Europeans to Watch For in '08 & later Drafts

[studley49]

Hey everyone,

I've already heard some names thrown around about a few european players for coming drafts, such as Paajavari, Granlund, and Kitsyn.

But are there any names to take note of for '08 draft or later? And for these players, could you give just a little bit of insight.

Thanks.

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[Passchendaele]

Kirill Petrov

 

[Zine]

Some players from Russia to keep an eye on:

2008
Kirill Petrov
Andrei Loktionov
Vyacheslav Voinov

2009
Andrei Kuchin
Kirill Polozov
Oleg Li

2010
Maxim Kitsyn
Kirill Kabanov
Daniil Apalkov
Vladimir Ionov

 

[Sanderson]

There aren't any dominant forward prospects in Germany right now, everything is at the "lower round, if at all"-level, as far as I can tell. All doing nicely in the junior leagues, but they are a far cry from guys like Hecht, Sturm and Goc, who were putting up lots of points in the DEL at the age of 18, instead of playing junior hockey.

Defenseman Sören Sturm might turn into quite a good player, though. He's eligible in 2008. Finished sixth in scoring in Germany's main junior league this season. Should play in the U18-WC in a few days.

 

[Garl]

There aren't any dominant forward prospects in Germany right now, everything is at the "lower round, if at all"-level, as far as I can tell. All doing nicely in the junior leagues, but they are a far cry from guys like Hecht, Sturm and Goc, who were putting up lots of points in the DEL at the age of 18, instead of playing junior hockey.

Defenseman Sören Sturm might turn into quite a good player, though. He's eligible in 2008. Finished sixth in scoring in Germany's main junior league this season. Should play in the U18-WC in a few days.

Simon Fishhaber? Jerome Flaake?

 

[Garl]

Swedish top prospects:
2008:
Johan Motin(Big D with impresive skills, alredy plays in SEL)
Mattias Tedenby(Dominated in U18 tournaments despite being 16 y.o.)
Andre Pettersson(Best scorer of 5-nations tournament in Czech, second was JVR)
Anton Gustafsson(Big&skilled player)
Anton Blomqvist(6'4 D-man)

2009:
Victor Hedman(6'5/215 D-man, best D-man at U18 team, near PPG in final round of U20 Swedish League)
Anton Lander(skilled player, reads the game well, dominated Swedish U18 division)
William Wallen(creative, 18 pts in 5 games in his league)
Anton Myllari(big,strong D-man)
Magnus Paajarvi(Great size, skills, skating)

 

[Panopticon]

I've already heard some names thrown around about a few european players for coming drafts, such as Paajavari, Granlund, and Kitsyn.

From Finland, in addition to Granlund, you really should be looking for Toni Rajala, Erik Haula and Teemu Pulkkinen as well.

 

[Garl]

From Finland, in addition to Granlund, you really should be looking for Toni Rajala, Erik Haula and Teemu Pulkkinen as well.

Pulkkinen put some impressive stats in 3 game series vs Sweden.
5 points in 3 games, despite he was the only underager in both teams and Sweden 1991 is clearly stronger than Finland 1991.

Sweden played without some best players(Lander, Wallen, Myllari) though.

 

[Sanderson]

Simon Fishhaber? Jerome Flaake?

As I said, they are doing nicely in juniors, but they haven't shown anything at DEL-level like Hecht, Sturm or Goc did, nor were they as good as Gogulla at the DNL-level. Good enough to be drafted in the later rounds, yes, potential first, second or third round picks, it doesn't look like it.
Some of them should try to play major junior, if they are good enough to get a good amount of icetime in Canada, it definately beats everything in Germany, unless they can get lots of icetime in the DEL or even the 2.Bundesliga, which seems very unlikely.

They might develope over the next few years, but as of right now they haven't established themselves in the DEL, nor set the world on fire in the DNL. There is no one who really sets himself apart from the rest of the league.

 

[Garl]

As I said, they are doing nicely in juniors, but they haven't shown anything at DEL-level like Hecht, Sturm or Goc did, nor were they as good as Gogulla at the DNL-level. Good enough to be drafted in the later rounds, yes, potential first, second or third round picks, it doesn't look like it.
Some of them should try to play major junior, if they are good enough to get a good amount of icetime in Canada, it definately beats everything in Germany, unless they can get lots of icetime in the DEL or even the 2.Bundesliga, which seems very unlikely.

They might develope over the next few years, but as of right now they haven't established themselves in the DEL, nor set the world on fire in the DNL. There is no one who really sets himself apart from the rest of the league.

They are only 16 y.o. It's too early to play in DEL.

Sturm ,Hecht and Goc became DEL regulars at the age of 17, I believe. In their draft year.

So Fishhaber and Flaake have 1 more year to follow path of Sturm and Hecht.

