SB Nation - Nikita Kucherov

2011 draft pick Nikita Kucherov signs entry level contract with Tampa Bay Lightning

John Fontana — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 22:30:38 -0000

Nikita Kucherov will be making his North American debut this season while playing for the Quebec Remparts of the QMJHL. The Russian forward just got incentive to stick around in North America, that being a standard 3-year entry level contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning. T he club announced the signing this evening.

The 19-year-old Kucherov was selected 58th overall in the 2011 NHL draft, and was selected by the Remparts in the CHL import draft - paving his way to make a North American debut.

The right wing has spent time playing in the Russian junior leagues as well as playing among the pros in the Kontinental Hockey League. He was part of Team Russia's World Junior Championship team in 2011 and 2012, putting up 21 points in seven games in 2011 and 7 points in 7 games the following year.

It's easy to speculate that Kucherov could have been invited to the Botls preseason rookie camp if it had indeed taken place in South Florida this year. Alas, the camp and tournament was scratched with thanks to the labor uncertainty of the moment. Yet, this allows Nikita to focus on the task at hand -- the QMJHL and the trials set before him in adjusting to that game.

A video clip from YouTube and the full press release from the Lightning is below.

LIGHTNING SIGN 2011 SECOND-ROUND PICK NIKITA KUCHEROV

TAMPA BAY – The Tampa Bay Lightning have signed right wing Nikita Kucherov to a three-year, entry-level contract today, vice president and general manager Steve Yzerman announced.

Kucherov, 5-foot-11, 174 pounds, is currently playing with the Quebec Remparts of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League after he was taken in the 2012 CHL Import Draft. He has yet to appear in a game with the Remparts due to off-season shoulder surgery that also kept him off the ice for the Lightning’s 2012 Development Camp.

A native of Moscow, Russia, Kucherov played in 18 games with CSKA Moscow of the KHL last season, recording a goal and five points. He also played in 23 games with CSKA’s junior team (MHL), registering 24 goals and 43 points. Kucherov also represented his native Russia at the 2012 World Junior Championships, recording two goals and seven points. He ranked fourth on the team for points and assists (5). Kucherov was also named the best forward at the 2011 U-18 World Championships after leading the tournament with 11 goals and 21 points in seven games.

He was selected by Tampa Bay in the second round, 58^th overall, of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.

Tampa Bay Lightning developmental camp features draftees, prospects, and first Tampa born invitee

John Fontana — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 15:57:12 -0000

Slater Koekkoek, Andrei Vasilevski, Vladislav Namestnikov, J.T. Brown, Dylan Blujus, Brian, Hart, and Cody Bradley are just some of the names of the announced 30 prospects and invitees attending the 2012 Tampa Bay Lightning developmental camp in Brandon next week...

After seeing the above list with some big names, perhaps you did a double take too when I added invitee Cody Bradley's name to the list of attendees to the training sessions running July 3^rd through 7^th at Ice Sports Forum. Cody has something going for him that caught my immediate attention while going over the roster of participants: His hometown is Tampa, Florida.

Son of former Tampa Bay Lightning center and current Tampa Bay Lightning Director of Youth Hockey Brian Bradley, Cody has the distinction - and please, correct me if I'm wrong - of being the first Tampa born player to be invited to and participate in a Tampa Bay Lightning team function in the franchises 20 year history.

Bradley, 18, has played two seasons in the USHL - the American junior system - for the Indiana Ice and Dubuque Fighting Saints, putting up 49 points over those two seasons.

At any rate, all on-ice training will be open to the public at Ice Sports Forum. The participants include the majority of the 2012 draft class (Koekkoek, Vasilevski, Blujus, Hart, Tanner Richard, Cedric Paquette, and Jake Dotchin) as well as members of the 2009 through 2011 draft classes.

The full press release for the event is below.

LIGHTNING RELEASE ROSTER FOR 2012 DEVELOPMENT CAMP

TAMPA BAY - The Tampa Bay Lightning will host 30 players for their 2012 Development Camp the team announced today. Of those 30, there are 15 forwards, 11 defensemen and four goaltenders. The on-ice portion of the camp will run Tuesday, July 3 through Saturday, July 7 at the Brandon Ice Sports Forum. On-ice times will be announced at a later date.

The camp will feature some of the Lightning's top prospects, including first and second round draft picks from both this and last summer's drafts. That includes the Lightning's first two picks from the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, defenseman Slater Koekkoek and goaltender Andrey Vasilevskiy, as well as forwards Vladislav Namestnikov (1^stRd) and Nikita Kucherov (2^ndRd) from the 2011 draft. Also scheduled to attend will be J.T. Brown, who played five games with the Lightning in 2011-12. He is the only attendee with NHL experience.

