Prospect Info: Player Discussion: Nikita Soshnikov

[Mess]

The last Hockey New - Future watch edition has the Leafs prospect pool as #29 out of 30.

So its nice to see Shanahan who inherited one of the leagues weakest prospect pools go out and sign a player like Soshnikov in an effort to supplement and improve the Leafs system outside of just the entry draft.

A draft rebuild is all about tossing as much young talent against the wall and seeing what sticks.

 

[Drew75]

I think the teams mantra is slowly becoming clear - skill and compete!

Love it!

 

[Duke Silver]

Shades of Berezin with Ovechkin's flare for the dramatic celly. Love it.

 

[Drew75]

FYI to the contract questions - it doesn't count until next year as the contract would likely be as of July 1st unless they promised to play him this year. If he doesn't play, it doesn't count.

If the leafs sign a College UFA - they will use a NHL contract spot if they guarantee him him playing time this year, otherwise what they usually do is sign an Entry level deal for July 1st, and an ATO for the balance of this year.

 

[SeaOfBlue]

The last Hockey New - Future watch edition has the Leafs prospect pool as #29 out of 30.

So its nice to see Shanahan who inherited one of the leagues weakest prospect pools go out and sign a player like Soshnikov in an effort to supplement and improve the Leafs system outside of just the entry draft.

A draft rebuild is all about tossing as much young talent against the wall and seeing what sticks.

Seriously? We are 19th on hockeysfuture.com. There are some teams that are truly crap... I mean, Colorado's pool is awful. Carolina is pretty bad. We are on par, or better than, teams like Ottawa, L.A., Washington (maybe) and Philly...

 

[Sittler 27]

Rebuild complete

Lol,

 

[cska78]

he is a hard working player, who developed as I really see it fit for a Russian to develop. Went through the MHL, made it to the KHL, got a lot of PT due to his team's financial struggles and made it count by being called up to NT for the European Tour.
He won't wow you with many goals, however he will work hard, and chip in from ~3rd line, where he imho belongs. Younger version of Kulyemin.

 

[Brodeur]

Seriously? We are 19th on hockeysfuture.com. There are some teams that are truly crap... I mean, Colorado's pool is awful. Carolina is pretty bad. We are on par, or better than, teams like Ottawa, L.A., Washington (maybe) and Philly...

Somewhat different criteria. HF will remove guys who are graduated, but THN's list also includes NHL players who are 21 and under as part of the total grade.

 

[SeenSchenn2]

he is a hard working player, who developed as I really see it fit for a Russian to develop. Went through the MHL, made it to the KHL, got a lot of PT due to his team's financial struggles and made it count by being called up to NT for the European Tour.
He won't wow you with many goals, however he will work hard, and chip in from ~3rd line, where he imho belongs. Younger version of Kulyemin.

Good to read. Thanks for the insight. I'd kill for another Kule.

 

[Drew311]

Kessel is now expendable.

 

[rdawg1234]

The last Hockey New - Future watch edition has the Leafs prospect pool as #29 out of 30.

So its nice to see Shanahan who inherited one of the leagues weakest prospect pools go out and sign a player like Soshnikov in an effort to supplement and improve the Leafs system outside of just the entry draft.

A draft rebuild is all about tossing as much young talent against the wall and seeing what sticks.

Wow that seems low, we have Nylander(blue chip), Brown, Johnson, Percy, Leipsic, gauthier, bibeau who look like legitimate solid future NHL players and then lesser ones like Leivo, Granberg etc. who have an alright shot

add in another blue-chip prospect this year and a 2nd top 30 pick there's no reason we shouldnt be in the top 15.

 

[crump]

Throw enough something or another and it will do something.

No harm in trying to sign these skilled guys, skill is good. One of these guys will turn out.

 

[Duke Silver]

he is a hard working player, who developed as I really see it fit for a Russian to develop. Went through the MHL, made it to the KHL, got a lot of PT due to his team's financial struggles and made it count by being called up to NT for the European Tour.
He won't wow you with many goals, however he will work hard, and chip in from ~3rd line, where he imho belongs. Younger version of Kulyemin.

