2018 NHL Draft: Russian Prospects

[MaxV]

Zhuravlyov has substantial upside, might be a big steal there.

He is far from ready though.

 

[Caser]

Kovalenko to Colorado at 171 and Manukyan (realllly?) to Vancouver at 186 and that's all in the 6th... what is going on?

 

[MaxV]

Whoa, Manukyan is surprising.

It's the end of 6th round so it's low risk.

 

[MaxV]

Just as I predicted, Shamil Shmakov gets picked by the Avs.

Prosvetov and Shmakov are picked over Miftakhov and Isayev.

Goalie size is a big deal for NHL scouts.

 

[Caser]

Teams finaly got courage to risk with they late round picks and it has ended with:
Zavgorodniy to Calgary at 198
Shmakov to Colorado at 202
Kizimov to Toronto at 211
Shen to Boston at 212

 

[Redleg]

An absolutely amazing job Caser! Thank you for all your time and effort; your knowledge and analysis is superb. Now, I am a die hard Lightning fan and can't find much on Dmitri Semykin, but I trust in Yzerman... who is this kid?

 

[Mathew Barzal]

Kovalenko to Colorado at 171 and Manukyan (realllly?) to Vancouver at 186 and that's all in the 6th... what is going on?

Whoa, Manukyan is surprising.

It's the end of 6th round so it's low risk.

Would either of you happen to have watched him, obviously size is his biggest obstacle. What opinions do you two personally have of him?

 

[MaxV]

He has some grit and skill, still he didn’t look like NHL prospect at WJC.

 

[Fazkovsky]

Input on Romanov ?

 

[Kshahdoo]

I hope, we'll see a lot of this year's prospects at WJC. Previous year is poor talent wise, and most of these guys are already bedder, than their forerunners.

 

[Kipper933]

Galenyuk getting passed over is a shocker for me. I was also viewing Syomin as a lock to get drafted, but guess not.

Romanov at #38 is crazy though. For Romanov to go early 2nd, and then for Galenyuk and Malyshev to not get picked at all seems bizarre.

 

[MatthewFlames]

Malyshev not being picked is a surprise. Maybe just because the Avs ran out of picks?

 

[Islesfan22]

Surprised to see Iskhakv go in the second round but i love talent this kid has. I had no idea who this kid was until i noticed him for the russsians in the under 18's and was like wow this kid is awesome with the puck. Of course size is an issue and he's not a burner but his skating overall is good. Very good edge work.

 

[DanM]

SDA to TML at 76.

I really like this pick, he is very talented, and really came on the second half of the year, and super young. I think this is a great value pick as he could have easily been in the 2019 draft, and went much higher. I will be watching his draft+1 year closely.

 

[Atas2000]

Galenyuk getting passed over is a shocker for me. I was also viewing Syomin as a lock to get drafted, but guess not.

Romanov at #38 is crazy though. For Romanov to go early 2nd, and then for Galenyuk and Malyshev to not get picked at all seems bizarre.

The usual north american (bad) scouting/drafting Russians. Happens in every draft.

 

[Atas2000]

Input on Romanov ?

Typical outlandish pick by NA scouts. Nobody in Russia will be able to tell you why or how he was drafted that high if at all.

 

[Caser]

So, a lot of my posts are gone due to hf database issues in recent days.

An absolutely amazing job Caser! Thank you for all your time and effort; your knowledge and analysis is superb. Now, I am a die hard Lightning fan and can't find much on Dmitri Semykin, but I trust in Yzerman... who is this kid?

Thanks

My previous answer to you disspapeared, but I'm not a fan of Semykin pick (actually not sure if SFY is good at drafting Russian Ds). Didn't see anything special in him except the size/physicality, also he wasn't even close to making the U18 NT and, since the D there was pretty bad, it is kind of telling.

Would either of you happen to have watched him, obviously size is his biggest obstacle. What opinions do you two personally have of him?