Of those players attending the camp, there are nine invitees, five players signed as free agents and 16 draftees. The drafted players feature seven from this summer's draft, five from 2011, two from 2010, one from 2009 and one from 2008.

2012 Development Camp Roster

FORWARDS (15) # Name HT WT DOB Born Acquired 2011-12 Club

22 BRADLEY, CODY 5-10 163 5/26/94 Tampa, FL Invitee Dubuque (USHL) Indiana (USHL)

23 BROWN, J.T. 5-10 170 7/2/90 Burnsville, MN Free Agent (3/28/12) Tampa Bay (NHL) Minnesota-Duluth (WCHA)

57 CZARNIK, Austin 5-8 140 12/12/92 Washington, MI Invitee Miami-Ohio (CCHA)

62 DEVOS, Philip-Michael 5-11 184 4/26/90 Sorel-Tracy, QC Invitee Norfolk (AHL) Florida (ECHL)

39 GAUTHIER, Danick 6-2 201 10/24/91 Repentigny, QC Free Agent (3/2/12) Saint John (QMJHL)

17 HART, Brian 6-2 216 11/25/93 Cumberland, ME '12 Draft (2^ndRd) Phillips-Exeter (HS-NH)

43 KUCHEROV, Nikita 5-11 171 6/17/93 Moscow, Russia '11 Draft (2^ndRd) CSKA-Moscow (KHL) CSKA-Moscow-2 (Russia)

48 LANGELIER-PARENT, Maxime 6-1 206 12/16/87 Montreal, QC Invitee McGill (CIS)

41 MCNALLY, Brandon 6-2 200 2/8/92 Saugus, MA Invitee Dartmouth (ECAC)

61 MULLIN, James 5-11 157 2/24/92 Philadelphia, PA '10 Draft (4^thRd) Miami (Ohio) (CCHA)

65 NAMESTNIKOV, Vladislav 5-11 171 11/22/92 Voskresensk, Russia '11 Draft (1^stRd) London (OHL)

49 O'DONNELL, Brendan 6-1 200 6/25/92 Flin Flon, MB '10 Draft (6^thRd) North Dakota (WCHA)

55 PAQUETTE, Cedric 6-1 206 8/13/93 Gaspe, QC '12 Draft (4^thRd) Blainville-Boisbriand (QMJHL)

9 PECA, Matthew 5-8 155 4/27/93 Petawawa, ON '11 Draft (7^thRd) Quinnipiac (ECAC)

19 RICHARD, Tanner 6-0 182 4/6/93 Markham, ON '12 Draft (3^rdRd)

# 72	Name BLUJUS, Dylan	HT 6-3	WT 193	DOB 1/22/94	Born Buffalo, NY	Acquired '12 Draft (2nd Rd)					2011-12 Club Brampton (OHL)
97	CLARKE, Garrett	6-0	197	11/3/92	Windsor, NS	Invitee					Acadie-Bathurst (QMJHL)
											Gatineau (QMJHL)
15 21 52	DOTCHIN, Jake GOTOVETS, Kirill KOEKKOEK, Slater	6-2 5-11 6-2	207 175 184	3/24/94 6/25/91 2/18/94	Glen Morris, ON Minsk, Belarus Winchester, Ontario				'12 Draft (6th Rd) '09 Draft (7th Rd) '12 Draft (1st Rd)		Rio Grande Valley (CHL) Owen Sound (OHL) Cornell (ECAC) Peterborough (OHL)
64	LANDRY, Charles	5-11	187	6/3/91	Napierville, QC				Free Agent (9/15/10)		Norfolk (AHL)
											Florida (ECHL)
73 51	MILAN, Dan NESTEROV, Nikita	6-3 6-0	193 183	4/14/92 3/28/93	Detroit, MI Chelyabinsk, Russia					Free Agent (9/23/11) '11 Draft (5th Rd)	Victoriaville (QMJHL) Chelyabinsk (KHL)
67	SERGEEV, Artem	6-1	205	4/20/93	Moscow, Russia					Invitee	Val-d'Or (QMJHL)
13 53	SUSTR, Andrej WITKOWSKI, Luke	6-8 6-2	218 200	11/29/90 Plzen, Czech Republic 4/14/90 Holland, MI						Invitee '08 Draft (6th Rd)	Nebraska-Omaha (WCHA) Western Michigan (CCHA)
GOALTENDERS (4) # Name 37 NAGLE, Pat		HT 6-2	WT 169	DOB 9/21/87	Born Bloomfield, MI		Acquired Free Agent (3/22/11)				2011-12 Club Florida (ECHL)
35 30 40	SAUNDERS, Clarke WILCOX, Adam VASILEVSKIY, Andrey	6-3 6-0 6-3	190 171 204	9/9/89 Brockville, ON 11/26/92 South St. Paul, MN 7/25/94 Tyumen, Russia				Invitee '11 Draft (6th Rd) '12 Draft (1st Rd)			Alabama-Huntsville (NCAA) Tri-City (USHL) Ufa-2 (Russia)
				~BE THE THUNDER~

