Since the transfer agreement has been established between the KHL and the NHL, Russia has seen less and less of their home products make it to the NHL, and consequently to NHL teams picking less Russian imports in the NHL Entry Draft. However, there’s a new breed of young Russian superstars that aren’t afraid of playing Major Junior Hockey in Canada in order to appease NHL teams and increase their draft stock. Therefore, last year, the Ontario Hockey League has witness Russia’s best import in Russian forward, Nail Yakupov, dominating the entire OHL and CHL.
Born in Nizhnekamsk, Russia, Yakupov could become, well surely, the 1st breakout hockey star from Muslim Tatarstan.
Playing for the Sarnia Sting of the OHL, Yakupov came to Canada as the 2nd overall pick in the 2010 CHL Import Draft, and completely showed the world a completely new style of Russian type of player. With little knowledge of English and Canadian culture, Yakupov was welcomed by teammate and best friend Alex Galchenyuk, the 2010 1st overall pick of the OHL Priority Draft, and his family. Having to live and play together, these two Russian young guns have learned to connect on the ice, as well off the ice.
Standing at 5ft10 weighing 170 lbs, Yakupov plays a much bigger style than his height and weight are showing. Blessed with blazing speed, especially his transition speed aka acceleration, and extremely quick hands, the young right winger dazzled through the Ontario Hockey League with 49 goals and 52 assists for a total of 101 pts as a 16 years old... Russian import and earning him the OHL and CHL rookie of the year. His rookie totals outscored those of Sting alumni and 2010 Rocket Richard co-winner, Steven Stamkos. Let aside his gifted offensive toolset, Yakupov delivers explosive hits... most of the time much bigger than him. He has the nose for the net and is not scared to create his way to it. Some compare him to a smaller version of Capitals own Russian Tsar, Alexander Ovechkin, while others compare him to the other Alexander the Great, Alexander Mogilny and shifty as Pavel Bure. As far as scouts say, Yakupov’s size isn’t an issue. With that type of will and toolset, he has every chance to make it to the NHL and dominating right away for the team that will pick him.
with their agent and former NHLer, Igor Larionov.
Playing alongside Nail Yakupov and completing this dynamic and dominating duo is American born of Russian descent residing in Canada, Alex Galchenyuk. Our #3 ranked Prospect for the 2012 NHL Entry Draft comes from a hockey family as Galchenyuk’s father, also named Alex, was a veteran of the Russian Super League, the precursor to the Kontinental League. After years playing for Dynamo Moscow, he headed to Milwaukee in 1992 to play for the minor-league Admirals. During his stint, Alex Jr. was born. Due to his father hockey career, young Alex has traveled a lot, from Italy to Chicago to finally live in Ontario.
With a bigger frame than Nail Yakupov at 6ft1 and 185 lbs, Sarnia’s primordial centerman plays a completely different style than his RW linemate. Galchenyuk possesses certainly one of the best vision and hockey IQ in this upcoming draft and uses it well to connect with his linemates. If it wasn’t for Yakupov’s incredible rookie season, Galchenyuk’s 31 goals and 52 assists would have give him the Rookie of the year title in the Ontario Hockey League. He is an extremely smart playmaker and his best attribute is the ability to slow down the pace of the game. Especially on the powerplay, he usually possess the ability to control the play and create his team chances to score. When without the puck, Alex has this ability to sneak behind the opponent defense and score most of his goals on the right side of the goal. Scouts compare him to a poor man’s Marian Hossa, but here on HockeyLobby, we see him turning into a similar player as Dallas Stars centermen Mike Ribeiro. Both have slick shootout moves and have the ability to sneak past defensemen and be at the right place at the right moment.
All in all, Nail Yakupov and Alex Galchenyuk are probably the best duo the CHL has ever seen since the dominating force that the London Knights once have back in the 2006-2007 season in Chicago’s Patrick Kane and Edmonton Oilers Sam Gagner. Not only that these two Russian superstars live and play together, they both trained together this past summer at the Biosteel Camp lead by Matt Nichol and Gary Roberts with a bunch of NHLers such as Mike Cammalleri, Steven Stamkos and of course, Twitter King Paul Bissonnette aka Biznasty 2point0.
With their past World Junior Championship Gold medal win lead by Zhenya Kuznetsov(WAS) and Vladimir Tarasenko (STL), Russia is definitely back on top of the World Junior Hockey Supremacy, especially with our top 3 ranked prospects for the NHL 2012 Entry Draft: Mikhail Grigorenko, Nail Yakupov and Alex Galchenyuk. Next June, we might witness history as these top 3 prospects will try to be the 1st ever Russian trio to go 1-2-3.
Next up on HockeyLobby, brand new feature with our FutureWatch section. We will talk about two interesting prospects from the Maritimes as one is eligible for the 2013 NHL Entry Draft and the other one only for the 2015 Entry Draft: Halifax Moosehead superprospect and 1st overall pick in the QMJHL Entry Draft, from the same hometown as Sidney Crosby, Nova Scotian Nathan MacKinnon and top rated defenseman prospect for the 2013 QMJHL entry draft, New Brunswicker Luc Deschênes.
No comments:
Post a Comment