Prospect Info: Avs draft D Mikhail Gulyayev (2023 #31 overall)

[S E P H]

I watched more tape on him.

Pros
- When he gets to top speed, he is close to impossible to stop
- Amazing ability to walk the blueline and change shooting angles
- Very deceptive from the point, great vision when it comes to shot-pass tips
- Cerebral player, especially when defending knowing he won't ever beat players 1v1 with size

Cons
- His first stride is pretty dang lacklustre
- His shot is awful, especially the heaviness of it
- Too slender, will definitely need to bulk up
- Huge puck watcher in the defensive zone
- Tends to use his stick too much when defending, I want him to be more involved with his body around the net

He is a big-time puck-rushing defenceman who is very crafty and uses his agility to honestly fool around with opposing forechequers at times. He uses fakes, body jukes, changing the pace, and the all-the-above to make space and ankle-break players. A bit cocky and confident in his ability with the puck, I actually like to see that. His play away from the puck needs work, his biggest weakness is puck-watching and leaving opposing players open in front of the net all the time. Another weakness is his defensive ability in the corner, especially when battling for pucks. He isn't truly terrible, but something he can work on by outsmarting opposing players.

He also has dished some pretty big hits from what I've seen by standing up in the defensive zone and catching players off balance. He's quite deceptive physically like Makar, but like Cale, he tends to pinpoint his targets and doesn't go out all the time. One of his best elements is anticipation, there were some extremely smart plays where he saw where the play was going and used his skating ability to steal the puck and make a very quick counter. Truthfully, this might be his best version of defence, using his anticipation and skating ability by reading the opposing team's play and countering this by stealing pucks before the opponents have a chance to set up a play. I see Erik Gustafsson/Neal Pionk in his game as I don't think it is fair to compare anybody to Makar (except Lane Hudson). If he doesn't improve his play away from the puck, we at least got a Marc-Andre Bergeron/Kyle Cuminskey type of player.

 

[IceManCat]

He’ll be the steal of the draft

 

[niwotsblessing]

He’ll be the steal of the draft

May the Hockey Gods hear your declaration and may they make it so.

 

[Kshahdoo]

3 points after 7 games, 15:54 average TOI in the KHL this season.

 

[SoundwaveIsCharisma]

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

3 points after 7 games, 15:54 average TOI in the KHL this season.

That's not too bad

 

[Balthazar]

 

[henchman21]

That was a great activation… needs to keep his feet moving in the NHL to execute on that play. Shows shows his IQ and burst.

 

[Ceremony]

The Avangard goalie is wearing the number 5??? Do they give out numbers at random in Russia???

 

[Richard88]

That very much looks like an Avs blueliner goal, nice activation on the rush

 

[S E P H]

Why do those jerseys look just like Canada's Olympic ones? Confuses me every single time.

 

[niwotsblessing]

Trade Girard.

 

[Chiarelli]

That pass was coming in hottttt.
He handles it a bit weird but got the job done.

 

[Hasbro]

The Avangard goalie is wearing the number 5??? Do they give out numbers at random in Russia???

 

[Perratrooper]

 

[Avsavsavsavsavs]

The Girard replacement is coming along well

 

[RoyIsALegend]

Is he playing left wing or why is he out at center ice when his team is breaking out of their zone?

Hope he isn’t a pure rover.

 

[AvsMakar08]

Guly is an offensive Dman , he will jump up if he has a chance. I can't wait until he arrives in Colorado in the next three years or so.

 

[Foppa2118]

Is he playing left wing or why is he out at center ice when his team is breaking out of their zone?

Hope he isn’t a pure rover.

Seemed like he was coming back quickly. Might have just pinched down low on the rush prior. #11 in red looked like he might have been covering for him.

 

[CobraAcesS]

Is he playing left wing or why is he out at center ice when his team is breaking out of their zone?

Hope he isn’t a pure rover.

Oh, I get the sense he's absolutely a 4th forward. We'll see lol.

 

[Metallo]

View attachment 750322

In Soviet Russia number picks you.

 

[Perratrooper]

Is he playing left wing or why is he out at center ice when his team is breaking out of their zone?

Hope he isn’t a pure rover.

Coulda been a bad change, or he got caught on a pinch. Seems extremely late to the play, but does do a good job of making up for it.

 

[Kase]

After watching Gulyayev for 15ish games between last and this season in VHL and KHL, I can say pretty confidently that he is far from a rover or a 4th forward. If anything I'd say he plays too safely and conservatively, but he is a 18yo smaller Dman playing third pairing minutes in one of the best leagues in the world, so it's understandable that he would want to play it safe and not risk his spot in the lineup. But the conservative play style has been very consistent trade mark in his play, at least in the games I've watched.

I know Gulyayev has a reputation of an offensive Dman, but I disagree with that notion as I think he makes considerably bigger impact defensively than offensively and for a smaller Dman to be an actual impact player in NHL, IMO they need to be able to make difference offensively or they will just be stopgaps for a bigger player.

And that's currently my biggest concern with Gulyayev. Can he make a difference offensively or is he closer to something like Mete or Brännström ie. fast skating small two way dman where neither of their two ways is quite good enough to really be an impact player. Gulyayev is good North-South player, but his ability to make plays East-West is almost non-existent at the moment and that could seriously hurt his offensive impact. I think that's also the reason why he looks so whatever on powerplay (which he isn't doing in KHL). The reason for this IMO is his puck handling/confidence/control; he just doesn't look comfortable handling the puck laterally.

Defensively though, I think he is already able to make an positive impact at KHL level as a reliable defender. He is very rarely out of position, good at neutral zone and keeping attackers on the outside out of high danger scoring areas. He really needs to up his use of body and activity in board battles though, as he is too passive and content at just keeping the attackers on the outside, which leads to prolonged zone time for the opposition.

All in all, I like Gulyayev and If he can improve his puck handling/confidence/control, East-West play and be more active in zone defence, I think he will become a good two way top 4 Dman for Avs and be a really good fit with your playstyle.

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

Yeah, from what I’ve seen with Gulyayev, he’s playing really safe in the KHL, probably to earn the trust of the coaching staff. He hasn’t been taking too many risks offensively. Needs to get more aggressive with the puck.

 

[AllAboutAvs]

If he is too conservative offensively, and I have no reason to doubt the posters that have watched him play because I haven't, then the Avs is the best place for him to end up playing. The Avs love their dmen to activate offensively so they should be able to build his confidence to do so.

I am also glad to read that he seems to be reliable defensively. If he could become a true two-way dman for us that would turn out to be a very good selection for a late 1st round pick.

Let's see when he comes over because like I said before the KHL and the NHL are two different beasts.