Who's the best player outside the NHL

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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.

My logic is the same age players from other leagues are either not good enough or already NHLers. And younger players are just not there yet.

I mean look at NCAA, who's the leading scorer of the league right now? Nashville's 7th rounder Aiden Fink. If you ask hfers about him, i'm pretty sure 90% will answer "never heard of him", and such stats don't usually mean a lot anyway.
 
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Nikishin




The rest

I think Demidov should have a place not far from Nikishin, but he's still a kid.

Nikishin though, hope he'll sign an NHL contract at some point, whether it's with Carolina or with someone else, can't wait to see how he'll fare on a North American ice, he does have everything to excel.
 
I feel like this conversation is impossible to have without people conflating best, most ready NHL prospect with best hockey player. It’s already happening.

If you take this conversation at its most literal core - it is pretty irrelevant whether a guy like Shabanov succeeds in the NHL or not. The question isn’t “who is the best player at ice hockey given NHL rules, NHL rink sizes and NHL settings”.

I think Nikishin is a good choice because he fits both the purity of the question and the desire to answer it based on an age/prospect status, size and toolset that seems easily transferable to the NHL. You can make the case he’s the best defenseman in the KHL and thus the best defenseman outside the NHL.

To answer Demidov you actually have to believe he is, as of the 24-25 season, the very best forward in the KHL, for starters. I think he is clearly the most precocious talent and clearly having a great season - but is he, as of 3/15/25, a “better hockey player” than say Dmitri Buchelnikov? Like distinctly, a level above? Or Shabanov? Or Galimov? Or…?

Leonard is interesting because he has a pretty dominate physical toolset that IMO could be succeeding highly in any non-NHL senior league right now, KHL included. And while yes, going down the NCAA scoring list is a foolish way to say “this player is NHL ready”, the very very top guys with experience and physical context tend to prove out very much NHL ready - which leads me to believe a guy like Leonard is a more plausible inclusion than superstar prospects still in juniors.
 
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.

Look at Misa's teammate Chernyshov. He's dunking on the OHL to absurd levels (more than Misa is) yet he's, at best, a 3rd liner on Dynamo similar to Rimashevsky.

On no planet are Schaefer or Misa the current best players outside the NHL.
Yes absurdly talented players......but they're still U18 kids.
 
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I don't know where he would rank but I'd bet Tristan luneau becomes a pretty dangerous offensive dman soon. He has 32 points in his last 22 ahl games as a 20 year old ahl rookie dman.

6'1 202 lbs for those who care.
 

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