Russian Prospects 2005 Entry Draft Preview (Free)

[cagney]

Just thought I'd point this out to those who hadn't seen it... link.

It puts the Anikeenko hype into perspective.

Click to read more...

 

[moosefan]

Just thought I'd point this out to those who hadn't seen it... link.

It puts the Anikeenko hype into perspective.

I think when all is said and done Anikeenko will be the top Russian, Zharkov and Zubarov are way too high IMO, Istomin and is too low. Seen most of these guys play here and Anikeenko is above all in the talent level.

 

[montreal]

I like Belov, but it's hard to figure he would go before Anikeenko. Also I am surprised to see Shirokov and Makarov under Karetin. With the Russian season not to far away, I am hoping to land a few RSL games, so I'll be looking for some of these players.

 

[Jovavic]

I like Belov, but it's hard to figure he would go before Anikeenko. Also I am surprised to see Shirokov and Makarov under Karetin. With the Russian season not to far away, I am hoping to land a few RSL games, so I'll be looking for some of these players.

Be sure to update the Jackets board on Moyzakin and Kosmachev

 

[montreal]

Be sure to update the Jackets board on Moyzakin and Kosmachev

That will only happen if Kostitsyn is back with CSKA, or CSKA is playing a team I want to see. I'm hoping to get Lada, Dynamo, AK Bars and Neftekhimi since they are the teams with Hab prospects on them.

I hope Moyzakin comes over, he was great to watch this year in the 3 games I saw him. I don't know how he will fare in the NHL due to his size/strength, but he scored some highlight reel goals, great hands.

 

[Jovavic]

That will only happen if Kostitsyn is back with CSKA, or CSKA is playing a team I want to see. I'm hoping to get Lada, Dynamo, AK Bars and Neftekhimi since they are the teams with Hab prospects on them.

I hope Moyzakin comes over, he was great to watch this year in the 3 games I saw him. I don't know how he will fare in the NHL due to his size/strength, but he scored some highlight reel goals, great hands.

I've read somewhere that he won't come over till the CBA is done, which is understandable. Russianprospects.com has him at RW, which if that is true, he could probably step into our 2nd line right now if he's as good as advertised.

 

[King Fish]

That will only happen if Kostitsyn is back with CSKA, or CSKA is playing a team I want to see. I'm hoping to get Lada, Dynamo, AK Bars and Neftekhimi since they are the teams with Hab prospects on them.

I hope Moyzakin comes over, he was great to watch this year in the 3 games I saw him. I don't know how he will fare in the NHL due to his size/strength, but he scored some highlight reel goals, great hands.

I think Drozdetsky is still with AK Bars but once again he's not interested in comming over. Has anyone seen him play?

 

[montreal]

I think Drozdetsky is still with AK Bars but once again he's not interested in comming over. Has anyone seen him play?

Yes I've seen him play 2-3 times last year. He's got some nice hands from the little I saw of him.

 

[leondias]

Just thought I'd point this out to those who hadn't seen it... link.

It puts the Anikeenko hype into perspective.

It would be interesting to see which Russian agent or agents represent those ahead of anikeenko. Read into this what you want.

 

[Soyuz]

Interesting stuff. I heard some mixed things about Anikienko too, but having him 6th is a bit surprising. We'll see what happens. There have been some mixed reviews about him from folks in Yaroslav, but again, it's tough to say how his season will go. He likely won't be on Lokomotiv's opening day roster, which hurts him, unless he has amazing tournaments. He definitely has size for sure.

I like the way the top guys are ranked though for the most part. However, I would have moved Churilov ahead of Zubarev and moved Belov below Anikienko, and possibly Istomin. I might even move Anikienko above Zharkov.... Other than that - it's about right.

Anyways, it's good that the rankings are starting to come out finally!!!! Don't forget guys, there is a tournament in August and the Super League and High League regular seasons start in September and the fact of who is where is going to seriously impact any rankings, since by that time we'll know which guys stuck in the Pro's and which are back down in the juniors.

Here is my take on the top 8 guys:

Zubov is definitely an impressive talent - he was on the '86 team last year and in the High League (Russia 2).

Zubarev may be in the Super League this year with Salavat Yulayev and is spending the preseason with the club.

Churilov is now in North America, so I don't know if they will keep ranking him since he is no longer in Russia. But definitely a talented playmaking center.

Zharkov has great size and played well on the national team and with Dynamo. I heard he might come over as well, but it's not clear if he will or not.

