KHL, NHL, Russian Prospects and Team Russia

With the 26th overall pick, the Washington Capitals picked wing Evgeny Kuznetsov. He's the third player to get picked in the first round after Alexander Burmistrov and Vladimir Tarasenko.

Kuznetsov, 18, has recently signed a new 2 years deal with Traktor Chelyabinsk of the KHL, but most likely the Caps are willing to wait a bit so that he can develop at home.

Evgeny Kuznetsov had a very good rookie season with Traktor, with nine points in 35 games. He also scored once in the playoffs. He skated at both U20 and U18 WJC.

With the 16th overall pick the St. Louis Blues picked Vladimir Tarasenko during the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. Tarasenko was the second Russian player picked in the first round after Alexander Burmistrov, picked up by Atlanta with the 8th pick.

Tarasenko, 18, had two excellent seasons in the KHL. This year he scored 24 points with Sibir Novosibirsk.

Tarasenko has already announced that he's going to spend the 10-11 season back home in Russia, but it looks like the Blues weren't scared about this. Tarasenko is under contract until 2012.

The Atlanta Thrashers picked up Alexander Burmistrov with the 8th overall pick at the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.

The center's selection was a bit of a surprize, but anyway the Thrashers decided to draft him most likely because of his skills set.

Burmistrov, 18, played with the Barrie Colts of the OHL this year, with 65 points during the regular season and 16 during the playoffs. Even if he joined the OHL on loan from Ak Bars Kazan, most likely Burmistrov will be back in North America for the next season.

Detroit Red Wings offered 23-years-old defenseman Evgeny Ryasensky a contract. As reported by Sovietskiy Sport, he will move to Detroit in September to skate at the Wings' training camp.

Ryasensky is a physical player who likes to hit and has decent offensive abilities. He was a key part of Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk's surprize run in the latest KHL playoffs, even if he didn't score any point.

Later after the season he skated with Team Russia at the Swedish Hockey Games, the last stage of the Euro Hockey Tour, in which he was named tournament's best defenseman, but he didn't make the cut for the 2010 WC in Germany.

Ryasensky: "I've talked with my North American agent and through him Detroit offered me to play for them. And so in September I'll go to the USA and report to the training camp. I think at the same time I'll sign a contract with the team. I think that in the NHL I can grew up to my hundred percent, because of the small ice and the constant physical play - this fits my game. I'm not afraid of spending a part of the season in the AHL."

Translation by RussianHockeyFans.com

Many pages have been inked about the once thought to be one of the prime candidates for the 2010 Entry Draft #1 overall pick, Russian Kirill Kabanov, as he has experienced a serious downhill fall after his departure to Canada this fall.

During the 2008-09 season the talented winger got the first taste of pro hockey experience skating in a bunch of regular season and playoff games (and getting knocked out by a hit from former NHL defenseman Vitaly Vishnevsky) with Spartak Moscow, then scored eleven points in the 2009 U18 WJC, being thus outscored by Vladimir Tarasenko and Evgeny Kuznetsov.

We have started a new site dedicated to Russian prospects, RussianProspect.com.

We have compiled a list of Top Russians for the upcoming draft along with players' profiles (History, Talent Analysis and Future).

1. Kirill Kabanov, 9D
2. Vladimir Tarasenko, 8.5B
3. Evgeny Kuznetsov, 8.5B
4. Alexander Burmistrov, 8.5C
5. Stanislav Galiev, 8B
6. Ivan Telegin, 8C
7. Alexei Marchenko, 7.5B
8. Nikita Zaytsev, 7.5C
9. Maxim Kitsyn, 7C
10. Sergei Barbashev, 7C
11. Nikita Gusev, 7D

For now the site has profiles for the top Russian players available for the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, but during the summer the site will be upgraded and it will have profiles of older and younger players, news, interviews and more scout reports, to give our readers the best coverage of Russian prospects available on the internet. The "Prospects" section of Russian Hockey Fans will be shut down.

After 10 years and 563 games Evgeny Nabokov is going to part ways with the San Jose Sharks. As Nabokov's contract will run out next week, the team's General Manager Doug Wilson stated that the Sharks will walk away from one of the team's cornerstones players.

