Real Smart Sens Fan
Registered User
- Jun 14, 2014
- 4,760
- 4
Those are interesting for sure but fact of the matter is that if thy don't draft a Russian this year it will make 10 years since the last Russian was drafted by us.
I see what you mean, but its important to keep in mind that there are only 31 Russians in the NHL right now. Most of them were a) high picks or b) guys who came over after a long stint in Russia.
The few exceptions to that rule:
Andrei Markov, Alexei Emelin, Nikita Nesterov, Anton Khudobin, Alexey Marchenko, Sergei Bobrovsky, Anton Slepyshev
Everyone else was either a) a top 60 pick (with a large chunk being top 20 picks) or b) UFA signings
So, drafting a Russia is still analytically very risky; simply put, most Russian guys won't play bottom 6 in the NHL. It's almost like every pick you're making is top 6 - or top line - or bust. I think we would draft a Russian who we thought could be a top line player, but its a huge risk to draft a guy who s equivalent, say, to Gabriel Gagne that is from Russia.