Belov is a bit of a wild card here - he is very high. I like him though and am happy that he is that high! He definitely has a lot of potential, but he HAS to make CSKA's lineup in order to fullfill it. If he is not in the opening lineup - I bet you he will fall in the rankings.

Anikienko - like I said above - kind of mixed reviews on him. Definitely has size, but doesn't play all that well against older competition. Granted it was more than a year ago, but he did not look good at the U18 WJC. It would have been really good if he made the U18 squad for the 2004 U18 WJC - but i think there was some politics stuff that kept him, Amakhin and Kasutin out of the tourney (Kasutin didn't get a single minute of play).

Istomin - heard good and not so good. The good came mainly from North America's U17s tourney - where he played very well. In Russia he played well, but this is about right.

Buravchikov is a good offensive defenseman, but has serious issues in his own zone. If he gets High League ice time that would definitely be great for him.

 

[Soyuz]

Check out what I found from one of the discussions a while ago. It was posted by Guillame - he knows about Russians. I wonder how Krysanov and Bumagin stack up now - he seems high on them here, but RussianProspects have them out of the top 10.

"2005 originally looked like average or below average (originally, most people thought it could be an off-year like 1981 or 1984) but the players are developping nicely and it looks deeper and deeper: Anikeenko, Churilov, Istomin, Zubov, Zharkov, Buravchikov, Krysanov, Bumagin, Zubarev could have a chance to go in the first round. It is probably too early to have a good assessment of other players because consistent production will have to be shown like from Sopin, Kucheryavenko, Shvalev (first appearance with the national team), Lyapunov, Belyakov. I like Proskuryakov so far (tough to evaluate young goalies though). "

 

[moosefan]

Buravchikov is a good offensive defenseman, but has serious issues in his own zone. If he gets High League ice time that would definitely be great for him.

this scouting report is wrong. Buravchikov is a defensive d-man, he only pinches possibly once a game it seems like, he is great in his own end, has great outlet passing and is a good passer from the point. Has alot of offensive tools he could use but sticks to the defensive side of the game, he gets most of his points by cyclling the puck around very well and with his good vision from the point. In his own end though he is really smart and really positional.

 

[Soyuz]

Really? That's great to hear about Buravchikov, but it has been a knock on him for the Soviet Wings second squad. It could be that the coach of the '87 team kind of "forced the fear of G-d" into him , but usually he tends to freelance a lot, at least for the Soviet Wings 2 squad. He is with the Soviet Wings right now for the preseason in the High League and he is kind of shoring up his defense there as well.

 

[moosefan]

Really? That's great to hear about Buravchikov, but it has been a knock on him for the Soviet Wings second squad. It could be that the coach of the '87 team kind of "forced the fear of G-d" into him , but usually he tends to freelance a lot, at least for the Soviet Wings 2 squad. He is with the Soviet Wings right now for the preseason in the High League and he is kind of shoring up his defense there as well.

At the U17s they must have given him different duties because he played the way I said. He was really good in his own end and showed limited offense, he looked like Anton Volchenkov a bit when I seen him play. I don't know but that is the way he played there.

 

[Testify]

I seriously can't wait to see Chirulov this next season, Im going to be at the opener of the Remparts for sure!!

Also, is it confirmed that Radulov is going to play for Quebec too?? because Patrick Roy drafted him in the Q's import draft.

Thx!

 

[Soyuz]

moosefan - that's exactly what I am saying, I think he may have been given a different role on the squad. I've read your stuff before and it's good and accurate, so I think you are definitely describing exactly what you saw. Thanks for your contirbutions!!!!

 

[Zine]

I seriously can't wait to see Chirulov this next season, Im going to be at the opener of the Remparts for sure!!

Also, is it confirmed that Radulov is going to play for Quebec too?? because Patrick Roy drafted him in the Q's import draft.

Thx!

It's a shame actually, as the CHL generally tends to ruin Russian talent (particularly forwards).

 

[markov`]

It's a shame actually, as the CHL generally tends to ruin Russian talent (particularly forwards).

Maxim Balmochnykh and Pavel Brendl comes to my mind.

 

[Zine]

Maxim Balmochnykh and Pavel Brendl comes to my mind.

Other highly touted players who's talent stagnated, seriously effecting or ruining their careers:
Shvidki, Nabokov, Yakubov, Novoseltsev, Buturlin, Rybin

 

[cagney]

There are plenty of Russians who stayed in Russia who never became as good as they were expected to be. It's silly to blame the CHL over players who may not have done any better if they had stayed at home.