Would Burmistrov be a good comparison?

 

[rdawg1234]

Kessel is now expendable.

IMO having Nylander in the system makes kessel fairly expendable. would rather replace kessel with nylander and trade him for say seth jones than keep both.

 

[Drew311]

Is he eligible to play with the Marlies this season?

Maybe they don't want to burn a year off his ELC until next season.

 

[Mess]

Is he eligible to play with the Marlies this season?

Maybe they don't want to burn a year off his ELC until next season.

Nope

Chris Johnston ‏@reporterchris 58s59 seconds ago

The #leafs newest signing, Nikita Soshnikov, isn't eligible to play in the AHL or NHL until next season.

 

[trellaine201]

5yr deal? 6M a season?

 

[Drew311]

Hard worker, smallish, decent point production. Seems like a Grabovski clone. Hopefully Soshnikov is better at keeping his head up.

 

[Pyrophorus]

Scouting reporters have him projected to be better than Yakupov.


Source: IAmBobo

I was just going to say our Kucherov

 

[Bullseye]

Would Burmistrov be a good comparison?

I think Alexei Kudashov is a better comparison.

 

[TheOtherSide]

Shoshnikov means McDavid in Russian

 

[Community]

The last Hockey New - Future watch edition has the Leafs prospect pool as #29 out of 30.

So its nice to see Shanahan who inherited one of the leagues weakest prospect pools go out and sign a player like Soshnikov in an effort to supplement and improve the Leafs system outside of just the entry draft.

A draft rebuild is all about tossing as much young talent against the wall and seeing what sticks.

While our prospect pool could definitely use some work, it's not the 2nd worst in the NHL and most prospect rankings have us closer to mid-pack. HfBoards itself has the Leafs 19th at the start of the year.

Considering we've added Leipsic, Soshnikov, have 2 1sts this year, and have seen great progress from Brown/Nylander/Johnson... I'm comfortable saying we'll be in the top 10 at the start of next season.

Next year we should have 2 blue-chippers (Nylander + 2015 1st), some very good B prospects playing great in the AHL/SHL (Brown, Leipsic, Johnson, Percy, NSH 1st), and a lot of depth players that can play on 2nd/3rd line or 2nd/3rd pairings (Leivo, Finn, Loov, Granberg, etc.).

 

[WTFMAN99]

I was hoping for Artem Panarin who plays for St. Petersburg of the KHL. Maybe he is next as Leafs scouts must be scouting the KHL.

I was hoping we could get him and Tikhonov. I think they would be nice additions for the Leafs. Likely fills out some roster spots for us too. Just have to be careful on term and $$.

 

[Community]

IMO having Nylander in the system makes kessel fairly expendable. would rather replace kessel with nylander and trade him for say seth jones than keep both.

Those are very big shoes to fill for Nylander... Obviously I hope he can do it and he's got the skills and smarts to be able to, but Kessel is a top offensive talent in the NHL and his production will be very hard to replicate.

 

[Bullseye]

While our prospect pool could definitely use some work, it's not the 2nd worst in the NHL and most prospect rankings have us closer to mid-pack. HfBoards itself has the Leafs 19th at the start of the year.

Considering we've added Leipsic, Soshnikov, have 2 1sts this year, and have seen great progress from Brown/Nylander/Johnson... I'm comfortable saying we'll be in the top 10 at the start of next season.

Next year we should have 2 blue-chippers (Nylander + 2015 1st), some very good B prospects playing great in the AHL/SHL (Brown, Leipsic, Johnson, Percy, NSH 1st), and a lot of depth players that can play on 2nd/3rd line or 2nd/3rd pairings (Leivo, Finn, Loov, Granberg, etc.).

Lol. The report is about the condition of our prospect pool today not after the draft or next year or the year after and Soshnikov does not change that.

Truth is we have one blue chipper. Brown is a 1B and then it's all foggy despite all of our self-assurances. We need to draft extremely well this year and next and the year after to change from where we deserve our pool to be ranked.

This organization has done a woeful job of selecting Elite players but there is a new group here now so hoping it will get better in the next 5 years.