Wild Finishes, Emotional Surges, Flubs, Improbability, and Hat Tricks

Bruce Peter — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 06:43:21 -0000

The title only gives you a taste of went on last night at the IIHF World Juniors. Canada is out, falling by the historically prescient score of 6-5 to Russia, nearly completing a comeback from a 5 goal deficit in just over ten minutes. Sweden, too, came back on Tuesday, overcoming a 2-0 third period deficit to win 3-2 in a shootout over Finland. The two best teenaged hockey players not in the NHL, Yegveni Kuznetsov of Russia and Mikael Granlund of Finland, each had defining moments in their games, for entirely different reasons. The two semifinals had completely different standards of officiating, with Sweden-Finland becoming a 'let 'em play' game with tons of infractions let go, while Canada-Russia saw a ton of penalties called both ways, including an ejection and a 10 minute misconduct called. We saw goaltending ranging from spectacular to horrendous. We had own goals, flubs, clean breaks caused by bad line changes, and errors galore.

This is junior hockey at its elite level. It's not the best hockey that can be played, but at it's best it can offer up the most excitement you'll see on a rink.

Yevgeni Kuznetsov had a hat trick and an assist to help Russia build a 6-1 lead in what looked like a thoroughly embarassing Canadian defeat on home ice, the kind of score Canada is used to putting up against their stunned opponents before a raucous crowd. Then, the goals came in bunches for the home side. A PP goal by Dougie Hamilton, the first against Russia's PK unit in the tournament, followed quickly by a bank-in off a defender from behind the net, followed by a double deflection, followed by another PP goal from a Canadian defenseman. Suddenly, young 17 year old Andrei Vasilevskiy went from the tournament darling to benched for the final five and a half minutes of play... for Andrei Makarov.

It's a goaltending strategy seemingly borrowed from baseball pitching management: Makarov was the closer, trying to preserve Vasilievskiy's lead when it seemed like he had run out of gas. Apparently Vasilievskiy's 'shot count' must've been stretched past 40, as he went from allowing 1 goal on 40 or so shots to allowing 5 on 49 shots. Makarov came in for a 7 shot save effort and Russia is in the final, a Ryan Strome goalpost being the closest Canada got (and that's awfully close).

Neither coach could take much credit for this one. Valeri Bragin did all he could to keep his team from defeating itself, while Don Hay seemed reluctant to try new talent until the very end, and still didn't use NHL forward Brett Connolly to a great degree even while behind. It was captain Jaden Schwartz's line that did the most damage for Canada, with Brendan Gallagher providing an inspired performance late to nearly rally the troops. With Jonathan Huberdeau out for the majority of the third period with a ten minute misconduct, and Boone Jenner tossed from the game after an incredibly stupid spear on Kuznetsov, Hay didn't have many options, but he still was slow to adjust. Bragin juggled his lines furiously in the end, and trusted the obviously injured Mikhail Grigorenko a lot in this game. Grigorenko did set up the winning goal on what was a nice rush by Ignat Zemchenko finished off by Nikita Kucherov.

While Vasilevskiy was brilliant as the Russians built the lead, Canada again was not able to count on a brilliant goaltending performance of their own. Scott Wedgewood was victimized three times by Kuznetsov, and three times by his own defencemen, Ryan Murray. Murray started poorly, giving the puck away and then making a foolish defensive dive that caused the first Russian goal, and then was caught with his stick in a bad position for a re-direct on Nikita Nesterov's PP goal to give Russia a 2-0 first period lead. The poor decisions were then replaced by bad luck later... Murray again inadvertently deflected a Kuznetsov shot into the top corner, couldn't catch up on the blown line change on Kuznetsov's hat trick goal, and then had a centering pass deflect off his skates right to Alexander Khokhlachev on the 5-1 goal. The potential top 5 2012 draft pick has probably not ever had a worse night, and he still only ended up a -1 on the evening, as he was also on the ice for 3 goals for.

