Prospect Info: Kirill Kaprizov lll

[TaLoN]

WELL DUDES i was around when gabby first came over and when i got his autograph at har mar mall he had to have an interpreter because he could speak any English. his first season he had 18G i think and looked like a lost puppy on ice. i don't want that to happen to kaprizov, do you?

Not even a remotely good comparison.

Gaborik's first season here was with a roster of players that mostly didn't even belong on NHL ice. Also, Gaborik was coming here as a very skilled but very young player still needing to learn a lot about the game.

Needing an interpreter was the least of his concerns about what he needed on ice.

Kap wil be coming here to a much more talented team and is a lot further along in his development. Will he need an interpreter? No idea how his English is, but even if we have another Russian on the roster, it wouldn't change that fact anyway.

 

[DANOZ28]

i'll give you another example; Mario Lemieux let Crosby live with him to get adjusted only moving from Canada! see a smart gm or owner would try and make a potential franchise player comfortable.

 

[TaLoN]

i'll give you another example; Mario Lemieux let Crosby live with him to get adjusted only moving from Canada! see a smart gm or owner would try and make a potential franchise player comfortable.

ALL new 18yro players in the league get housed with a family. Be it one tied to the organization or someone who is friends with people in the organization.

They do that because 18yros living completely on their own don't always know how to act responsibly. They ease them into living on their own for the first time.

Gaborik/Bouchard/Burns all got that treatment here.

 

[AKL]

i'll give you another example; Mario Lemieux let Crosby live with him to get adjusted only moving from Canada! see a smart gm or owner would try and make a potential franchise player comfortable.

And they will try to make him as comfortable as possible, just not by slotting Mikhail Grigorenko or Artem Anisomov into the first line.

 

[DANOZ28]

have any of you ever moved across the globe and started a new job?

 

[AKL]

have any of you ever moved across the globe and started a new job?

I’ll say no, just because I want to see where this is going.

 

[TaLoN]

have any of you ever moved across the globe and started a new job?

What does that have to do with anything? We've never played in the NHL yet can have opinions on it, just like we can on this.

You are blowing the situation of needing a Russian speaking center out of proportion.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

There are other, and probably more important ways to do that, than a Russian-speaking center. The more day-to-day stuff, like where to live, transportation, food, etc. is probably more of a worry than the hockey, and that's all stuff the team can help with pretty easily.

There are a few tidbits in Craig MacTavish's rundown of his KHL time that were interesting, like that (at least for Yaroslavl Lokomotiv) all of the players and coaches lived at a "Team Base" for 10 months out of the year. I have no idea if that's the norm in Russia, but things like that seem like they'd take much more of an adjustment than the hockey stuff.

Not that having another Russian-speaking player on the team would be bad. I just don't think it's a big deal in terms of on-ice chemistry.

I think I heard on NHL Network that the Rangers did this very thing for Kaako, bringing in Tuomo Ruutu for that kind of stuff.

I mean, if Washington wants to trade us Kuznetsov, I wouldn't turn it down...

 

[thestonedkoala]

I think I heard on NHL Network that the Rangers did this very thing for Kaako, bringing in Tuomo Ruutu for that kind of stuff.

Correct, which is also why I think Koivu would have been a good move to New York City. He's good friends with Ruutu and probably knows Kaako due to his brother.

I mean, if Washington wants to trade us Kuznetsov, I wouldn't turn it down...

What about Radulov?

 

[TaLoN]

What about Radulov?

I thought this was about Russian centers.

 

[thestonedkoala]

I thought this was about Russian centers.

I thought this was about bringing in a Russian to make Kap comfortable.

 

[AKL]

I thought this was about Russian centers.

I thought this was about bringing in a Russian to make Kap comfortable.

I think this pretty much sums it up. No one knows what this is about.

 

[Bazeek]

I think I heard on NHL Network that the Rangers did this very thing for Kaako, bringing in Tuomo Ruutu for that kind of stuff.

I mean, if Washington wants to trade us Kuznetsov, I wouldn't turn it down...

That I agree with. Having a teammate/hockey guy that speaks Russian and knows how to navigate, say, travel to and from the rink would be nice. But again it's about the more prosaic stuff than sacrificing 10 points in his rookie season because his center's from Thunder Bay instead of St Petersburg.

 

[57special]

Hire an interpeter. The other option would be to get Svetlakov, who I believe could be a 4th liner in the NHL...I think his KHL deal runs a year longer than KK's. I think we had hoped that Sokolov or Lodnia might be ready for the NHL at one time...now it seems like Khovanov has a better chance.

 

[DANOZ28]

let me explain it another way , remember how successful Detroit was in the late 90's with all their Russian players?

 

[Bazeek]

let me explain it another way , remember how successful Detroit was in the late 90's with all their Russian players?

While I don't think it should be a priority I'm certainly not against adding Russian-speaking players. Do you have any in mind?

Edit: Actually, I'll provide one of my own: Prokhorkin is interesting since he'll be an RFA again at the end of this year. He has limited NHL experience thus far but he was great in the KHL and seems to be doing okay so far for the Kings. LA needs centers as well so I assume they'd prefer to keep him if he's worth keeping, but maybe their cap situation ends up making it hard to give him a raise?

 

[DeagleJenkins]

let me explain it another way , remember how successful Detroit was in the late 90's with all their Russian players?

do you have a federov clone we can pair with kap?

 

[AKL]

let me explain it another way , remember how successful Detroit was in the late 90's with all their Russian players?

This way isn’t doing any better a job of explaining your point either. Is your goal to stockpile Russians? No one knows.

 

[16thOverallSaveUs]

let me explain it another way , remember how successful Detroit was in the late 90's with all their Russian players?

You’ve got to quit

 

[Jesus comma Brodin]

have any of you ever moved across the globe and started a new job?

Yes. 7,000 miles when I was 25. What's your point?

 

[AKL]

Yes. 7,000 miles when I was 25. What's your point?

I think his point is your move would have been a lot easier if you had a Russian center to work with at your new job.

 

[Jesus comma Brodin]

I think his point is your move would have been a lot easier if you had a Russian center to work with at your new job.

Ah... The United Arab Emirates centermen aren't quite to that level.

Just show up and do your job.

 

[AJ Thelen]

I think his point is your move would have been a lot easier if you had a Russian center to work with at your new job.

I would love to have a russian center to work with me at my job.

 

[TaLoN]

I work with a Russian at my job... too bad my employer didn't find another Russian to make him more comfortable.

 

[AJ Thelen]

I work with a Russian at my job... too bad my employer didn't find another Russian to make him more comfortable.

I bet your employer is a rookie, just like BG?