 

[Zine]

There are plenty of Russians who stayed in Russia who never became as good as they were expected to be. It's silly to blame the CHL over players who may not have done any better if they had stayed at home.

Of course there are players who stay in Russia and never become as good as expected, but it's undeniable that a disproportionately huge amount of Russian CHL'ers never reach their potential. If fact, I can't think of 1 forward who has.
Almost all of these players: Volchkov, Buturlin, Nabokov, Shvidki, Novoseltsev, Bets, Yakubov, Rybin, Balmochnykh (many of them 1st rounders) were way ahead of their peers in Russia, yet after a year or two in the CHL had been passed skillwise by their old Russian teammates.

Simply put, the CHL does not emphasize the skills and development tactics that have been drilled into these kids since day 1. They don't get to develop and hone the skills which origionally made them attractive in the first place. In fact, from what I've read on this board, many former Russian CHL'ers have mentioned this.

 

[Kipper933]

Of course there are players who stay in Russia and never become as good as expected, but it's undeniable that a disproportionately huge amount of Russian CHL'ers never reach their potential. If fact, I can't think of 1 forward who has.
Almost all of these players: Volchkov, Buturlin, Nabokov, Shvidki, Novoseltsev, Bets, Yakubov, Rybin, Balmochnykh (many of them 1st rounders) were way ahead of their peers in Russia, yet after a year or two in the CHL had been passed skillwise by their old Russian teammates.

Simply put, the CHL does not emphasize the skills and development tactics that have been drilled into these kids since day 1. They don't get to develop and hone the skills which origionally made them attractive in the first place. In fact, from what I've read on this board, many former Russian CHL'ers have mentioned this.

I don't see how you can blame the CHL though. Brendl and Yakubov, who were two of your examples, both excelled at the CHL level but haven't translated that as well to the AHL/NHL yet. It seems more of a poor adjustment to the pro level then any blame on the CHL.

Off the top of my head, 1 Russian CHLer, who has played well at the AHL/NHL level, is Oleg Saprykin and is filling the role he was expected to (2nd/3rd line F w/ scoring punsh) when he was drafted. I'm sure there are more examples if we were to look more in depth.

 

[Soyuz]

That's a large part of the issue though - the fact that the players excelled in the CHL. This is a problem since they are dominating the level of competition, and if you are the best player on the ice, you are not going to improve much when compared to a player who is playing with players much better than him and who learns everyday he is on the ice.

Yes CHL teaches the players various other aspects of the game, such as the physical play and the culture, but as far as developing them as players and athletes, the Russian pro's do a better job of making the guy stretch and work hard to learn.

You should also notice another trend - when guys go back to Russia and try to play there, like Buturlin and Rybin did, they have trouble getting back and adjusting to the higher level of competiton. It took Rybin - who before he left was the Super League Rookie of the Year two seasons to get back to form and now he is a true Super Leaguer for 2 seasons. This sucks - considering he has star potential over there and solid NHL potential as well. Buturlin is another player who took a year to adjust. Now Valeev went back to Russia looking for a job and just got released by Metallurg.

On the brighter side, CHL is getting better, and hopefully now the league is a better developemental league. It may become a better place to go for guys who can't break through in Russia, as was the case with Yakubov who wasted away in Lada. It may also be a good place to be considering the current situation between NHL and IIHF/Russia - meaning they would be contract free and available to sign by NHL clubs without any head-aches.

I think Russia is the better path long term for the guys who are stars in the making, but in the short term may make them look worse, since they don't stand out against the professional veterans. I'd rather be average among the elite than the best among the players my age or younger....... but that's just my opinion, as is everything above

 

[paul99]

I seriously can't wait to see Chirulov this next season, Im going to be at the opener of the Remparts for sure!!

Also, is it confirmed that Radulov is going to play for Quebec too?? because Patrick Roy drafted him in the Q's import draft.

Thx!

Radulov is on the Training camp players list published by the Quebec Remparts.

 

[RyanM]

Zharkov has great size and played well on the national team and with Dynamo. I heard he might come over as well, but it's not clear if he will or not.

Obviously we'll never know until he actually shows up, but the Cape Breton Post had an interview with Zharkov a couple weeks ago from the US where he's training for the summer and he said he's going to the U 18's in Slovakia and that he can't wait to play in the CHL because it's something he's always wanted to do. We'll know within the next 3 weeks if he was being sincere.