Who's the best player outside the NHL
- Thread starter Kshahdoo
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I mean right now, not in the future. I doubt Schaefer or Misa are better than a PPG+ KHLer...
Those two have the highest probability of being impactful NHLer's next year than anyone not named Nikishin or Demidov in the KHL.
I put Fowler in there, because he is quickly becoming the best goalie prospect in hockey, if he isn't already.
Yeah, but it's because some of those guys won't play in the NHL next season. Otherwise I'd say Buchelnikov would have had a pretty big chance to make some noise given how bad Detroit's LW position is.
Admittedly I don't know enough about the KHL guys. Just based on what I have seen, Ill stick with my top 5.
Is that you Donald Trump? You do know the AHL, and NCAA exist right? Demidov is a star. Nikishin looks good, but he’s a lot older than most guys that have already broken into the NHL, we’ll see how good he really is. I bet the rest of those guys have mediocre careers at best. Nikishin for example wasn’t even the number one D on his team when Anthony Deangelo was there.
We’ve seen lots of guys come over and have NHL success but it’s usually short lived (Kuzmenko, Sharongovich) etc. Lots of guys who were hyped come over be (kuznutdinov) nothing. Saying that those guys are better than Leonard, Schaefer, Dvorsky, Parekh etc. is hilarious.
Right now , those 5 russians are most likely Better than those kids . Also Deangelo being the point man on the 1st pp does not mean he was the number one D.
I’m pretty sure gritsiuk will succeed in NJ with his combination of speed and skills. He has decent size as well.
Buchelnikov and shabanov , it seems to me that they are top 6 or bust
Nikishin was their 1D, he just played more of a defensive role when they had DeAngelo. As soon as DeAngelo left, he got back to his usual hockey, and he's been head and shoulders above DeAngelo since then. And I mean offensively, because defensively he always was head and shoulders above DeAngelo...
Here is your AHL Elite Prospects - AHL Stats 2024-2025, tell me who's better than Shabanov or Gritsyuk? And when it comes to junior leagues or NCAA, it's always pretty hard to evaluate players. Laf was the best CHL player for two seasons before his draft. Would Columbus trade Voronkov (who was a pretty average KHLer just 2 years ago) for him now? I think you know the answer.
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Yeah, it's pretty weak, but Nikishin and Demidov are still the best... kinda weird logic. And I named players who are almost certainly better than Demidov right now.
Hard to judge guys coming out of the Russian leagues right now. Their domestic game is on a downturn. US college hockey and Major Junior are on the upswing.
Would you agree that shabanov at 5,8 is most likely a bust at the nhl level ? How he is different than a Vladimir tkachev that has all the skills but could not handle the physicality of the nhl ?
Weren't there even smaller players in the league? And given Shabanov's skating, shot and IQ I'm pretty sure his chances to become a legit (at the least) NHLer are pretty good.
Very funny to see the whole "KHL is so weak" takes still coming up after the massive L tons of posters here have taken in the Bedard vs. Michkov comparisons.
i only pay attention to detroit prospects and watch grandrapidsgriffins , and will say that cossa has to be one of the top goalies not in nhl .
very good latteral movement at an athletic 6'7'' , makes pad saves that very few could with his long
quick legs
very good latteral movement at an athletic 6'7'' , makes pad saves that very few could with his long
quick legs
Have they taken a massive L? Bedard isn’t living up to the hype, he’s had a bad year. But the guy put up 61 points in 68 games last year on a historically bad Hawks team.
Very funny to see the whole "KHL is so weak" takes still coming up after the massive L tons of posters here have taken in the Bedard vs. Michkov comparisons.
He’s still out producing Michkov this year, despite having a terrible season.
You say it like it's a bad thing.
Yeah, KHL is so weak that when a middle-six KHLer like Tsyplakov is moving to the NHL he becomes just a middle-six NHLer.
Seriously though, I think when answering the question in the OP Nikishin is likely the correct answer, however it might be not that easy to determine a top 5, as indeed there are interesting players not only in the KHL who might be totally NHL ready already at this point.
44 points in 66 games in the season when he moved to the NHL from the KHL - sort of solid I'd say. What happened to him later is hardly KHL's fault though, it wasn't anywhere near him.
Nikishin
The rest
The rest
Both Gusev and Kuzmenko had excellent first seasons in the NHL
