The Nashville Predators and the Russian Temptation

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Mar 2, 2002
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Despite their plans to stay away from russian players because of the missing transfer agreement between the Russian Hockey Federation and the NHL, the Nashville Predators added two young russian prospects to their deep pool of youngsters so far in the offseason.

Goaltender Semen Varlamov, drafted in the 3rd round of the HFNHL Entry Draft, will prove to be a valuable addition to a fine group of young goaltenders including Kari Lehtonen, Josh Harding and Thomas Greiss. Varlamov is widely regarded as the best russian goaltender since Ilya Bryzgalov and is projected give guys ahead of him in the depth chart some serious competition for the top job in Nashville in a few years.

Last week the Predators swung a trade with the Ottawa Senators which saw prospects Fredrik Naslund, Lance Monych and Jan Zapletal heading east and the rights to young russian winger Viktor Alexandrov going to Nashville. "I have followed Viktor for a few years now. While his development seems to have stalled a bit over the last year, I'm still confident he can make the jump and be a valuable addition to our team. " GM Tony Kapfenberger said announcing the deal. In fact Alexandrov seemed to have hit a wall last season, his first with St. Petersburg, but he is only 20 years old and the fact that he already has played 4 seasons of pro hockey at the tender age of 20 gives you a hint at his ceiling which appears to be pretty high. A risky prospect, but one who can pan out nicely.
 

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