RW Evgeny Kuznetsov (2010, 26th overall, Washington)

[octopi]

Zhenya Kuznetsov?

If anyone watched a show called "The Hockey Nomad goes to Russia"(late last night on CBC) They were talking about hockey in Russia in early 2005(Small bit on Ovechkin was going to be with the Capitals soon) and they did about a 10 minute segment on this 12 year old named Zhenya Kuznetsov who, at that point had scored 35 of his teams 50 goals.Anyone else heard of this kid? (I know 12 is a little early to be predicting anything....but it was interesting they had that segment)

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[JSmith81x]

Isn't Zhenya a girl's name? Only Russian male names I found that start w/ a Z are Zakhar and Zinetula.

 

[Haute Couture]

Isn't Zhenya a girl's name? Only Russian male names I found that start w/ a Z are Zakhar and Zinetula.

Zhenya is short for Yevgeni. Think Malkin and Nabokov =).

Kuznetsov is the Russian version of Smith.

Let's wait a few years, shall we? Maybe we've got another phenom on our hands, but we need to wait, what, five years before he's even gonna be mentioned here.

 

[Zine]

Zhenya is a nickname for Evgeny.

 

[Slitty]

Isn't Zhenya a girl's name? Only Russian male names I found that start w/ a Z are Zakhar and Zinetula.

Neither Zakhar or Zinetula are Russian names, they may come from some minority in what is the Russian Federation... but I've certainly never heard of anyone named Zakhar or Zinetula.

Zhenya is about as common as Jake on the other hand. Just ask Nabokov or Malkin.

 

[Sherlock]

If anyone watched a show called "The Hockey Nomad goes to Russia"(late last night on CBC) They were talking about hockey in Russia in early 2005(Small bit on Ovechkin was going to be with the Capitals soon) and they did about a 10 minute segment on this 12 year old named Zhenya Kuznetsov who, at that point had scored 35 of his teams 50 goals.Anyone else heard of this kid? (I know 12 is a little early to be predicting anything....but it was interesting they had that segment)

12 years old is awfully, awfully young to start predicting anything. When I was 12 I was pretty damned good too, but I didn't even play high school varsity.

Then again, who knows what'll happen...

 

[Stephen]

Isn't Zhenya a girl's name? Only Russian male names I found that start w/ a Z are Zakhar and Zinetula.

No, because if he was a girl his last name would be Kuznetsova with the a at the end.

 

[Zine]

Here's a link to the show, it's pretty good.

http://www.guba.com/general/video/Documentary/alt.binaries.documentaries/page1/2000720855/sample

 

[Sebastien Centomo]

If anyone watched a show called "The Hockey Nomad goes to Russia"(late last night on CBC)

I saw that last night, it was pretty sweet. The first one when he went to Mongolia and Thailand and all that was also cool.

I liked the part when the Russian DJ wasted no time in asking Kasparaitis if he had a lover beside his wife/girlfriend. I thought maybe that was a touch on the forward side.

 

[Haute Couture]

Neither Zakhar or Zinetula are Russian names, they may come from some minority in what is the Russian Federation... but I've certainly never heard of anyone named Zakhar or Zinetula.

Zhenya is about as common as Jake on the other hand. Just ask Nabokov or Malkin.

Zakhar is Russian. Comes from European Zachary, but so do other Russian names (Petr, Dmitri, Alexander, Vasili/Basil, Sergei/Serge, Nikolai/Nicholas, Pavel/Paul, Ivan/John, and countless others) It's not as popular anymore, but one of the Russian nat. basketball players is Zakhar Pashutin.

Zinetula sounds Tatarish.. I've heard of only one Zinetula - Bilyaletdinov, and it's a typical Tatar last name, so I'd suspect he'd be Tatar. His name was shortened for Zina, btw, which sounds girlish, too.

Anyway, saying that Zhenya is a girl's name is like saying that Alex and Val are girl's names.. But they're not... necessarily.

 

[TimeZone]

I've been trying to get some info on this kid but can't find a whole lot. Where is he projected to go? What are his strengths and weaknesses? What kind of potential does this kid have?

 

[MaxV]

Personally, I think he's underrated. He is among the most talented forwards in this draft.

He could wind up being the best Russian player from this draft, and this draft has plenty of good Russian prospects.

He's fast, very skilled and has both the vision and the shot to be a big-time scorer.

He needs to bulk up a bit, but, being '92 born, he's still very young.

I would say, he'll fall to late-1st-to-early-2nd area, maybe even further, because of "Russian factor" but could be a big-time steal.

He could be either center or winger.

 

[msky]

fantastic skater with great stickhandling skills and wristshot, surprisingly good on defence very undisciplined and immature

 

[TimeZone]

Thanks guys.

Russia should have a much better team at the World Juniors next year.

 

[Harold Druken]

Personally, I think he's underrated. He is among the most talented forwards in this draft.

He could wind up being the best Russian player from this draft, and this draft has plenty of good Russian prospects.

He's fast, very skilled and has both the vision and the shot to be a big-time scorer.

He needs to bulk up a bit, but, being '92 born, he's still very young.

I would say, he'll fall to late-1st-to-early-2nd area, maybe even further, because of "Russian factor" but could be a big-time steal.

He could be either center or winger.

I agree I think he is the most talented Russian in the draft.

 

[Hale The Villain]

Insanely talented, has the ability to dangle, snipe and deal pucks. If he falls to the 2nd round it's a huge steal for the team that picks him IMO, which won't be too hard to accomplish considering he'll likely fall hard because of the Russian factor.

 

[TimeZone]

How's his worth ethic? I've heard a scout compare him to Alexander Semin. Would that be a fair comparison?

 

[DuklaNation]

I think the Semin comparison was to where he was drafted (2nd round?). Knowing what Semin has turned into he would have went much higher. Kuznetsov is in similar situation.

IMO, he was impressive at the WJC, moreso than Burmistrov or some other russians.

 

[Vasilevskiy]

he reminded me of Kovalchuk in the way he shoots and skates.

 

[Cush]

I think the Semin comparison was to where he was drafted (2nd round?). Knowing what Semin has turned into he would have went much higher. Kuznetsov is in similar situation.

IMO, he was impressive at the WJC, moreso than Burmistrov or some other russians.

Semin was a 1st rounder, 13th overall

 

[wings5]

Insanely talented, has the ability to dangle, snipe and deal pucks. If he falls to the 2nd round it's a huge steal for the team that picks him IMO, which won't be too hard to accomplish considering he'll likely fall hard because of the Russian factor.

Makes you wonder how many GM's missed a home run and a complete steal because of the "russian factor".

 

[DuklaNation]

Semin was a 1st rounder, 13th overall

I actually meant pre-draft ranking where he was lower if my memory is correct. My mistake.

 

[Zine]

How's his worth ethic? I've heard a scout compare him to Alexander Semin. Would that be a fair comparison?

Immensely talented and good work ethic, but Kuznetsov can be undisciplined on the ice. He's more than once shown himself to be easily 'baited' into taking dumb penalties, diving, retaliating, etc.

 

[rt]

In the WJC, he seemed to like to go to the net. I always like that in a player. The announcers mentioned that he's known for going hard to the net. Is that true?

 

[cheesymc]

How does he compare to Burmistrov?

I read Burm was the fastest skater, even beating out Hall. I also read from a publication that all Burm has is speed and not much else, but others describing Datsyk in that hes a 2 way player and very skilled.

Now Im curious how Evgeny compares. He sounds slower, but more of a finisher than Burm.

Too bad we dont get to watch some of these games in the US, then we could judge and be scouts ourselves.