In the other semifinal, a 2-0 Finland lead was built on turnovers and advantageous offence, but Sweden was in control of the game for the most part. Still, it took a Sami Aittokallio giveaway from behind his own net to tie the game up, and a shootout to win it. The shootout ended when star forward Mikael Granlund lost the puck while attempted a toe drag move... and for those who have seen Granlund's shootout heroics in the past, it was a stunning conclusion. Sweden had a tough time getting to rebounds and creating traffic in front of Aittokallio, but in the end, they were the better team and deserved to be in the gold medal game.

For the first time in 11 years, Canada will not be in the gold medal game of the IIHF U20 World Junior Championship. Instead, the folks of Calgary will be treated to an all European matchup, and I hope they enjoy the game and show a lot of enthusiasm. Nothing is guaranteed in this sport, and while Canada has the depth of talent to overcome most of the random effects of birth year variance and dumb luck, every once in a while it should catch up. I doubt we'll see Canada go ten straight years in the Finals anytime soon, to be honest. It was a heck of a run, but the team still has a shot at medalling for the 13th straight year against Finland on Thursday.

Sweden, meanwhile, look like the better team of the two remaining in the Final. Maybe 2012 will finally be the year that ends the most unbelievable 31 year championship drought.... although you can never count out Russia, just as you couldn't even count out Canada when down by five goals with just over half a period to play.

What an event.

IIHF WJC Game Day: Silver Medal Tuesday

Bruce Peter — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 17:30:04 -0000

My dad is a big proponent of renaming the semifinal games at tournaments that award medals the Silver Medal games, to kind of get rid of the stigma that you win gold and lose silver. I've taken to that mentality, especially since it kind of leads to a backwards mentality that you'd rather win bronze than silver, since at least you won the game to get you that medal. Because, you know, losing the big game is better than not being good enough to be in it at all. You have to win a lot of games to win a silver medal, and the semifinal of the IIHF World Junior Championship game is the true must win game to achieve what is still an impressive accomplishment. So today the teams play for silver. Later, the two teams of silver medallists will try and trade up for the gold, while the losers have to settle for a shot at the bronze.

First up on the game lists, though, is that pesky relegation round. Sorry, USA Hockey fans, this is your fate this year.

Relegation Round: USA (1-0-0-0) vs. Latvia (1-0-0-0) - 11:00 AM MST

This, on paper, shouldn't be much of a game. The Americans are too good for this spot, and Latvia is a team that should be focused on tomorrow's big game vs. Denmark to stay up with the big boys. Still, you've got to play the game out. The game is being webcast on NHL.com for American viewers, and on Fasthockey for the rest of us. A USA victory guarantees a return to the elite pool, which Switzerland did yesterday with a 4-3 OT win over Denmark.

Silver Medal Game 1: Sweden (A1) vs. Finland (B2) - 3:00 PM MST

This is a classic rivalry, and Sweden's juniors will be looking to avenge for the men's team which lost in the IIHF World Championship Final last May. Sweden hasn't won at this tournament in 30 years, while Finland is back in the medal games for the first time since 2006. Both goaltenders have a lot to prove: Johan Gustafsson has been the worst starter of the elite nations so far in this tournament, yet Sweden has played so well in front of him they have yet to lose. Sami Aittokallio was awful in the quarterfinals after two strong preliminary round games. Up front, it is a battle between Max Friberg and the Granlund brothers, who are starting to take over the tournament and make good on my pre-tournament prediction of Mikael Granlund for MVP. Sweden has the better team overall, but Finland has improved a lot from the start of the tournament to now, especially on defence.

Silver Medal Game 2: Canada (B1) vs. Russia (A2) - 7:00 PM MST

Does it get any better? Canada has been perfect so far, extending Don Hay's win streak as junior team Head Coach to 11 games. Scott Harrington and Nathan Beaulieu suffered injuries in their final preliminary game against the Americans, but should be good to go tomorrow. Scott Wedgewood will likely be tapped as the starting goaltender, though it wasn't official when I wrote this up, and Canada has the best line in the tournament in Jonathan Huberdeau, Ryan Strome, and Mark Stone. Russia is coming off an exhausting quarterfinal overtime win against the Czechs, and have some big time injury concerns up front with Mikhail Grigorenko almost certainly out after attempting to come back from a probable ankle sprain, while Ivan Telegin suffered a wrist injury in the quarterfinal game and is questionable. The team's MVP is goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, who has helped the team to a 100% PK unit that will face a tough test in Canada. It'll be important for the top defensive pairing of Zakhar Arzamastev and Artyom Sergeyev to keep Canada's top line in check, which would go a long way to pulling off the upset here as Canada hasn't proven to have dependable scoring depth so far. Russia will need all hands on deck offensively, led by Yevgeni Kuznetsov, Nikita Gusev, Nikita Kucherov, Alexander Khokhlachev and Nail Yakupov.

