Is this team supposed to not have much talent? I thought they were bad, and pretty untalented.
The worthwhile prospects looked like Kanaev, Ivanov, Grudinin, Mintyukov, Nadvorniy, Ivantsov, Chibrikov, Poltapov, Lazutin, Ganin and Sychev, but out of those players, the only players who looked like they might have early round potential are Poltapov, Mintyukov, Chibrikov and Grudinin. There was also a 2004 born player on the team, Sapunov, and he didn't stand out, at all, but it might be because he's playing against older players and he might actually be a decent player. Usually the players playing in a higher age group in international junior hockey end up being earlier draft picks.
Poltapov and Chibrikov are undersized wingers with some offensive skill, but not dynamic enough for me to think they project as more than fringe first round prospects early on. Grudinin was probably the most noticeable player I saw from the Russian team, but his decision making looked suspect. He's also a little under-sized, but could have some potential as an under-sized offensive defensemen with adequate defensive ability. I thought Mintyukov looked like the best draft prospect in the team. He's 2022 draft eligible as a late 2003 born player, and he has a pretty well-rounded game as a left-shot defensemen.
