Player Discussion Valeri Nichushkin

[Captain Awesome]

What do you guys think of his hockey IQ? I think it's been a little hard to tell whether or not he's a purely physical specimen or if he has some cerebral play to him. It's especially hard to tell since he doesn't like to do much playmaking as everyone has mentioned.

 

[Kalamazoo Wings]

What do you guys think of his hockey IQ? I think it's been a little hard to tell whether or not he's a purely physical specimen or if he has some cerebral play to him. It's especially hard to tell since he doesn't like to do much playmaking as everyone has mentioned.

As an analogy, he's a pure fastball pitcher that could use a change up to be more effective. I think long term success or shortcomings will hinge on how hard he works to develop more variety within his offensive arsenal. I like that he does seem to have right attitude/passion that should only help spur along his development. When/if that skill development melds into a more mature frame, we should be collectively licking our chops.

I don't know that we ever see playmaking or a cerebral style out of him other than when he has increased time and space on the powerplay. Personally, I feel like we'd have to redefine playmaking or look at the word playmaking in a different context to consider Nuke a playmaker. Can he be the team's best playmaker eventually? Yes. Will he be Adam Oates? I have my doubts. If he hones his assets we might one day be the team's go to playmaker.

The 'Nuke juke' breakaway goal on Jake Allen this preseason tells me he's has legitimate hockey sense and a slick pair of mitts. Sincerely that was such a 'heady' play on a really quality young goalie where he just flat out beat him. That said, he has ALOT of learning to do... the language, systems, utilizing linemates/vision... plenty of areas we can all see need improvement. But wow, he's 18 and has his entire career in front of him to show us what he can do.

For now, I will stay excited about what he should bring to the table in 3 to 5 years of development, maturity and learning the North American game. If 3-5 turns to 1-2 years, well then great but realistically if he stays healthy and keep his spot in the top 9 this season, that's all I ask. He's big, skilled and hungry, the numbers will take care of themselves.

 

[RastaRockett]

Found this video... I remember people talking about him stopping or something stupid like that on the bike and maybe that was a reason he fell. I forget. Anyways, here's some video evidence haha.

 

[Primetimey*]

The first bike test is a thirty second all out sprint pushing yourself like crazy.

The second bike test is the vo2 max with the tube into your mouth. He quit a little early and they wanted him to go longer but he didn't. Had some people questioning him a little, wouldn't really be a reason to see him drop however.

 

[BigG44]

Really good story from Heika on Nuke, and the testing is brought up.

One thing that stuck out to me was Heika saying he only played 45 games last year when in reality he played 79 games. He only played 43 regular season games (3 different leagues), but he played 25 in the playoffs and 12 in the two biggest international tournaments of the year.

I get he was going for only 45 against men ... but that's more than most. Only Europeans have any experience against playing men, and that's honestly pretty rare for the teenagers over their. These CHLers making the jump have played 0 games against men. Seems like a silly point to make but whatever. MacKinnon is just as if not more likely to struggle against a full season of full grown men, but I can't recall people being concerned about him lasting a full season.

Nichushkin did make an appearance at the NHL Draft combine, but said he did absolutely no physical preparation for it so he wouldn’t burn himself out, telling RIA Novosti, “To be honest, I don’t care about these tests.” That decision didn’t sit well with some talent evaluators like International Scouting Services head scout Ross MacLean, who told CFRN-AM in Edmonton: “He shows up at the combine and acts very arrogantly and has terrible interviews and quits on a lot of the tests, and has a lot of teams saying, 'You know what? No thanks.'”

You know what? Thanks for saying no thanks.

Another little awesome tidbit ...

As if an impressive KHL debut wasn’t enough, Nichushkin really caught evaluators’ eyes during the IIHF World Under-18 Championships in April. Though Russia wound up with a disappointing fourth-place finish, Nichushkin earned rave reviews for his play, which included four goals and seven points in six games. Tampa Bay Lightning head scout Al Murray told the Tampa Bay Times, “That's maybe the most dominant performance I've ever seen at a tournament. [Nichushkin] absolutely took over. He was a combination of (Alex) Ovechkin and (Evgeni) Malkin.”

 

[Pohlow]

Makes you wonder how highly rated Drouin was to them, or how scared of Russians the TBL organization was.