Who will emerge victorious and into the final?

Silver Medal Games Broadcast: TSN/RDS (Canada), SVT (Sweden), MTV3 (Finland), NTV Plus (Russia), Eurosport2 (Europe, only CAN/RUS).

IIHF WJC Recap: Russia Wins Thriller, Granlunds Lead Finland

Bruce Peter — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 06:11:54 -0000

On a team stocked with offensive stars, the real story of Team Russia at the 2012 IIHF World Junior Championship has been 17 year old goaltender Andrei Vasilievskiy. In an unbelievable goaltending duel against Czech star Petr Mrazek, the rising star came out on top and continued an amazing tournament that has yet to see him give up a soft goal despite often being peppered behind a sometimes porous defence. He's also been key in leading the Russians penalty kill, which killed off their 22nd straight penalty this tournament at the end of regulation and into overtime before the unlikely Russian hero Grigori Zheldakov blasted the game winning goal on a feed from Lightning prospect Nikita Kucherov at 1:30 of overtime to send Russia to the semifinals and a date with Canada tomorrow night.

This was a game that had a lot of what you want to see as a hockey fan: ten bell chances thwarted by great goaltenders, lots of free-flowing action, huge momentum shifts, tons of chances, tons of shots, overtime, missed calls, desperate shot-blocking, players battling through injuries to try and win. Russia dominated early, utilizing great stretch passes to create odd man rushes and being very aggressive in the offensive zone to create turnovers and get shots in from the point and slot areas. Then, the second period started and the Czechs made outstanding adjustments: the neutral zone was clogged, their defence joined the rush and their forwards made life hard on the Russians' true weakness, their lack of depth on defence. Playing hurt after suffering a probable concussion versus the Americans, David Musil was excellent in the final forty minutes, as was Daniel Krejci. After exchanging second period goals, the game became a matter of inches, missed opportunities and elite goaltending from both sides.

It was hockey in all its best glory. The referees let the play go, which wasn't exactly fair, as with such top notch goaltending a power play goal could've made a huge difference. In the final minute of the third, the Czechs finally got a man advantage after an offensive zone high-sticking penalty to Kucherov. They couldn't beat Vasilievskiy, who in the second half of the game became a bigger figure than Mrazek, who stole the show early.

Here are the highlights:

So, we have our rematch of last year's gold medal game in the semifinals. After the jump, we'll look at the other semifinal between Finland and Slovakia.

A classic this one wasn't. We had some nice plays, but some lousy goaltending and some undisciplined play led to this being a shootout. And not just undisciplined play, but questionable officiating as well. With Slovakia within two goals in the third period, leading scorer Matus Chovan got tossed for a boarding call which the Finnish defender Miro Aaltonen clearly turned into to draw the penalty. There was nothing Chovan could do, as he was finishing the check facing Aaltonen before the very late turn to face the boards. The penalty resulted in Finland going up by four goals mid-way through the third period and eliminated any chance of a late Slovakian comeback like they did against Switzerland. Chovan had a goal and an assist before being ejected, but the game will be best remembered for watching Mikael Granlund and his brother Markus Granlund light up Slovakia in the second period. Markus scored his first two goals of the tournament, both assisted from great plays by his more famous brother, and Mikael also scored Finland's third goal, starting a lead in which they wouldn't relinquish. Both brothers assisted on one of the 3rd period PP goals as well.

Both Juraj Simboch and Dominik Riecicky allowed soft goals and did not allow Slovakia to take advantage of a shaky Sami Aittokallio in the Finnish net, who was not happy after allowing five goals in the quarterfinal despite the win. Finland will need much stronger goaltending tomorrow against Sweden in the semifinal, which will be the first semifinal for Finland since 2006. Finland has not won a semifinal since 2001, but with the Granlund brothers finally clicking, a victory does not seem out of reach.

2012 World Juniors Preview: Team Russia

Bruce Peter — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 02:44:27 -0000

A year ago, Russia was overlooked when evaluating the 2011 tournament. The once mighty power was taking a back seat to the likes of Canada, USA, and Sweden, with pluckly little Switzerland drawing more interest from fickle Canadian media members. In eleven days, they shook the hockey world, with stunning comebacks against Finland, Sweden, and most of all Canada to take the gold.

