Prospect Info: Round 7 #193 - EDGARS KULDA

[rt]

Does anybody know if Kulda is ethnically Latvian or if his parents were just Russian immigrants during Soviet rule. If he's ethnically Latvian and speaks Latvian as his first language I don't really think he'd be that much more "comfortable" in Russia than he is in NA. The real Latvians don't really like the Russians, which makes sense because they were persecuted and/or deported under the Soviet regime.

He was practicing with Riga. The KHL team in Latvia.

 

[rt]

Would he really make more in the KHL? I mean, he hadn't really proven anything and even his junior years have been less than stunning. Would he get paid that much?

More than the 50-60kay he'd be making playing in Portland Maine and riding a bus all over the place, paying hefty taxes. In the KHL, he'd be in the big league, with favorable tax situation, lower cost of living in Latvia, and KHL teams often take care of car, apartment, and such.

 

[RABBIT]

Dolla dolla bills y'all.

Eh. Agree and disagree. I really don't think he'd even bother showing up to the draft and waiting till the final round if he didn't want to get drafted into the NHL. Plus, the fact that he was even drafted at all indicates that in his interview with Maloney, he must have expressed enough interest to persuade Don to pick a player out of his comfort zone.

Again, to me he looked happier than a fat kid in a bakery to get drafted, especially to a team that has so many of his close friends within the organization. I'm not ruling out the possibility of him ever bolting back to Lativa, but unless I'm a terrible judge of character, I really don't think he'd decide to do it just a few months after being drafted

 

[rt]

I don't think his goal is to be a KHLer. I believe it's to be an NHLer. However, it might not the worst idea to play a season or two there, rather than doing an over age year in the WHL, followed by a season in the AHL. It wouldn't be my preference as a Coyotes fan, obviously, but I could see how his agent and family could spin it as a positive.

 

[ck26]

I don't think his goal is to be a KHLer. I believe it's to be an NHLer. However, it might not the worst idea to play a season or two there, rather than doing an over age year in the WHL, followed by a season in the AHL. It wouldn't be my preference as a Coyotes fan, obviously, but I could see how his agent and family could spin it as a positive.

The level of play in the KHL is absolutely higher than in the WHL. Why would you want him back in Edmonton? I haven't ever studied the career arc of over-age CHL'ers, but I don't see how beating up on 16 and 17 year olds in Kamloops helps prepare Kulda for a future in Portland and Glendale.

Not to be really crazy, but wouldn't Max Domi have been better served playing last year against men in Europe than beating up on kids in Oshawa and Kitchener? Language and culture aside.

 

[Namejs]

Does anybody know if Kulda is ethnically Latvian or if his parents were just Russian immigrants during Soviet rule. If he's ethnically Latvian and speaks Latvian as his first language I don't really think he'd be that much more "comfortable" in Russia than he is in NA. The real Latvians don't really like the Russians, which makes sense because they were persecuted and/or deported under the Soviet regime.

Kulda is an ethnic Russian and his parents are Russian immigrants. He's still a kid and they probably do have an influence over his decisions.

Edgars Kulda was born in Latvia though, so he speaks Latvian and has very limited personal ties to Russia (even when compared to his older brother, who has a heavy accent in Latvian), so I wouldn't worry about him bolting to the KHL too much.

Having said that, Russian or not, any player is going to move to the KHL, if not given a chance at making it in the NHL. If he's still an AHL player in 4 or 5 years time, he will definitely move to the KHL, as would any European player.

The *minimum* salary in the KHL is 110K$. The average salary in the AHL is about 3 times lower. You're not going to save up money for the rest of your life by earning 30 grand a year.

 

[Pat Paeplow]

I hope your wrong. Just tired of these Russians playing the KHL card.
I would never ever draft or trade for a Russian. Let them all go and play for the KHL and let more players from NA play in the NHL.

I actually feel that there's a lot of value in Russians right now because of the KHL threat. Just about all of them slide in the draft much further than where their talent suggests they should be taken. The Montreal Canadiens drafted Nikita Scherbak in the late first round. He probably had lottery-pick talent. He slipped to them because he's Russian. Kulda wasn't a blue chip prospect but he's a nice little player and he stepped up on the biggest stage he's ever been on. If he was from Ontario he would have been gone well before the 7th.

Sure, some of these players will bolt to the KHL. But how is that different from another prospect just burning out on hockey? Or blowing out a knee? Or just never developing?

Most of these draft picks are never going to make it. If a team selects two NHL regulars in any given year, they basically knocked that draft out of the park. Given those odds, it makes all the sense in the world to take on some flight-risk if that enables you to bet on a more talented prospect.

 

[lanky]

If we're talking about 7th rounders, you're absolutely right.

 

[Desert Ice 11]

Sure, some of these players will bolt to the KHL. But how is that different from another prospect just burning out on hockey? Or blowing out a knee? Or just never developing?

Because one is a choice the others are not.

 

[hbk]

One of the first cuts.

 

[ck26]

One of the first cuts.

• Dan O’Donoghue, Forward, Portland (AHL)
• Dyson Stevenson,Forward, Portland (AHL)
• Ryan MacInnis, Forward, Kitchener (OHL)
• Christian Dvorak, Forward, London (OHL)
• Edgars Kulda, Forward, Edmonton (WHL)
• Laurent Dauphin, Forward, Chicoutimi (QMJHL)
• Pavel LaPlante, Forward, Victoriaville (QMJHL)
• Colin Suellentrop, Defense, Released

No great surprise. The next 7th rounder to make the NHL right after his draft year will be the first. Not the sort of thing we do if we're overcooking our prospects now.

 

[GX]

More than the 50-60kay he'd be making playing in Portland Maine and riding a bus all over the place, paying hefty taxes. In the KHL, he'd be in the big league, with favorable tax situation, lower cost of living in Latvia, and KHL teams often take care of car, apartment, and such.

Not really. Junior players make little money in the KHL. At least in Riga. Also, teams usually take care of car, apartment, etc. only for foreign players in order to make their lives a bit easier.

Taxes are lower, it is the big league, and there is no travelling around in a bus. That's true.

 

[Jakey53]

Not really. Junior players make little money in the KHL. At least in Riga. Also, teams usually take care of car, apartment, etc. only for foreign players in order to make their lives a bit easier.

Taxes are lower, it is the big league, and there is no travelling around in a bus. That's true.

This is the problem. Like everything else on these boards, we assume everything.