Daniil Zharkov 91st overall 2012 LW

[NAF]

Couldn't find the original player discussion thread for this guy (must have been lost when the site was updated?).

Anyway, looks like he's in camp at Bakersfield on a PTO. I remember being somewhat intrigued by the kid when we drafted him. Liked his cockiness. (He said he wanted to be better than Yakupov.) Then he had an underwhelming draft +1 season in Belleville and subsequently disappeared to Russia.

http://oilers.nhl.com/club/blogpost.htm?id=41519

Click to read more...

 

[LTIR]

Couldn't find the original player discussion thread for this guy (must have been lost when the site was updated?).

Anyway, looks like he's in camp at Bakersfield on a PTO. I remember being somewhat intrigued by the kid when we drafted him. Liked his cockiness. (He said he wanted to be better than Yakupov.) Then he had an underwhelming draft +1 season in Belleville and subsequently disappeared to Russia.

http://oilers.nhl.com/club/blogpost.htm?id=41519

nice.. a buddy to hang around with for Yakimov and Slepyshev.

 

[Digger12]

I still have fond memories of this from the 2012 development camp:

 

[Aceboogie]

Couldn't find the original player discussion thread for this guy (must have been lost when the site was updated?).

Anyway, looks like he's in camp at Bakersfield on a PTO. I remember being somewhat intrigued by the kid when we drafted him. Liked his cockiness. (He said he wanted to be better than Yakupov.) Then he had an underwhelming draft +1 season in Belleville and subsequently disappeared to Russia.

http://oilers.nhl.com/club/blogpost.htm?id=41519

Gunna be hard for him to make it. We got a good amount of good young kids down there. Hell Christoffer could end up in ECHL

 

[Jumptheshark]

Gunna be hard for him to make it. We got a good amount of good young kids down there. Hell Christoffer could end up in ECHL

We finally have depth on the farm. We think and hope

 

[ChaoticOrange]

Interesting find, thanks!

 

[Spawn]

Weird! I wonder what brought him to try out for our AHL team. We did the same thing with Roy after not signing him and giving him an AHL contract. It's a clever way to hold onto fringe prospects without having to actually give them a contract spot on the 50 limit.

 

[OilTastic]

Couldn't find the original player discussion thread for this guy (must have been lost when the site was updated?).

Anyway, looks like he's in camp at Bakersfield on a PTO. I remember being somewhat intrigued by the kid when we drafted him. Liked his cockiness. (He said he wanted to be better than Yakupov.) Then he had an underwhelming draft +1 season in Belleville and subsequently disappeared to Russia.

http://oilers.nhl.com/club/blogpost.htm?id=41519

^then reality set in and he realized he doesn't have nearly as much talent as Yak has!

i don't think, despite his good size, that he has a snowballs chance with the Oilers. they already have big guys down there that he'd have to beat out to get a job. in my opinion, he just hasn't developed much since we drafted him and likely won't be around long.

 

[molsonmuscle360]

Weird! I wonder what brought him to try out for our AHL team. We did the same thing with Roy after not signing him and giving him an AHL contract. It's a clever way to hold onto fringe prospects without having to actually give them a contract spot on the 50 limit.

I think it's easier for teams to do that because they know the prospect a little bit already. Some teams who are unsure, might just pass them up

 

[NAF]

^then reality set in and he realized he doesn't have nearly as much talent as Yak has!

i don't think, despite his good size, that he has a snowballs chance with the Oilers. they already have big guys down there that he'd have to beat out to get a job. in my opinion, he just hasn't developed much since we drafted him and likely won't be around long.

Not sure that I can agree with the bolded. The KHL and, by extension, Russia is such a black hole of information that it makes tracking prospects' development over there almost impossible. I definitely acknowledge that it sure seems like he's got slim hopes of even cracking the roster on our farm teams, but I just don't know. Maybe he comes into Bakersfield camp and impresses them the way Slepyshev has impressed here in Edmonton. For his sake, I hope so (I never root against these kids) but as a fan, I'm just happy to see big time competition for jobs in the organization. Getting to the NHL is supposed to be almost impossibly hard. That's what makes it so worthwhile.

 

[Hockey Buddha]

^then reality set in and he realized he doesn't have nearly as much talent as Yak has!

i don't think, despite his good size, that he has a snowballs chance with the Oilers. they already have big guys down there that he'd have to beat out to get a job. in my opinion, he just hasn't developed much since we drafted him and likely won't be around long.

Development is different for every player. He's got a lot of tools, but he's been spinning his wheels for the past two years in Russia. I think if he could possibly figure things out in Bakersfield this season; he is still young enough to salvage a career, but he absolutely must have a rebound season. I think his chances are diminished, but he still has good NHL size and with the number of Russian players in Bakerfield he can possibly recover his development. He's just 21. Nothing to be lost for Bakersfield in giving him a PTO, and maybe they recover a player in him. He obviously needs a new start. I think that he's always needed to play with some more desperation to his game; this might be a real good thing for him. I always liked this kid, but he is a real long shot at this point.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

I wish him the best but I wonder what he has to offer after crapping the bed in Russia.