What last year's team lacked in NHL prospects they made up for in experience. It was an older lineup, almost exclusively made up of 19 year olds (only Yevgeni Kuznetsov was eligible to return this year), and the core of the team was formed at the CHL All-Stars vs. Russian Selects Super Series which became the first Russian team to win that series. Valeri Bragin coached both those teams and helped form an identity, one that was more a predatory counter-puncher than a dominant possession based team.

This year's team is a lot different. The forward group is far more talented, but also noticeably younger. Top 2012 Draft eigibles Nail Yakupov and Mikhail Grigorenko will be asked to play significant roles as 18 and 17 year olds respectively, and Russia's 1992 birth year is a bit thinner than usual, despite the presence of Kuznetsov.

So while there is a lot more hype around Russia going into this year, there are actually considerably more question marks about how they'll compete in this tournament with the best nations. Their defence took a major hit with an injury to the offensively dynamic Alexei Marchenko, and that really was one area in which Russia couldn't take a big injury.

That being said, the North American media contingent is a lot more aware about Russia's talent level this year. That's partly due to the elite talent that is coming over to play major junior the past couple of years, but also a recognition that maybe Russia's new junior league, the MHL, might be helping get their younger players develop quicker, by giving them more ice time against their peers. This year's team has 13 players who have played a majority of their season in the MHL so far, with 6 major junior players and three full-fledged KHLers. All but two of the players, Ivan Telegin and Artyom Sergeyev, spent some time in the MHL, and that includes all the CHLers.

After the jump, we look at how their roster breaks down:

**Canada U20 - Forwards**
Name	Pos	Ht	Wt	DOB	Club	League	Draft	IIHF Exp.
Danil Apalkov	C	5'11"	176	Jan 1/92	Yaroslavl	MHL	Undrafted	U18 (1)
Sergei Barbashev	LW	6'0"	170	Jul 26/92	CSKA Moscow	KHL	Undrafted	U18 (1)
Mikhail Grigorenko	C	6'2"	185	May 16/94	Québec	QMJHL	Elig. 2012	U18 (1)
Nikita Gusev	LW	5'9"	154	Jul 8/92	Krasnaja Armija	MHL	Undrafted	U18 (2)
Alexander Khokhlachev	C	5'10"	172	Sept 9/93	Windsor	OHL	Bruins (2/40, '11)	none
Yaroslav Kozov	RW	6'3"	187	Jul 5/93	Magnitogorsk	KHL	Panthers (5/124, '11)	none
Nikita Kucherov	RW	5'10"	148	Jun 17/93	Krasnaja Armija	MHL	Lightning (2/58, '11)	U18 (1)
Pavel Kulikov	C	6'0"	163	Jan 14/92	Nizhnekamsk	MHL	Undrafted	U18 (1)
Yevgeni Kuznetsov	RW	6'3"	187	May 19/92	Chelyabinsk	KHL	Capitals (1/26, '10)	U20 (1), U18 (2)
Ivan Telegin	LW	5'11"	183	Feb 28/92	Barrie	OHL	Thrashers (4/101, '10)	U20 (1)
Nail Yakupov	LW	5'11"	161	Oct 6/93	Sarnia	OHL	Elig. 2012	U18 (1)
Ignat Zemchenko	C	6'2"	185	Apr 24/92	Cherepovets	MHL	Undrafted	none

This is an incredibly skilled group of forwards. The line of Gusev-Grigorenko-Kucherov have played together for a long time, starting in CSKA's system and also expanding out into the Subway Super Series this past year. Grigorenko and Kucherov lit up the U18s this past year, with Kucherov putting up 3 points per game and Grigorenko being just behind that pace. And they might just be the 2nd line. Telegin, Kuznetsov, and Yakupov have spent some time together, while Khokhalechev, Kosov and Barbashev could be a force as well. This is a team with a lot of different players that can beat you, but one has to wonder whether they are physically mature enough to compete with the Americans and Canadians. There also isn't a lot of defensive accumen in this group, with Grigorenko probably being the most accomplished two-way forward of the group, but he's only 17 and that part of his game is still a work in progress.

But still... wow. There isn't many nations that can put that kind of forward talent together all at once for a junior hockey tournament, and it'll be fun to watch them at work.

