Breakthrough players in KHL in 2016-2017

[SoundAndFury]

Zub was invited to NT for EHT, probably the most surprising name on it. That's mostly right hand bias but definitely puts him on the map.

 

[Alessandro Seren Rosso]

To be honest I simply think that it was the far east anti-bias to keep him out from EHT rosters till far... it was the same for Murygin back in the days and also for Osipov to an extent.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Or these players mentioned looking good just because they are getting minutes and opportunities people in other clubs don't get. Not so much applicable to Zub but to Murygin and Osipov especially. IMHO Zub is at the same level as entire Loko top 6, if not top 8. Cherepanov is being bounced back and forth as redundant piece and he was just as good last year for Amur.

And again, Znarok really likes his right handers.

 

[MaxV]

BTW, all the talk about the little Vladimir Tkachyov, what about the bigger one?

He is having a very nice start to the season.

 

[Acallabeth]

Andrei Kareyev's first shutout of the season is a good reason to post what will be my final little update about Kuznya kids. With that SO win (his 2nd of the season), Kareyev has 93.3 sv% with 2.35 GAA, which could easily be one of the best KHL seasons ever if he can keep these numbers up. Biryukov has officially been relegated to a backup, as Kareyev passed him in games played tonight.

Nikita Lyamkin is making a good progress over the season. He's more reliable in his own zone now, much better along the boards and is finally getting a bit of offense with 6 points (2+4) in October.
Timur Fatkullin has become a reliable 2nd pairing regular and averages 13:24 a game with 4 points (1+3) over the season.

With a major offensive slump, not a lot of good can be said about the forwards, unfortunately.
Kirill Semyonov has been great defensively and made some strong hockey plays, but he only has 1 goal in the last 8 games for 12 points (6+6) over 27 KHL games. Still a respectable production, beautiful SO winner today as well (and this with Barulin knowing it's Kirill's best move, ha ha).


Evgeny Solovyov has been one of the few scoring threats for the Berdnikov's boys with 4 goals the last 9 games and 8 points (6+2) in 18 games since being called up.

 

[Peter25]

Artem Zub was rather impressive today against Jokerit. What is his ceiling?

 

[SoundAndFury]

I'd say 2nd pair NHL D if he works his ass off.

 

[ozo]

Zub probably is another one of those who makes the most out of the fact that he is coming through the ranks of a poor team.

 

[Fazkovsky]

How good are torchenyuk , tkachev and ozighanov?

Any NHL ceiling ?

 

[SoundAndFury]

How good are torchenyuk , tkachev and ozighanov?

1) None.
2) Which one?
3) Middle pairing D. If he wants to become one. I doubt he does though as he is pretty lean that would require so much gym work.

 

[MaxV]

Ozhiganov is lean? He damn near 210.

 

[Peter25]

Zub probably is another one of those who makes the most out of the fact that he is coming through the ranks of a poor team.

Another thing going for Zub is that he was not a great talent as a teenager, and was thus saved from ruining his career in the Canadian junior leagues.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Ozhiganov is lean? He damn near 210.

That's not much for someone with 188 cm height. Also, more importantly, he plays lean. Not necessarily a bad thing in Europe but you need to have more of a physical presence in NA.

 

[ozo]

Another thing going for Zub is that he was not a great talent as a teenager, and was thus saved from ruining his career in the Canadian junior leagues.

He did debut in MHL being very young and he also played for Russia U18 team, so he certainly had plenty of talent.

 

[MaxV]

Demchenko with an absolutely sick save.

At about 1:00 mark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO4a3tbRAuk

 

[cska78]

Torchenyuk does not have much NHL upside...Ozhiganov with some work could.

 

[Peter25]

Zakhar Arzamastsev has been playing great this year. He is already 24 though.

 

[Peter25]

Miro Aaltonen.

 

[MaxV]

Korshkov-Kraskovskiy-Polunin should have had 2 goals today.

They combined on a very nice combination play, unfortunately Rafikov received the pass outside the blueline.

At 5:40 mark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w--wMf8lHCo

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Has anyone mentioned Daniil Vovchenko? He's impressed me almost every time I've watched him play.

 

[aonb]

Has anyone mentioned Daniil Vovchenko? He's impressed me almost every time I've watched him play.

WOWchenko And yeah, you are right. Cherepovets is pretty bad right now (especially last few games) but Danil is legit.

 

[malkinfan]

Has anyone mentioned Daniil Vovchenko? He's impressed me almost every time I've watched him play.

Yeah reminds of Kuptsov and Vovchenko, two guys that fit the mold. Vovchenko (maybe not so random) has pretty sweet hands and is surprisingly strong on the puck for a small guy, I could see him getting big minutes and having a big year.

Ive been keeping a close eye on him all year. He has developed nice chemistry with Trunyov. Both guys have looked really good and are getting significant PP time. I actually think he plays better on the smaller ice surface too. He had one of his best games of the season in Zagreb and had a good showing at the super series last year. Small sample size but from what I saw see, it was conclusive.

 

[malkinfan]

Wanted to mention Mateukhin, not young by any means. But has come out of nowhere this year, scoring some highly skilled goals in bunches.

 

[SoundAndFury]

He was always a highly skilled player, a shooter too, which is quite unusual for someone from Russian hockey school but always thought about as not good enough for the KHL. He kind of lucked his way into it and is here to stay, being a really good player if used correctly. Since Ukraine mostly was in the same WC division as Lithuania I had to watch him yearly throughout his career and it's really nice he broke through to the big stage, I'd imagine there are many players throughout the world who were just never given a chance at the higher level. And by given a chance I mean put in the position to succeed which Materukhin was because the season Minsk signed him they were so bad they had no one else to put out there with any skill. They only signed him out of desperation, too.

Going back to Vovchenko, I was actually surprised today he is still just 20. It seems like his name was out there for years. My opinion was "well he gets TOI he has to produce" but actually for a 20 year-old what he manages to do is really nice, definitely someone to keep an eye on. Still strange he didn't play in WJC last year, that's why I thought he was older.

 

[MaxV]

He isn't really Bragin type of player, that's why no WJC.