Evgeny Nabokov will be the most interesting goalie in the summer's free agency. In the 10 seasons he played in California he recorded a 293-215-29 record, with a 2.39 goals against average. He also was awarded with the Calder Trophy of the top rookie of the year in 2001.

Nabokov was interested in signing a new contracts with the Sharks, but now he'll have to find himself a new team.

As the free agency will start on July 1st NHL betting will move from results to signings. As one of the top NHL goalies, many teams will try to secure Nabokov's sign, even if it's unlikely that he'll ink again a $6,000,000 contract. Other Russians available include Ilya Kovalchuk, Sergei Gonchar and Alexander Frolov.

2010 eligible Nikita Zaytsev, playing for Sibir Novosibirsk of the KHL, stated that Philadelphia and Chicago were the most interested teams during the recent NHL Draft Combine. In this interview by allhockey.ru he talked about the tests, about the draft itself and stated that he plans to play in the KHL the 2010-11 season.

RussianHockeyFans.com offers you a translation.

Not long ago you underwent the NHL Combine process, traditionally held about one month prior the NHL Draft. When did you know that they invited you there?

Zaytsev: "I was having a holiday in Turkey and my father called me. He told me that they called me for the tests on May 22nd and I had to fly to Toronto."

In spite of the recent news it looks like Alexander Avtsin will spend the 2010-11 season in the KHL with Dynamo Moscow. Dynamo's General Manager Andrei Safronov declared through the team's official site that all the young players remain property of the new formed OHC Dynamo and all contracts are valid.

"At the end of May the KHL confirmed that all the contracts with our players are valid. Our youngsters will stay. Avtsin and Dvurechensky have a contract up to April 2011 and 2012 respectively. Anton Krysanov (Phoenix Coyotes) and Andrei Plekhanov (Columbus Blue Jackets) are among the group of players that will skate in the team's training camp in Belarus.

We will part with Pavel Valentenko. He has a big contract and we can't afford that. According to my informations he plans to get back to North America."

24 years old Nikita Nikitin has been signed to an entry level contract by the St. Louis Blues, as reported by the team's official page.

Nikitin played his whole career with Avangard Omsk. Last season he scored four goals and 13 points in 43 regular season games. "His top feature is his excellent first pass. He can launch a forward one-on-one against the goalie directly from his own zone", Russian reporter Ilya Elchaninov based in Omsk said to RussianHockeyFans.com. "He's got a very strong shot, but he lacks accuracy."

Nikitin played with team Russia one of the stages for the Euro Hockey Tour, even if he couldn't score a single point in the three games he wore team Russia jersey. "He's a fairly fast skating and is very good on the corners", added Elchaninov. "The fact with him is that he's inconsistent. He can play a great game and then a bad one the day after. Sometimes he makes some positioning mistakes. He needs to be well mentored by his coach. When Avangard's coach was Sergei Gersonsky he was the best defenseman of the team, but when that coach stepped out, it was just not the same. He can play both defensive and offensive roles, even if he's better as stay at home blue liner. Nikitin has a big potential, but he needs to be motivated."

Nikitin has been signed by the Blues to a one year contract. He was drafted in the fifth round of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft.

As widely reported in the latest few days, Kirill Kabanov and his agent JP Barry parted ways. "I wish Kirill all the best" - Barry told The Hockey News. "It just wasn’t a fit. We advised him to seek other representation."

The collaboration between Kabanov and Barry (whose agency works with, for example, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Sergei Gonchar) lasted a few months only. They helped Kabanov in the preparation toward the upcoming NHL Draft and the NHL Draft Combine. But they refused to work with him any longer.

So far Don Meehan (and his Russian representative Sergei Isakov), Jay Grossman and Scott Greenspun (Alexei Kovalev's agent) parted ways with Kabanov.

Russian popular newspaper Sovietskiy Sport had an interview with Russian agent Ilya Moliver, who works for Jay Grossman's agency. Some of his clients are Ilya Kovalchuk, Nikolai Khabibulin and Pekka Rinne.

RussianHockeyFans.com offers you a translation.

SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL has offered Ilya Kovalchuk a $42M, 3-year contract (which makes its $14M per year), as reported by Russian newspaper Sport-Express.

In case Kovalchuk accepts the offer, he will also get a huge signing bonus.

SKA has long been trying to get Kovalchuk (we wrote about this in November, December and February).