**Denmark U20 - Defencemen**
Name	Ht	Wt	DOB	Club	League	Draft	IIHF Exp.
Viktor Antipin	5'9"	146	Dec 6/92	Magnitogorsk	MHL	Undrafted	U18 (1)
Zakhar Arzamastev	6'0"	179	Nov 6/92	Novokuznetsk	KHL	Undrafted	U18 (1)
Ildar Isangulov	6'3"	227	May 20/92	Ufa	MHL	Undrafted	none
Mikahil Naumenkov	6'0"	176	Feb 19/93	Krasnaja Armija	MHL	Undrafted	none
Nikita Nesterov	6'0"	183	Mar 28/93	Chelyanbinsk	MHL	Lightning (5/148, '11)	U18 (2)
Igor Ozhiganov	6'2"	214	Oct 31/92	Krasnaja Armija	MHL	Undrafted	none
Artyom Sergeyev	6'2"	203	Mar 20/93	Val-d'Or	QMJHL	Undrafted	none
Girgori Zheldakov	6'0"	192	Feb 11/92	MHC Spartak	MHL	Undrafted	U18 (1)

If you're confounded by this group on defence... you're not alone. Aside from Arzamastev, who probably should have been drafted last year by a NHL team, and Nesterov, there isn't a lot of depth here. Antipin and Naumenkov have some talent, but when we're comparing against the likes of Sweden, USA, and Canada this is a terrible defence. The forwards are where Russia will live, but the defence is likely how they will die (if they do). It's not a group with a lot of anything in particular: offensive ability, defensive smarts, experience, size, or even speed. It's collectively a very middling group that will try and keep it simple and get the puck to their exciting forwards as quickly as possible.

**Russia U20 - Goaltenders**
Name	Ht	Wt	DOB	Club	League	Draft	IIHF Exp.
Sergei Kostenko	5'11"	170	Sep 17/92	Kuznetskie Medvedi	MHL	Undrafted	U18 (1)
Andrei Makarov	6'1"	150	Apr 20/93	Saskatoon	WHL	Undrafted	none
Andrei Vasilevski	6'3"	201	Jul 25/94	Ufa	MHL	Elig. 2012	U18 (1)

Andrei Makarov should get the starting duties here, and he's been one of the best goaltenders in the WHL this year so far. Kostenko will probably see backup duties, I'm actually not sure how this will all shake out even with their first game so close at hand. Vasilievski is one of the top draft prospects for goaltenders this year (as is Makarov as a guy who was passed over once), but I don't know if Russia will go with two underaged goaltenders. This is another area in which Russia has the talent, but maybe they aren't old enough to handle the top 19 year old players of the other nations.

Russia has a lot going for it, but no one is going to take them lightly this year. It's a very talented group with some massive holes on defence that will be difficult to overcome.

**Russia U20 Schedule**
Date	City	Opponent	Result/Time
Dec 20	Red Deer	USA	W, 6-3
Dec 22	Lethbridge	Czech Rep.	W, 5-3
Dec 26	Calgary	Switzerland	8:00 PM MST
Dec 28	Calgary	Slovakia	8:00 PM MST
Dec 29	Calgary	Latvia	8:00 PM MST
Dec 31	Calgary	Sweden	8:00 PM MST

Prediction: 2nd in Group B.

Grigorenko and Kucherov reunite in Super Series at Le Colisee

Bruce Peter — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:21:18 -0000

Mikhail Grigorneko is projected as a top 5 pick for the NHL Entry Draft, and in this humble observer's opinion, is the only player worthy of challenging the amazing Nail Yakupov for the #1 overall selection. Making the case for anyone besides Yakupov is a challenge, maybe even a futile one, so the fact that Grigorenko could be in the same conversation as him is quite an accomplishment (and for the record, it's not just me that thinks so). Grigorenko made a huge name for himself in international tournaments, including off the radar ones like the Ivan Hlinka Memorial and the World Junior A Challenge. The Quebec Ramparts decided to make a pitch for Grigorenko and selected the 17 year old centre this past summer in the CHL Import Draft, and Grigorenko eventually accepted the offer. The split separated him from his MHL and Russian national team linemate, Nikita Kucherov, who was selected in the second round of the NHL Entry Draft and was seen by many as at least equal in ability to the Russians playing in the OHL that were drafted ahead of him in the first round.

Last year in the MHL, Grigorenko posted 35 points in 43 games, while the one year older Kucherov posted 58 points in 41 games. The MHL is a bit different than the CHL, as it allows players up to the age of 22 in the league, so it is harder for 16 and 17 year olds to post points. In fact, Grigorenko was the only 16 year old to score above more than a point every two games, while Kucherov's 1.41 points per game blew away the U18 competition (with Grigorenko finishing 5th in that group). At the World Junior A Challenge last November, Kucherov and Grigorenko proved the most dangerous duo in the tournament, finishing 2nd and 5th in scoring (and 1st and 2nd in points per game) against competition that was at least a year older than them. Later that year, they annihilated the competition at the IIHF U18 Championships, with the scoring board going Kucherov, Grigorenko, then Yakupov. While Ivan Hlinka stats aren't readily accessible, I do recall Grigorenko finishing ahead of Yakupov in scoring for the 2010 tournament, despite Yakupov being about 7 months older (an age gap that is more significant for every year before age 18, and still significant at this point).

