I enjoyed watching Sergei at prospect camp and I'm happy with the signing.
But as for the draft, I think everyone is ignoring the "Russian" factor. When you combine his lack of size with the fact that he's Russian, his chances of getting drafted were virtually nil. Think about how hard it's going to be for Tolchinsky to make the NHL, how hard he's going to have to work, how many players are going to be given chances before him. Then realize that at any point, a Russian team could make him an offer to play in the KHL and he's gone.
The way the "Russian factor" is working out these days is that all is fine with Russian players ... as long as everything is going as expected. But *the moment* things get difficult, they start looking around for an easy way out (see Burmistrov, Alex). And it doesn't seem to matter if they came over to play juniors, or if they are "good guys," or if they've said they aren't considering Russia.
And if you put that together with the fact that Tolchensky is virtually certain to face hardship on his way to meaningful minutes in the NHL, I guess we'll see. But I can certainly understand not wanting to use a draft pick on an undersized Russian.