Manukyan isn't weak at all for his size. He can skate, is gritty and got a fine right-handed shot, but I'm totally skeptical of this pick, as this season wasn't too good for him and, to be honest, I just don't see the upside.

Input on Romanov ?

I had a lot of headache about him recently, as I had to review my opinion about him. So currently my opinion about him being subpar and not too reliable in the D zone still stays, but looks like there might be some offensive upside due to skating, shot and physicality.

Malyshev not being picked is a surprise. Maybe just because the Avs ran out of picks?

You know, when they picked Kovalenko in the 6th round I just imagined Sakic looking around and seeing all the other GMs drunk and playing some draftwired-like draft simulation game.

The usual north american (bad) scouting/drafting Russians. Happens in every draft.

I think it is slightly different: they picked almost everyone who had some attacking upside, but if you're a two-way guy or a shutdown D - well, sorry, the Russian factor for you got even worse.


With that being said it is hard for me to understand how do you pick Semykin over Galenyuk/Malyshev/Dronov and Manukyan over Polodyan.

 

[MaxV]

I knew Dronov was going undrafted as soon as it was announced that he was injured and would miss the WJC. That was supposed to be his moment to shine.

Malyshev, meh, he has a lot of work to do and his upside is kind of limited imo.

Galenyuk is surprising, he has NA type of game and he isn’t one-dimensional. You absolutely take a flyer on a guy like that in later rounds.

I made a post that was erased for some reason about goalies. My prediction of Shmakov came true, but I certainly didn’t think that he would be drafted over Miftakhov. I guess it shouldn’t be that surprising.

Kotkov, Sokolov, Nizhnikov, Gogolev ... well I’ll let Atas post his thoughts on that.

 

[Caser]

I knew Dronov was going undrafted as soon as it was announced that he was injured and would miss the WJC. That was supposed to be his moment to shine.

Malyshev, meh, he has a lot of work to do and his upside is kind of limited imo.

Galenyuk is surprising, he has NA type of game and he isn’t one-dimensional. You absolutely take a flyer on a guy like that in later rounds.

I made a post that was erased for some reason about goalies. My prediction of Shmakov came true, but I certainly didn’t think that he would be drafted over Miftakhov. I guess it shouldn’t be that surprising.

Kotkov, Sokolov, Nizhnikov, Gogolev ... well I’ll let Atas post his thoughts on that.

About Dronov, I just view him as the second best KHL U21 D after Rykov, that's why it's hard for me to understand how he went undrafted... I mean, I'd pick him even if he was a year older and ineligible for the WJC at all. Btw, since we are talking about young KHL D, Ilya Morozov deserves a mention here too.

Totally disagree about Malyshev, he was the best u18 NT defensman, imo and to me it wasn't even close. He really carried that second pairing by himself, as Misyul was a liability most of the season. I even couldn't avoid making Gavrikov comparison.

To be honest, I think Galenyuk is actually one-dimensional, as I don't see many attacking potential in him and I must admit that he wasn't very good in the second half of the season, so I can see reasons why he went undrafted... but c'mon, even Semykin went in the 3rd round, not to mention that Galenyuk was in the top 90 of the scouts poll in February.

About goalies, size matters, yes, see Ivan Fedotov example.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Dronov not being drafted once again is pretty funny. It makes absolutely no sense. There are players without talent that go in the 6th and 7th rounds who always get drafted, yet a defensemen who actually has a pretty decent chance to be a top 4D in the NHL wasn't drafted.

I suspect he'll be signed eventually by an NHL team, but he definitely should've been drafted by now.

 

[Caser]

Btw, talking about undrafted guys, Sokolov has been invited to the Toronto dev camp, Kotkov - to the Colorado dev camp and, suddenly, Georgiy Dedov (you might remember this big D from last season's U18 NT, he run away in the middle of this season to play in some NCDC league and also was a first-year eligible this draft) got invited to the Columbus dev camp.