Russians in the NHL. General Discussion.

[MaxV]

Kovalchuk is slowly rehabbing his reputation in Montreal.

LA situation was awful for him. I wonder if he gets a deal from another NHL team in the off season. I don't think he'll stay in Montreal.

I really want to see him play long enough to reach 500 goals, 1000 points milestones.

 

[Say Hey Kid]

KHL player poll: All-Stars on the next city to get a team, misconceptions about the league and more

This is a good article about which Russians may be coming to the NHL. It's odd there's no KHL thread on the first page in the Russia forum.

 

[Atas2000]

KHL player poll: All-Stars on the next city to get a team, misconceptions about the league and more

This is a good article about which Russians may be coming to the NHL. It's odd there's no KHL thread on the first page in the Russia forum.

That's because there is a dedicated KHL board.

 

[Atas2000]

KHL player poll: All-Stars on the next city to get a team, misconceptions about the league and more

This is a good article about which Russians may be coming to the NHL. It's odd there's no KHL thread on the first page in the Russia forum.

Which KHL player will be the next big star in North America?

EVERYBODY:

 

[Atas2000]

I was just rehearsing the ususal who do we get for WHC...

Fun fact. Of the top teams in the league only Boston has no Russians on the roster(which is fine by me as I somehow never liked Boston).

In fact the top 10 in the league is filled with russians stars.

Now the bottom 10 is adifferent story.

7 out of 10 teams don't have any Russians on them.

Montreal got Kovalchuk just recently and we all know he is just playing out his farewell stint. He is still capable if you know how to use him, but he is no Kovalchuk of old.

Gusev is on an ecpectedly bad team and he is doing just fine by humself given the circumstances.

Ottawa - same. Bad as could be expected. And has become a fine refuge for some russian depth players who are doing good in their roles there.

And that's only the bottom 10.

The Rangers sit at 21 right now, but above them it's a Russian-less void of the middle 10 teams with Florida somewhere inbetween and Toronto who really struggle(especially after Mikheyev's injury). And Columbus with Gavrikov is 11th and can even malke the the playoffs out of a pretty tough division.

Gives: Russians in the NHL are doing mighty fine.

Note: I obviously don't count some short-term callups as roster players just yet.

 

[MaxV]

It has been a solid season so far, for the most part. Bob’s struggles are really the only disappointment.

The play of defenders, especially, has been encouraging. If you look at possession stats, pretty much all of them (including Lyubushkin, surprisingly) have been strong, despite all (except Sergachev) getting tough minutes. Zaitsev is the only one with sub 50 Corsi%, but he also has been getting really tough minutes (57 dZs%) on a mediocre team.

Orlov has been playing the best hockey of his career, he is looking like a top pair caliber guy. Provorov is already a top pair guy who is playing in pretty much every situation for the Flyers. Sergachev and Zadorov have been improving, there might still be more upside there. Gavrikov is playing like an 8-year NHL vet, he has even showed some offensive upside.

This D unit is still not as talented as Canada, USA or Sweden on paper, but it’s still far superior to 2016 unit.

Actually, Center depth might be a bigger weakness right now then D.

 

[ViD]

With Kuzy suspension our C depth is virtually non existing

 

[MaxV]

With Kuzy suspension our C depth is virtually non existing

It would be interesting to see who would be the center choices for best-on-best tournament this year.

- Shipachyov seems like a good choice because of his chemistry with Panarin and Dadonov.
- Barbashev is a strong defensive C, whose offense has taken a step forward. Not a bad choice, I would say.
- Grigorenko is one of the top KHL guys, certainly a strong contender for a spot.
- Namestnikov is a candidate because of his ability to play in a variety of roles and situations, but he has been playing mostly as a winger recently,
- Anisimov is similar, can play in a variety of situations, but is really nothing special in any of them.
- Prokhorkin has looked good in spots this season, but he is stuck in an incompetent organization.
- There are a number of Centers who offer a strong defensive presence but not much offensively (Andronov, Kadeykin, Tkachyov, Svetlakov, etc)
- Trenin has earned a bigger role in Nashville, but coaching staff seems to disagree.

Thoughts?

Anyone else I’ve missed?

 

[rohky]

There are 50 Russians in the NHL right now. Nikolai Knizhov is the latest one. Who is going to be the next Russian player to be in the NHL? Sorokin? Kaprizov? Others?