The two have a lot of history together, and in the Subway Super Series, an annual event that gets a Russian team of top U20 players on a tour of Canada against Canadian U20 CHL All-Stars, they get to rekindle that magic they've had together despite being on different continents for the 2011-12 season. Kucherov has been trying to establish himself in the KHL, while getting some games of absolute domination in the MHL as well, while Grigorenko is battling phenom Nathan MacKinnon for the QMJHL rookie scoring lead, and outpacing all his U18 competition to boot. Grigorenko leads his team in scoring, and is in the top 10 in league scoring as well, despite playing for a team that is relatively defensive minded and in the toughest division in the entire CHL (the Remparts are getting outshot on the season, in the bottom half of the league in shots per game despite being ranked the top team in the country by Buzzing the Net). Grigorenko is having a heck of a year, even if catching Yakupov for the #1 spot might be too much to ask.

As for the tournament itself, it began with a curious game on Monday in Victoriaville, Quebec, in which the Russian team was outshot 42-12 but won 2-0. Kucherov was the most dangerous Russian player, being sprung fro 3 breakaways, although he shot wide on two of them. Bodgan Potekhin and Kirill Rassakov scored the two Russian goals, while Sergey Kostenko was brilliant in his shutout effort. Team QMJHL was down arguably their top two forwards in Jonathan Huberdeau (who really is the top Canadian forward, period) and Michael Bournival, both out with injuries. Louis Dominigue, the goalie partly responsible for Quebec's strong play so far, will start in goal in front of his hometown fans, and against his teammate Grigorenko, tonight in Le Colisee in Quebec, the former NHL home of the Nordiques and IIHF World Championship host site. Dominigue is being highly considered by the Canadian WJC team, and has proven to be the top goalie in the QMJHL so far this year.

The series was shockingly won by the Russians last year, who in the past had often sent some lesser known players to gain experience. That strategy changed last year under Head Coach Valery Bragin, although in typical Russian team fashion some of the better talents seem to be excluded in favour of players the coach is more comfortable dealing with... and yes, that's a long way of explaining that Kirill Kabanov isn't even making one appearance in this tournament, perhaps a sign he won't be considered for the U20 team by Bragin. Expect to see a number of these players on Russia's U20 team in Alberta this holiday season as Russia looks to defend their gold medal: Kucherov, Nikita Gusev, Maxim Shalunov, Nikita Nesterov, and Efim Gurkin seem good bets in particular, as well as several of the CHL players who will play in one of the games. In the game in Ottawa vs. OHL Selects on Thursday the 10th, Yakupov will join the team along with Alexander Khokhlachev, Valdislav Namestnikov, Andrei Pedan and Ivan Telegin in what should be Russia's strongest lineup of the tournament. Later, when the tournament heads out west, star WHL goaltender Andrey Makarov of the Saskatoon Blades will get a shot.

And, of course, the CHL teams have to be favoured. The tournament is a tough travel schedule for the Russians (though this year seems to be the most favourable in recent memory), and the CHL teams are often stacked with talent. Top talent like Ryan Strome, Mark Schiefele, Dougie Hamilton, Mark Visentin, and Brett Ritchie will suit up in at least one of the OHL games, while the WHL teams feature Quinton Howden, Jordan Weal, Brendan Gallagher, Ty Rattie, Duncan Siemens, Alex Petrovic, Dylan McIlrath, and Tyler Bunz. With what happened in last year's series, and more improtantly, the U20 World Championships in Buffalo, this series promises more excitement than in year's past.

But tonight, for me at least, is all about the Grigorenko-Kucherov reunion. Here's the remaining schedule, with all games on Rogers Sportsnet in Canada:

**2011 Subway Super Series Schedule**
Game	Date	Host City	Teams	Time/Result
1	Nov 7	Victoriaville, QC	QMJHL vs. Russia	RUS 2, QMJHL 0
2	Nov 9	Quebec, QC	QMJHL vs. Russia	7:00 PM EST
3	Nov 10	Ottawa, ON	OHL vs. Russia	7:00 PM EST
4	Nov 14	Sault Ste. Marie, ON	OHL vs. Russia	7:00 PM EST
5	Nov 16	Regina, SK	WHL vs. Russia	8:00 PM EST
6	Nov 17	Moose Jaw, SK	WHL vs. Russia	8:00 PM EST