 

[BigG44]

Makes you wonder how highly rated Drouin was to them, or how scared of Russians the TBL organization was.

It's probably the first. They draft Russians left and right under Yzerman. I think 3 or 4 of their top prospects are Russian.

 

[BigG44]

Just because I was curious, they've drafted 5 Russians and 9 players total from Eastern Europe/Russia in total since Yzerman took over.

According to HF, their #1 prospect is Russian, 4 Russians are in the Top 10, and 6 Eastern Europeans/Russians are in their Top 11.

I knew he had a reputation for liking Russians based on drafting ... didn't realize the numbers were that significant.

 

[BigG44]

More from that article that might be interesting since we are on the subject of TB:

He also hinted that he would like to be drafted by the Tampa Bay Lightning, where he would be reunited with former Traktor Chelyabinsk teammate Nikita Nesterov. But Stars fans shouldn’t worry too much about Nichushkin’s pre-draft leanings. The forward told RIA Novosti, “After the draft, my favorite team will be the one that picks me.”

Some info on him:

17. (16) Nikita Nesterov, D, 6.0C
Drafted 5th round, 148th overall, 2011

Nesterov completed his second season with Traktor Chelyabinsk of the KHL in 2012-13, playing in 35 games. The two way defenseman also appeared in 19 playoff games and recorded four assists and six penalty minutes. Armed with a good point shot and a nice first pass out of the zone, Nesterov is a hard working defenseman that exhibits leadership qualities. At 6' and 180 lbs he is a little undersized for a defenseman, so he will need to work on adding more size in order to handle bigger opponents. Nesterov is a good candidate to join AHL Syracuse for the 2013-14 season where he can become more familiar with the organizational structure.

Honestly how no idea who he was.

 

[RastaRockett]

Haha kind of funny how he didn't prepare for those tests. He lets his game do the talking not his vertical jump. What do you use a vertical for in hockey anyway?

 

[LordHelmet]

Haha kind of funny how he didn't prepare for those tests. He lets his game do the talking not his vertical jump. What do you use a vertical for in hockey anyway?

Vertical is an indicator of explosive strength in the legs. That most certainly applies to skating.

 

[Captain Awesome]

I've been coming to this website for a very long time, this is definitely the highest we've ever had a prospect ranked by a long shot. If I remember correctly neither Eriksson or Neal ever cracked the top 50.

 

[Dynamo81]

How did he go in his first NHL game?

 

[Mr Misty]

How did he go in his first NHL game?

He did fine, nobody except Kari looked very good. He answered the "He's only got one move" crowd at least once where he went to the outside and then passed instead of driving to the net, and he didn't really look out of place more than anybody else. He got a shift or two with Benn and Seguin that looked good, and if Cole is going to play like garbage again he might get more reps on the top line soon.

 

[Stars99Lobo37]

He did fine, nobody except Kari looked very good. He answered the "He's only got one move" crowd at least once where he went to the outside and then passed instead of driving to the net, and he didn't really look out of place more than anybody else. He got a shift or two with Benn and Seguin that looked good, and if Cole is going to play like garbage again he might get more reps on the top line soon.

Only thing that irritated me is later in the game he reverted back to only wanting to play by himself that we saw during the preseason. Multiple times tried to fight through three players by himself. And he still hasn't learned how to dump it in and go. But definitely didn't look out of place at all tonight.

 

[BigG44]

Only thing that irritated me is later in the game he reverted back to only wanting to play by himself that we saw during the preseason. Multiple times tried to fight through three players by himself. And he still hasn't learned how to dump it in and go. But definitely didn't look out of place at all tonight.

He probably shouldn't learn that considering that's not what Dallas is trying to do anymore.

Dump n' Chase sucks ... I'm glad they're trying to play a possession game, but your point still stands regarding being smarter about entering the zone at times.

 

[Dundalis]

I've got no issues whatsoever with him attempting to carry the puck and losing it. He clearly has the talent to do it and he will learn as he gets more experience the right times to do and when not to. I'll take over those dump and chases that end in nothing. Because every now and then you are gonna see something like what he did against the Avs in the pre-season.

Bottom line is anyone expecting Nuke NOT to be frustrating in his first year should just give up all expectations. He's not gonna to be the finished article for at least 2 years I would say. So expect more of the same for a while as he goes through the learning process. You don't expect a little kid to come off the training wheels in one go (some of Razors references were funny).

