I like overagers later in the draft... undervalued, they're further along and you get a better idea of how they're trending. I just haven't liked many they've chosen recently. I work nights so theres a bunch of Euro hockey on during the day. The fact that teams are still underscouting and undervalue that region is strange. The sheer amount of players that have been past over there alone is bananas. When you think of an overager it should almost be seen as an advantage, guys that should be pulling ahead of their peers, dominating their level... I don't really see that with many of the ones we've picked recently.
Leaving out NA, there were countless players in the MHL, VHL, KHL that should probably have gotten picked up. Oskar Asplund (LHD) was undrafted again, 3 straight years in pro hockey. Dominated the Allsvenskan this season. He didn't warrant a selection over some of the players these teams are choosing? Its so bizarre how someone like Kuzmenko comes flying into the league this year, so it should be fresh in all these organization's heads.. at 21 he was still splitting time between the KHL and VHL. At 21 Barabanov split his time in the VHL and MHL. Mikheyev was in the VHL at 21. I wouldn't call these guys late bloomers, seems like a fairly normal trajectory to me.
Toronto was the organization that brought over Barabanov and Mikheyev. They've been linked to a number of other KHL players that winded up not coming over. Last year they chose Grebyonkin in the 5th round as an overager. He had a strong year in the KHL this season. Carolina is a team that drafts really well. They've went all in on Russia the last few drafts and for obvious reasons... its incredibly undervalued. Aside from the other good Russkies they took this year, they grabbed one of the good KHL overagers, Stanislav Yarovoy. Arizona took one of the others, Vadim Moroz. I could go down the list of good overagers taken late in the draft by teams the past few years. There are teams that are going in that direction. This is why some of our choices annoy me. It's not like there's no talent avaliable.
To me when you see an overager that's having success professionally in leagues like this there should be major green flags. The reality is, if they're at this level at that age many of them are the players that go on to be the next wave of great KHL talent and in that group there's a crop of them that are good enough to transition to the NHL.
You have someone like Alex Suvorov. He was not drafted, he will no longer be eligible. I believe he was injured toward the end of the season that hampered his game, they reduced his minutes. This was a kid that had +20 points in his first 30 games this season! For a 20 year old in the KHL it's fantastic. Good skater, high skill, has a little bite to his game. I'm not saying this is for sure the one of the next great KHL players but this is certainly the sort of trajectory you would expect in a future one. This is the mold of a player that teams completely pass over and than fight to bring in as an undrafted free agent... where as we decide to select a 6'7 overager like it's the 90's. You have overagers that are excelling in pro level hockey and we are not tapping into it. I don't understand how an organization like this doesn't have scouts devouring that region. Not an overager but here's an interesting quote...
"There are only two players in MHL history to play over 30 games and produce above 1.3 points per game (P/GP) in their draft-eligible season, Nikita Kucherov and Yegor Klimovich" Klimovich went undrafted. Again... looking at the guys we chose and this is a player that wasn't on our radar?
Leaving out NA, there were countless players in the MHL, VHL, KHL that should probably have gotten picked up. Oskar Asplund (LHD) was undrafted again, 3 straight years in pro hockey. Dominated the Allsvenskan this season. He didn't warrant a selection over some of the players these teams are choosing? Its so bizarre how someone like Kuzmenko comes flying into the league this year, so it should be fresh in all these organization's heads.. at 21 he was still splitting time between the KHL and VHL. At 21 Barabanov split his time in the VHL and MHL. Mikheyev was in the VHL at 21. I wouldn't call these guys late bloomers, seems like a fairly normal trajectory to me.
Toronto was the organization that brought over Barabanov and Mikheyev. They've been linked to a number of other KHL players that winded up not coming over. Last year they chose Grebyonkin in the 5th round as an overager. He had a strong year in the KHL this season. Carolina is a team that drafts really well. They've went all in on Russia the last few drafts and for obvious reasons... its incredibly undervalued. Aside from the other good Russkies they took this year, they grabbed one of the good KHL overagers, Stanislav Yarovoy. Arizona took one of the others, Vadim Moroz. I could go down the list of good overagers taken late in the draft by teams the past few years. There are teams that are going in that direction. This is why some of our choices annoy me. It's not like there's no talent avaliable.
To me when you see an overager that's having success professionally in leagues like this there should be major green flags. The reality is, if they're at this level at that age many of them are the players that go on to be the next wave of great KHL talent and in that group there's a crop of them that are good enough to transition to the NHL.
You have someone like Alex Suvorov. He was not drafted, he will no longer be eligible. I believe he was injured toward the end of the season that hampered his game, they reduced his minutes. This was a kid that had +20 points in his first 30 games this season! For a 20 year old in the KHL it's fantastic. Good skater, high skill, has a little bite to his game. I'm not saying this is for sure the one of the next great KHL players but this is certainly the sort of trajectory you would expect in a future one. This is the mold of a player that teams completely pass over and than fight to bring in as an undrafted free agent... where as we decide to select a 6'7 overager like it's the 90's. You have overagers that are excelling in pro level hockey and we are not tapping into it. I don't understand how an organization like this doesn't have scouts devouring that region. Not an overager but here's an interesting quote...
"There are only two players in MHL history to play over 30 games and produce above 1.3 points per game (P/GP) in their draft-eligible season, Nikita Kucherov and Yegor Klimovich" Klimovich went undrafted. Again... looking at the guys we chose and this is a player that wasn't on our radar?