 

[LTIR]

^then reality set in and he realized he doesn't have nearly as much talent as Yak has!

i don't think, despite his good size, that he has a snowballs chance with the Oilers. they already have big guys down there that he'd have to beat out to get a job. in my opinion, he just hasn't developed much since we drafted him and likely won't be around long.

well he isnt really trying out for the Oilers is he. If he can make the AHL team he can grow together with Yakimov and possibly Slepyshev there. No real harm to the Oilers.

 

[Homesick]

I wish him the best but I wonder what he has to offer after crapping the bed in Russia.

Do any young players have success in the KHL? Even Slepyshev didn't have success there until his 4th season and he was a #1 overall pick

 

[NAF]

I wish him the best but I wonder what he has to offer after crapping the bed in Russia.

Again, I'm not sure how fair that is. Did you watch any of his games in Russia? Do you know how he was deployed? What kind of minutes? What line he was on?

The KHL is a total black hole. The only thing I do feel like I reliably know about it is that it's a veteran's league. Coaches over there hate playing their kids.

At any rate, we'll know soon enough what kind off player he is, I guess.

Why the kid went back to Russia is a frigging mystery to me, given all his talk of playing in the NHL and not wanting to go back to Russia and how Canadian hockey is now his hockey (paraphrasing, but IIRC that's what he said when he was drafted).

 

[McDNicks17]

He was one of my favorite draft eligible OHLers that year, but I don't think there's much hope after he played his way from the KHL down to their AHL and then down to their juniors and didn't impress at any level last season.

Who knows? Some time in the ECHL(I don't think there's any way he makes the Condors) might help him find his game again.

 

[Jumptheshark]

I wish him the best but I wonder what he has to offer after crapping the bed in Russia.

the KHL is a strange thing. Just how some rosters are put together is like how Eakins and Mact put their rosters together--the players that were working the hardest sometimes did not get the most ice time--but players the coach and gm liked did.

[MOD]

 

[nexttothemoon]

Nice find by the OP.

I honestly thought he might not even be playing hockey anywhere anymore.

He has decent hands and good size from what I recall but he seems to have almost fallen off the face of the Earth in terms of the regression he's gone though by the sounds of his time in Russia.

Is there even an ECHL player there anymore? I agree though, no harm in having a look... even if it's just for depth in the minors.

 

[StoveTopStauffer]

Wow he's back on the map. I thought he like quit hockey or something when he basically disappeared.

 

[Fourier]

He was one of my favorite draft eligible OHLers that year, but I don't think there's much hope after he played his way from the KHL down to their AHL and then down to their juniors and didn't impress at any level last season.

Who knows? Some time in the ECHL(I don't think there's any way he makes the Condors) might help him find his game again.

I liked him a lot as well. Watched a lot of his games (realy just parts of the game) in Bellville in his post draft year. He was a little inconsistent offensively but I thought he played very well on a team that was not that deep. BUt he dropped off the map and will have a long way to go.

 

[Fourier]

Again, I'm not sure how fair that is. Did you watch any of his games in Russia? Do you know how he was deployed? What kind of minutes? What line he was on?

The KHL is a total black hole. The only thing I do feel like I reliably know about it is that it's a veteran's league. Coaches over there hate playing their kids.

At any rate, we'll know soon enough what kind off player he is, I guess.

Why the kid went back to Russia is a frigging mystery to me, given all his talk of playing in the NHL and not wanting to go back to Russia and how Canadian hockey is now his hockey (paraphrasing, but IIRC that's what he said when he was drafted).

His only real option was the Bulls though and they were looking to be brutal.

 

[NAF]

His only real option was the Bulls though and they were looking to be brutal.

Oh, that's right, isn't it? He would have been too young for the AHL that year. Yeesh. Tough call for the kid. Play another year on an absolutely dreadful junior club or go back to Russia. Sometimes the rule barring draft +2 players from playing in the AHL seems pretty stupid. :/

 

[NAF]

Nice find by the OP.

I honestly thought he might not even be playing hockey anywhere anymore.

He has decent hands and good size from what I recall but he seems to have almost fallen off the face of the Earth in terms of the regression he's gone though by the sounds of his time in Russia.

Is there even an ECHL player there anymore? I agree though, no harm in having a look... even if it's just for depth in the minors.

haha thanks. I spend about 95% of my free time scouring the net hoping to turn up any Oilers news I haven't already read a dozen times before. Figured I'd share what I found with my fellow obsessives.

 

[Zine]

Zharkov sucks now. But did anybody watch Zharkov in the USHL, or OHL? WTF happened?

He was always one of the very best Russia 1994s in youth hockey, then he left for North America and seemingly lost his skills overnight. He returned home 2 years ago and wasn't impressive anymore. Last year he was just bad. It's crazy.

I feel sorry for him.

 

[McDNicks17]

Let's bring the thread back to Zharkov.