Welcome back to another week of Analytics Advantage. This week we are going to be doing a player highlight on Nikita Artamonov, who is the Carolina Hurricanes 50th overall draft pick. With this player highlight, I would like to go over why this player is being talked about as a 'sure thing', some numbers and historical comparisons to help create analogies.

First, some background information on Artamonov. He is a 5-11, 187 lb. (180 cm/85 kg) winger who played his draft-eligible season for Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod in the KHL. He is a high-intelligence, fast-paced, playmaking forward who often finds himself to be in the right spot at the right time. He isn't anything jaw-dropping physically, but his skill set always makes him one of the most dangerous players because of his ability to receive the puck in open space, and then find a teammate or spot to advance the play as quickly and intelligently as possible. His defensive game is also very solid, he uses his motor and good positioning to compensate for his smaller size. Now, looking at all this, he seems to be like any other high IQ two-way prospect, but where it all takes a turn is the age at which he is doing all of this, along the league he is doing it in. He came into the 23/24 KHL season at 17 years old (turned 18 on Nov. 17, 2023) and put up a historically notable season in comparison to others who have done the same. He put up 23 pts (7G, 16A) in 53 games while playing in the top six of Torpedo, and this may not seem too impressive, but when you start to look at the other historical player performances, it makes you wonder why he fell to 50th.

Artamonov put up the 6th most ever total points by an 18-year-old in the KHL, only below some elite talents: Vladimir Tarasenko (09/10-42 GP: 24 PTS|13G, 11A); Kirill Kaprizov (15/16-53 GP: 27 PTS|11G, 16A); Evgeny Kuznetsov (10/11-44 GP: 32 PTS|17G, 15A), and what I consider to be a special case, Eeli Tolvanen, who put up a monster KHL rookie season at Jokerit (17/18-49 GP: 36 PTS|19G, 17A). He is also just above players who are highly touted as well: Daniil But, Matvei Michkov, and Pavel Buchnevich. What is notable about most these players, are that they selected to go in the first round of the draft (Kaprizov was fortunately a hidden gem for us Wild fans, but looking back on things, it shouldn't have been that way; Buchnevich is incredible value at 75^th ovr), but what is more impressive to me is that many of these players had some sort previous KHL experience from the year prior, every single guy here was not a rookie, but Artamonov came into his season with one singular game of KHL experience. This is a big reason why so many scouts love him, is that his type of game translates immediately, he was thrown at the second-best league in the world, and he did not get ran over by the intensity and physicality.

One analogy I like to make with the more cerebral, high hockey IQ players is that they are like a chess player of sorts. These 'chess players', as I like to call them, are players who can produce and thrive just based on their positioning, anticipation, knowledge of the game, and level of creative out-of-the-box thinking that allows them to constantly be a nuisance at all levels. These are the types of players who let the play come to them and make reactionary moves that are highly thought about and are usually correct, which is why I draw the comparison to chess, as these are known as the 'top engine moves'. (For background, a chess engine lists all possible moves and decides whether or not this a beneficial play or hinders you). Artamonov makes the top engine move almost every single time he receives the puck or is without the puck, and the moments where he uses his out-the-box thinking may seem like they are blunders (a worse possible move), but in reality, he thinks through a situation to create what is known as a 'brilliant move', which is known as a human move that topped what even the engine thought was possible. I love this analogy so much for Artamonov because he really is a product of his work ethic and brains, which is something I find a lot of chess grandmasters to have.

Now let's enlarge our analysis some more and look at historical 50th overall picks in the NHL. The best 50th overall pick in NHL history is Milan Lucic, who had a solid career playing up and down the lineup as a physical force. Other notable players are Colton Sissons, Jordan Greenway, Chris Thorburn and Maxime Comtois. Only around 16 of the 56 total 50th overall draft picks have played more than 82 games in a career, while eight of those put up more than 100 pts in their careers. I think that there is going to be some additions to this list as the more recent 50th overall picks come into the league, as there are a couple of guys to note down.

Samuel Fagemo (LAK 2019), who looks to be a decent top-six upside winger, who just had a very solid season for the Ontario Reign, putting up 62 PTS (43G, 19A) in 50 GP. I fully expect him to move into the Kings starting lineup in this next season, he has some nice tools and youth that a confused Kings squad might need.

Yan Kuznetsov (CGY 2020), looks to be a so and so shot at becoming his full defensive defenseman potential, as he is struggling to translate his success from lesser and younger levels. He put up 13 PTS (5G, 8A) in 63 GP last season. He is stuck behind some very good additions to the Calgary prospect pool, and it isn't a sure thing that he will fulfill his upside.

Nikita Chibrikov (WPG 2021), who is another Russian winger with good top-six upside, putting up a less impressive season compared to Fagemo, yet still good, with 47 PTS (17G, 30A) on a marginally worse AHL team, the Manitoba Moose. This is a very solid rookie season, as he will look to improve and adapt to the North American game.

Christian Kyrou (DAL 2022) is an offensive defenseman from the OHL, and is known for his shiftiness and ability to make good plays with the puck. He is a bit undersized for the NHL's defensive tastes, coming in at 5-10, and the big what-if with a player like him is whether he'll be able to transfer and consistently maintain the skills he brings to the table. He is a 0.9 point per game player in his OHL career, which was hindered as he failed to produce at the same rate last season in the AHL, putting up 23 PTS (8G, 15A) in 57 GP. To clarify, his PNHLe went down in production, so that is why I am saying his scoring rate is down, the AHL is definitely not on par with the OHL in scoring.

Carson Rehkopf (SEA 2023) is a very offensive-minded winger from the OHL, he has shown steady improvement in every year of development. The main concerns for him at the moment are his lack of defensive mindedness, and the need for him to be fed the puck, so he needs a strong playmaker by his side to utilize his tool set fully. He looks to be like a good offensive prospect that needs to work on the little things before he can start translating his game over to more difficult leagues. He put up 95 PTS (52G, 43A) in 60 GP playing in the OHL,

I hope that this Nikita Artamonov and 50^th overall pick highlight was a nice refresher on some old names, an introduction to some new interesting players to follow, and some potential eye candy for future fantasy hockey pickups. Please let me know if you have any deep dives that you would like me to get into, or a specific player you want to be highlighted.

Thank you for reading and have a great rest of your day!

Twitter/X – @DH_staspup for any questions, corrections, or comments

Player Data sourced from EliteProspects, QuantHockey, Dobber Prospects