone]

Im biased as an Oilers fan, in that I was more in tune with the top NHL prospects from 2008-2015, but I think its Yakupov. He was a very hyped player. And he mostly lived up to it in year 1. Shame the hockey IQ wasn't there to match the skill.

 

[Regal]

The Fail for Nail thing seemed bigger than the Michkov hype, but it might have been because there was no Bedard and there wasn’t questions about when he’d enter the league. Or maybe people just like a good catch phrase.

 

[Namikaze Minato]

The Fail for Nail thing seemed bigger than the Michkov hype, but it might have been because there was no Bedard and there wasn’t questions about when he’d enter the league. Or maybe people just like a good catch phrase.

Well it also came in a draft year which was already touted as weak and then had 2 of the top prospects get injuries that made them miss most of the season. Rielly went 5th overall after playing 18 games with a knee injury and Galchenyuk went 3rd overall after playing only 2 games that season.

There was very little competition and a good slogan in fail for Nail.

 

[EdJovanovski]

Kravtsov AINEC

 

[DrDangles]

People were calling Yak the next Bure lol

I also remember people being shocked Filatov fell to 6th (myself included) but tbf he was a pretty phenomenal player at the junior level

 

[WarriorofTime]

It was Michkov for sure. Yakupov's hype had already died down between his D-1 and his Draft Year. Wild that Michkov was available at 7th. He consistently passed every test but still gradually went from a 1B to a 2 to a Top 4 to 7th pick.

 

[SHANNYPLAN]

Yakupov

"Fail for Nail"
"Yakupov and the rest"

 

[majormajor]

The hype for Michkov was higher than for any of them. The fact that NHL scouts didn't agree with that hype is another matter. Michkov has more crazed superfans with unrealistic expectations than any of them. Demidov is better but even with the Habs fans behind him he can't get that level of hype.

 

[BKarchitect]

Michkov….but I think the hype with Svechnikov is going underrated here. He the same OHL pre-draft stats as Yakupov in a much bigger and more impressive athletic package. He went #2 because there was a generational blueline prospect in Dahlin also in the same draft, and for much of that year, IIRC, Svechnikov was right there with him as a true franchise altering talent. Yak didn’t have anything close to Dahlin in his draft and I guess if you want to say that “boosted the hype” around Nail because you had to hype somebody that year…I guess.

But I think most people considered Svechnikov a better prospect at the time of his draft than did Yakupov at the time of his draft. Everybody knew the 2012 crop was mediocre by typical standards, even at that time. In 2018, Svechnikov was one of two absolute horses at the top…and his physical style was already making him seen as something of a natural successor to Ovechkin down the road.

 

[Kane One]

Yakupov

And it’s a bit cruel to put Cherepanov here imo.

 

[WarriorofTime]

In 2018, Svechnikov was one of two absolute horses at the top…and his physical style was already making him seen as something of a natural successor to Ovechkin down the road.

Unfortunately Ovechkin had other ideas when the Rookie got a bit overzealous, lol

 

[BKarchitect]

Unfortunately Ovechkin had other ideas when the Rookie got a bit overzealous, lol

Haha, yeah I’ll never forget that. Ovie demolished him.

 

[Silky Johnson]

I remember people going nuts for Filatov

Fili don't do hype.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

The Yakupov hype train was a runaway leading up to the draft.

His floor was said to be the next Russian goal scorer in line with Bure and Ovechkin

 

[God]

Yakupov wins this easily in terms of pre-draft hype. That year was right around the time tanking slogans became popular like "Fall for Hall" or "Fail for Nail", and that added to the expectations of Yakupov becoming the next Bure with his speed and skills.

Prior to entering the NHL, it's hard to argue that Demidov is now not equal to Michkov, particularly with the fan base of the team that drafted him.

 

[gsharpe]

I remember people going nuts for Filatov

I did. That was early on for me as a fan trying to get into pre draft prospects. Quickly learned that there is way more to projections than raw talent.