Prospect Info: #19 OA - C/W Evgeny Svechnikov, QMJHL

[Rzombo4 prez]

Great player. I never thought in a million years that we would spend a first on a Russian, but it is awesome to see the brass get out of their comfort zone. You can do a ton worse than big and skilled.

 

[Unfriendly Ghost]

#7 (and #37 later on)

 

[Run the Jewels]

Best quote: "Scouts seem to believe that his time in North America is already paying off, as his defensive work seemed to improve during the second half of the 2014-15 season"

I'm glad to see he excelled at center, and because of that, he improved his defensive game. No questions about his work ethic!

Plus there is a zero Russian factor as he WANTS to play in North America which is why he left Russia. I like this kid!

I don't like it when we act like we're smarter than everyone else. Craig Button had him ranked as a #1 scoring winger and a comparable to Max Pacioretty. We can certainly use an elite scoring winger, particularly one with size. My concern is we bury him in Cape Breton and Grand Rapids trying to turn him into a two-way center.

We have a ton of two-way centers with questionable offensive skill.

 

[InjuredChoker]

I don't like it when we act like we're smarter than everyone else. Craig Button had him ranked as a #1 scoring winger and a comparable to Max Pacioretty. We can certainly use an elite scoring winger, particularly one with size. My concern is we bury him in Cape Breton and Grand Rapids trying to turn him into a two-way center.

We have a ton of two-way centers with questionable offensive skill.

would rather try to turn him into two way center than scoring winger.

 

[Shaman464]

would rather try to turn him into two way center than scoring winger.

I'd rather him turn into an offensive center. Defense can come, you can't teach offense.

 

[Unfriendly Ghost]

"He's the full package," Wright said. "He got hampered a little bit this year by an ankle injury, but he's got really good hockey sense, he competes really hard. He's just an impressive kid. He was the only Russian kid that came into the combine this year that didn't bring in an interpreter. Didn't know one word of English before coming into this year, he's fluent in English."

Nice. That's the kind of thing that makes you think he doesn't have a "Russian factor".

 

[Unfriendly Ghost]

 

[Unfriendly Ghost]

 

[Unfriendly Ghost]

 

[Bob Probert Owns You]

I'm a fan. Way to go, Kenny!

 

[drw02]

Love the pick, reminds me of Kuznetsov in style. Think Svech can definitely make transition to center. Larkin-Svech 1-2 punch down the middle could be pretty awesome.

 

[InjuredChoker]

more about PCS in last link on post 24

 

[NickLidstrom]

Was really hoping we'd get Kylington, but by now I've learned to trust our scouts.

 

[Konnan511]

Was really hoping we'd get Kylington, but by now I've learned to trust our scouts.

Maybe they trade up tomorrow?

 

[drw02]

I don't like it when we act like we're smarter than everyone else. Craig Button had him ranked as a #1 scoring winger and a comparable to Max Pacioretty. We can certainly use an elite scoring winger, particularly one with size. My concern is we bury him in Cape Breton and Grand Rapids trying to turn him into a two-way center.

We have a ton of two-way centers with questionable offensive skill.

We're looking at Tatar, Nyquist, Pulkkinen, Mantha, Athanasiou, and Bertuzzi as our future top 9 wingers so Svech would probably be better utilized at center where there isn't much behind Larkin. Sheahan should still be around but seems better used as a 3C imo. Holmstrom is a wild card, remains to be seen if he can improve his skating enough to play center in NHL, should be solid winger if not though.

 

[Dotter]

Wings have a great forward group. Too many, in fact. KH needs to package up a few and trade for a legit young dman.

 

[Frk It]

Nice. That's the kind of thing that makes you think he doesn't have a "Russian factor".

Did they forget about Provorov? He speaks perfect english, IIRC.

 

[HisNoodliness]

Whew some potential lines are pretty exciting with Svechnikov involved. If he's a C:
Nyquist-Larkin-Mantha
Tatar-Svechnikov-Jurco
AA-Sheahan-Pulkks

And that's ignoring guys like Bertuzzi or Holmstrom plus any future acquisitions and current players. Definitely less pretty if he's a LW though:
Svech-Larkin-Mantha
Tatar-Sheahan-Nyquist
Jurco-AA (if he can handle C)-Pulkks

Still this pick has me excited. He seems to have such good qualities and a real top line forward that we can build with as part of our core. Now the awesome top nine doesn't do much without some sort of defense behind them...

 

[Bench]

It's pretty funny when you read fans of other teams say, nearly every year, "Of course it's the Wings that pick him..."

I saw this with Jurco, Mantha, Larkin, and now Svechnikov.

Obviously we don't know how all of them pan out, but it says something about how the Wings target high skill players that remain in the early rounds. And... no longer are the high end skill players in the pipeline undersized. The Red Wings of the future may not be the next coming of generational talents, but with their size and skill, you could have a very exiting forward group being groomed.

 

[SpookyTsuki]

It's pretty funny when you read fans of other teams say, nearly every year, "Of course it's the Wings that pick him..."

I saw this with Jurco, Mantha, Larkin, and now Svechnikov.

Obviously we don't know how all of them pan out, but it says something about how the Wings target high skill players that remain in the early rounds. And... no longer are the high end skill players in the pipeline undersized. The Red Wings of the future may not be the next coming of generational talents, but with their size and skill, you could have a very exiting forward group being groomed.

Jurco? Seriously? If they say that about Jurco then Im shocked they dont say that about anyone. He was just a youtube kid mostly

 

[The Zermanator]

Jurco? Seriously? If they say that about Jurco then Im shocked they dont say that about anyone. He was just a youtube kid mostly

I don't think that's fair to Jurco, let's not forget he's one of the youngest full-time Wings in a while. He's shown flashes of high-end skill but was asked to play a different role last season. He had a good end to the season in 2013-2014.

 

[Sami]

So excited about this pick!

 

[radekas]

Hockey Central ‏@SNHockeyCentral 17m17 minutes ago
“My parents said to me, 'Evgeny, you play hockey,' and that was how I started playing.†http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/...ting-cape-breton-screaming-eagles-russia-khl/ #RedWings

Sound like something Dats would say .

 

[Henkka]

Player comparisons, anyone...if that's okay?

Jakub Voracek was one comparable I saw in TV feed.

 

[Adityase]

Jurco? Seriously? If they say that about Jurco then Im shocked they dont say that about anyone. He was just a youtube kid mostly

They definitely said that about Jurco because he was still considered a late first rounder by most and we traded back and got him in the second. Plus we got Oulette and Sproul in the same round and there was a lot about them too. I also remember Toronto fans were pissed we took Hudler with our first pick which was in the second round because they'd passed on him twice.

Then again, they said the same thing about Frk...