Also how bad were Cole's hands? He literally fumbled and lost every puck put on his stick that first period. I'd give Nuke more opportunities than one shift per game on the first line with Benn and Seguin, just to get an idea of how dynamic that potential line could be.

 

[ElGuapo]

Yeah, Cole's hands have turned to freaking stone.

I thought Nichushkin looked good for a 18 year old's first NHL game. He didn't seem lost like, say, Fraser always did. I think he did chip and chase into the zone at least once but maybe I imagined it. Seemed fine without the puck and showed some vision.

 

[RastaRockett]

Thoughts on Nichushkin tonight? I was only able to catch the last little bit of the game.

 

[Alistar]

Thoughts on Nichushkin tonight? I was only able to catch the last little bit of the game.

Well it was a rough night for Nichushkin, and I think the reduction in ice time from 19 minutes in game 1 to 12.5 minutes in game 2 reflected that.

Interesting point made by Josh Lile on twitter, through the first 2 games Nichushkin has taken a higher percentage of his shifts starting out on a defensive zone faceoff than any other player on the team. I think this is a by-product of playing with our two defensive specialists Horcoff and Fiddler, but it kind of shows that he's maybe not being utilized to the best of his potential.

Dallas needs to figure out a way to get him some attacking zone time with guys that have playmaking ability.

 

[glovesave_35]

Well it was a rough night for Nichushkin, and I think the reduction in ice time from 19 minutes in game 1 to 12.5 minutes in game 2 reflected that.

Interesting point made by Josh Lile on twitter, through the first 2 games Nichushkin has taken a higher percentage of his shifts starting out on a defensive zone faceoff than any other player on the team. I think this is a by-product of playing with our two defensive specialists Horcoff and Fiddler, but it kind of shows that he's maybe not being utilized to the best of his potential.

Dallas needs to figure out a way to get him some attacking zone time with guys that have playmaking ability.

Agree with you here. Nichushkin playing with those guys may just be how things settled out when drawing up the lines, or maybe he was put in that role to bring him along slowly and not worry so much about offense. In either case, he's obviously playing with guys who he can't generate offense with. I'm just slightly worried that he will keep up bad habits like trying to stickhandle through three guys at the offensive blue line rather than making a more simple entrance.

 

[glovesave_35]

He probably shouldn't learn that considering that's not what Dallas is trying to do anymore.

Dump n' Chase sucks ... I'm glad they're trying to play a possession game, but your point still stands regarding being smarter about entering the zone at times.

Dump and chase itself isn't a problem, it's only a problem if it's poorly executed.

In recent years the Stars have been dumping it in from near the center line rather than pushing it past defenders as they enter with speed. If you can do the latter it's not boring and it's not bad hockey; good, skilled teams do that all the time. Nichushkin has the speed and strength to both get past defenses and regain possession.

One thing that's for sure is he's not going to dangle his way through the neutral and offensive zone twenty times a day and be successful.

 

[Hull Fan]

I'd like to see them switch Cole and Nichushkin for a least a game and give the kid the offensive zone starts and allow Cole's physical game to help out in a checking role. Don't know if that will happen but while Fiddler has played well he's not going to jump start Valeri's offensive career and Horcoff certainly isn't going to. A ton of defensive zone draws won't help the situation either.

Chiasson has helped himself plenty but he also got an opportunity on an offensive line with a playmaker like Whitney which has set him up for plenty of scoring chances in his 9 NHL games. Nichushkin could use something like that as well, if just to get his confidence up.

 

[ginblossoms]

I'd like to see them switch Cole and Nichushkin for a least a game and give the kid the offensive zone starts and allow Cole's physical game to help out in a checking role.

i like the idea of giving nichushkin shifts with the first line. i'd rather see them implement it like they did in the first game, though. give him a few shifts in the middle of the game. put cole back there in key game situations (e.g. end of game) for the defensive responsibility.

 

[aloonda*]

i like the idea of giving nichushkin shifts with the first line. i'd rather see them implement it like they did in the first game, though. give him a few shifts in the middle of the game. put cole back there in key game situations (e.g. end of game) for the defensive responsibility.

agreed, lines don't have to be locked in stone


start putting the nuke in some good situations and let him rip