However in International games this guys are a force.

 

[Panopticon]

Pulkkinen put some impressive stats in 3 game series vs Sweden.
5 points in 3 games, despite he was the only underager in both teams and Sweden 1991 is clearly stronger than Finland 1991.

Sweden played without some best players(Lander, Wallen, Myllari) though.

Yeah, Pulkkinen is putting up the best numbers out of all these four hihgly touted Finnish youngsters pretty much everywhere. I still haven't seen him play, though.

In Junior C this season he scored 21+22=43 in 11 games! Granlund "only" scored 15+16=31. Pulkkinen also had 17 points in 6 playoff games.

 

[Sanderson]

They are only 16 y.o. It's too early to play in DEL.

Sturm ,Hecht and Goc became DEL regulars at the age of 17, I believe. In their draft year.

So Fishhaber and Flaake have 1 more year to follow path of Sturm and Hecht.

However in International games this guys are a force.

Even if they make it into the DEL in a small role, that's still a far cry from what Sturm and Hecht did. It is one thing to play some minutes on the fourth line, that's something quite a few talents have done. It is something entirely different to actually make an impact and get playing time.

International play doesn't mean all that much, either. Christoph Gawlik was amazing in those games as well, he's as talented as any forward coming out of Germany in recent memory, dominating in the DNL and actually scoring in the DEL, yet he wasn't even drafted. It takes one heck of a player to be drafted as a German in the first three rounds, and none of the prospects, besides perhaps Sturm, are on such a level.

As I said, there are quite a few guys who could make it as late round picks, maybe even improving later on, like the "big three" defensemen did, but none of them is on a elite level, which is needed to be drafted early. Of course there are lots of guys who could be drafted, but this isn't about those guys, it's about European talents who look like the cream of the crop of the future drafts, and none of the German forwards have done anything other German forwards haven't done in the last few years. Needless to say, none of those forwards were drafted anywhere close to the early rounds, if at all.

 

[scoutman1]

Some players from Russia to keep an eye on:

2008
Kirill Petrov
Andrei Loktionov
Vyacheslav Voinov

2009
Andrei Kuchin
Kirill Polozov
Oleg Li

2010
Maxim Kitsyn
Kirill Kabanov
Daniil Apalkov
Vladimir Ionov

what about Alexei Avatev for 2009...he played 1 to 2 years up in most tournaments for Russia.

 

[Doomsday Device]

The following players were all named to the preliminary roster for the World Under-18s as underagers, and I would assume they are the better prospects for their age-groups in their respective countries.

Finland
Teemu Hartikainen F 6'0" 187

Czech Republic
Dominik Furch G 6'0" 159
Radko Gudas D 6'0" 176
Michal Jordan D 6'1" 176 (awesome name)
Tomas Knotek F 6'0" 154
Tomas Kubalik F 6'2" 190
Stepan Novotny F 6'1" 181
Vladimir Roth D 6'1" 187

Russia
Pavel Chernov F 5'11" 181
Maxim Chudinov D 5'10" 181
Nikita Filatov F 6'0" 159
Evgeni Grachev F 6'4" 203
Dmitry Kugryshev F 5'11" 172
Dmitry Kulikov D 6'0" 176
Andrey Loktionov F 5'11" 187
Alexander Pechurskiy G 6'0" 172
Kirill Petrov F 6'3" 198
Vyatcheslav Voynov D 6'0" 181

Slovakia
Richark Panik F 6'1" 190 (1991 born)
Martin Uhnak F 5'8" 159

Sweden
Henrik Bjorklund F 6'1" 190
Anton Gustafsson F 6'2" 190
Victor Hedman D 6'5" 212
Marcus Johansson F 5'11" 172
Martin Lundberg F 6'0" 185
Joakim Mattsson F 5'10" 165
Andr Petersson F 5'9" 165
Mattias Tedenby F 5'9" 161

 

[VanNistelrooy]

Stefanovych anyone ?

 

[hawksfan50]

Mikkel Bodker (W) --DENMARK --plays for Frolunda Jrs in Swedish Super Elit League...

 

[KRM]

Philip Larsen, D, Denmark. Played for Frölunda U20 this season and has a contract with the senior team (Elitserien) for next season. Made his debut in the SEL and this season and his Allsvenskan debut with Rögle in 05/06.

 

[hfboardsuser]

Stefanovych anyone ?

Definitely Mikhail Stefanovych. The next Kostitsyn.

 

[Dima_BLR]

Imho, Stefanovich is at least as talented as the Kostitsyn bros. Another proof of that - the ongoing U-18 WC in Div 1 Group A. Sure, the level of competition here is far from that of the top Division, none the less....
So, Stef rulez at the moment topping the WC scorers list with 11 (8+3) pts in 4 games.