Articles from Caser

It is time for the annual write-up on Russian draft-eligible prospects. Last year I had an impression that diving too deep in the details might be not the most entertaining way, so I'll try to make it shorter this time. We always can get into more details in the discussion though if there will be interest in that. 1. RW/LW Nikita Chibrikov I'm not sure if I will be able to write something new about Chibrikov, so I'll just try to summarize it: I think very highly of his puckhandling ability,...

It's unusual to write the annual write-up on Russian draft-eligible prospects in the situation we all are in: a lot of uncertainties in the world of hockey (and not only hockey) and, obviously, in terms of the draft too, as we don't even know for sure when and how it will be held. No U18 WJC, no conclusion in league play-offs, no combine, no U20 NT camp — all of that makes it pretty complicated, as for me it's always been important to evaluate a prospect outside of his league and "comfort...

Note: I started writing this one quite some time ago, before the hockey has been stopped, but put it on pause, as I have no idea, what the free agency market would look like this year. Still, as I see that the talk and speculation on this topic is still ongoing, I thought that I should contribute to it by publishing the article, so for now let's just pretend that it will be the same as usually. In recent years there were around 10-12 players coming from the KHL that were signed in the UFA...

Regular season has concluded in Russian leagues, so it might make sense to start looking at the prospects and RFAs, who might decide to move to NA this offseason. And by the offseason I mean mostly the time after the 30th of April, as the KHL has changed the rules regarding contract terminations that allowed Gavrikov and Gusev to go overseas early and burn down a year of the ELC. Although I should note that every rule has an exception, as Blackhawks' prospect Ivan Nalimov has already signed...

Let's face it, Podkolzin is a tier of his own here. Everything has been already said and done about him, not sure if I should repeat it. In short: while it is possible to question his offensive upside due to some flaws (possibly fixable ones though), he is a winner.

As I promised in the RFA/prospect write-up, UFA players from the KHL are also getting a write-up from me, so here it is. Although I must say that with UFAs it is much harder to make predictions, as it's almost impossible to guess the final destination, so a lot of stuff written here is just my personal view on things, take it with a good grain of salt. Let's start with some simple number: 12 UFA players moved from the KHL to the NHL in the last off-season. Some are doing fine, some have...

KHL regular season comes to an end and, with Nikita Popugaev already having crossed the pond earlier this month (signed only an AHL deal though), you can say it's about time to take a look at top drafted prospects and RFAs under the age of 27, whose KHL (and, in some cases, VHL) deals are expiring. Tried to make that in a form of a Top20 ranking with players ranked by a combination of the current ability/talent and probability of moving to the NHL. Unfortunately I wasn't able to include...

A bit late to the party this time, but let's start the yearly thread, just because. A bit of an input from me: Top 20 + 18 other interesting names + 12 overagers, that's 50 total, looks fine for a start. 1. RW/LW Vasiliy Podkolzin (6'1", 190 lbs; SKA-1946 St. Petersburg, MHL) Not sure if I need to comment a lot here — Podkolzin has been showing some great things for quite some time now. And not just some flashy highlight reel stuff, but also quite an impressive 200ft game. 2. LHD Artemiy...

My annual preview of draft-eligible Russian prospects has arrived. At the beginning of the season I made a statement that this is a "boom or bust" year and actually I think I rarely have been as precise as that time.