Russian Prospects: who’s hot, who’s not

Alessandro Seren Rosso

2010-10-20

Kuznetsov

 

After more than a month of KHL play it's easy to figure out who's hot and who's not among prospects.

 

Kirill Petrov is definitely the hottest KHL prospect right now, and maybe even in the entire league. After his move from Ak Bars Kazan to Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk he not only started playing some quality minutes, but he started producing. So far he scored eight points in as many games, but what's more important is that his arrival in the lineup sparked the team, which is now the ninth seed in the standings after being promoted from the Russian High League. This is surely a great achievement and Petrov and his powerplay skills have much to do with it. Petrov is definitely progressing, getting the most ice time he ever got in his career and this year will be much better for the Isles prospect’s development.

 

Washington prospect Evgeny Kuznetsov also is making progress. After missing a week due to a shoulder injury, Kuznetsov had a hard time in his first game, but then started scoring again. To tell the truth his problems in the first game were probably due to the change of coaches. Traktor started the season rather badly and they decided to fire their head coach and hire Evgeny Belousov, who won multiple Russian championship titles with Metallurg Magnitogorsk and Avangard Omsk. Belousov most likely wanted to debut with a win and thus played with three lines only, benching Kuznetsov's unit for almost the whole game. But then Belousov started rolling four lines again and Kuznetsov repaid his trust scoring two points, one goal and one assist, in the next two games. Kuznetsov is going to play less under the new coach, but Belousov is a great coach and thus he is the ideal mentor for Kuznetsov, who plays on a line with Flyers' prospect Andrei Popov. Kuznetsov has now five points (two goals and three assists) under his belt.

 

On the other hand some players didn't do too well recently, and thus fit the "not" category.

📢 advertisement:

 

Dmitry Orlov, another Cap’s prospect, is surely a player which deserves to be there. Metallurg Novokuznetsk is on a five-game losing streak and Orlov isn't doing any better. He has been demoted down to the third line (he started the season playing on the first) and got only one point in the latest five games. His team needs to shake things up and he needs it too. Adding some accuracy to his strong shot from the point wouldn't hurt, right now he has a shooting percentage of only .038, scoring only one goal.

 

Orlov's team mate Maxim Kitsyn isn't having a good time as well. After getting an assist in his first KHL game of the season (he was suffering from an elbow injury, had to undergo a surgery) he failed to produce in the next games. He definitely needs to get some KHL scoring as last year he had two points only and this year he picked up one assist in four games.

 

Leave A Comment

UPCOMING GAMES

May 29 - 20:05 DAL vs EDM

Starting Goalies

Top Skater Views

  Players Team
MARCO ROSSI MIN
JJ PETERKA BUF
ALEXANDER NIKISHIN CAR
ZACH HYMAN EDM
RYAN NUGENT-HOPKINS EDM

Top Goalie Profile Views

  Players Team
ALEX LYON DET
JUUSE SAROS NSH
NIKITA QUAPP CAR
FREDERIK ANDERSEN CAR
STUART SKINNER EDM

LINE COMBOS

  Frequency BUF Players
25.9 TAGE THOMPSON JIRI KULICH ZACH BENSON
24.9 JACK QUINN JJ PETERKA RYAN MCLEOD
18.5 JASON ZUCKER ALEX TUCH PEYTON KREBS

DobberHockey Podcasts

Fantasy Hockey Life: Pittsburgh Penguins with Josh Yohe

Josh Yohe is here to report on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Jesse and Victor interview Josh about returning pros Sidney Crosby, Bryan Rust, Rickard Rakell, Evgeni Malkin, Tommy Novak, Rutger McGroarty, Ville Koivunen, Erik Karlsson, Matt Grzelcyk, Kris Letang, Owen Pickering, Tristan Jarry and Alex Nedeljkovic. In Cat’s Instincts, Cat Silverman of InGoal mag breaks down […]

Fantasy Hockey Life: Seattle Kraken with RJ Eskanos

RJ Eskanos of Emerald City Hockey is here to report on the Seattle Kraken. Jesse and Victor interview RJ about returning pros Jared McCann, Chandler Stephenson, Jaden Schwartz, Jordan Eberle, Kaapo Kakko, Shane Wright, Matty Beniers, Andre Burakovsky, Eeli Tolvanen, Jani Nyman, Vince Dunn, Brandon Montour, Ryker Evans, Joey Daccord, and Philipp Grubauer. In Cat’s […]

Keeping Karlsson: KK Leagues Report – 2025 Champs!

Derrick talks to the big winners of the various Keeping Karlsson leagues from this past season. He’s first joined by the new KKUPFL Ultimate Champion Ian and the reigning fast-track winner Alec. Then Derrick is joined by the year 1 KK Dynasty League champions Ian (different Ian), Saqib, and Brett, aka the “Good ol’ Ottawa Boys”.

Fantasy Hockey Life: Anaheim Ducks with Derek Lee

Derek Lee of the Hockey News is here to report on the Anaheim Ducks. Jesse and Victor interview him about returning pros Troy Terry, Mason McTavish, Trevor Zegras, Frank Vatrano, Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier, Sam Colangelo, Jackson LaCombe, Olen Zellweger, Pavel Mintyukov, Radko Gudas, Jacob Trouba, Lukas Dostal, and John Gibson. In Cat’s Instincts, Cat […]

Fantasy Hockey Life: Fluto Shinzawa Boston Bruins Preview

Fluto Shinzawa of the New York Times joins the show to break down the Boston Bruins. Jesse and Victor ask him about David Pastrnak, Morgan Geekie, Pavel Zacha, Elias Lindholm, Casey Mittelstadt, Matthew Poitras, Fraser Minten, Charlie McAvoy, Mason Lohrei, Hampus Lindholm, Jeremy Swayman, and Joonas Korpisalo. Cat’s instincts covers prospect goalies Brandon Bussi and […]

FIND US ON FACEBOOK

📢 advertisement: