Vladimir Tarasenko News and Interviews

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.

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.

The International Scouting Services announced its final rankings for the upcoming 2010 NHL Entry Draft.

Vladimir Tarasenko, playing for Sibir of the KHL, is the highest ranked European, having the 4th spot in the rankings.

There are three more Russian prospects in the Top 30, they are:

14. Alexander Burmistrov (OHL, Barrie Colts)
19. Evgeny Kuznetsov (KHL, Traktor Chelyabinsk)
24. Stanislav Galiev (QJMHL, Saint John Sea Dogs)

The notorious Kirill Kabanov has fallen out of the Top 30.

Vladimir Tarasenko, one of the top Russian players eligible for the upcoming 2010 NHL Entry Draft, confirmed that he is under contract for the 2010/11 season.

RussianHockeyFans.com offers you a translation of the most interesting quotes from an interview recently appeared on Sibir Novosibirsk's official site.

Vladimir, let's talk again about the recent WJC. There was a lot of speculation about the conflict between the team's head coach, Vladimir Plyuschev, and the team's captain, Nikita Filatov. If there is no team then there can't either be results. Do you agree?
Vladimir Tarasenko: Yes, there was no team spirit. We couldn't work as a true team and I don't know who's to blame. But there are also other reasons. Team USA played together the whole year, they skated in some tournaments together. This might have had an impact over the tournament.

Is your contract with Sibir valid also for the following season?
Vladimir Tarasenko: Yes, it is. But this is not the only reason. I think I should continue my career with Sibir also because of the human conditions. There are a lot of people that really helped me. First of all - my family.

With a determinated performance and some help from luck, Team Switzerland knocked out Team Russia at the World Junior Championships. The Swiss will face Team Canada tomorrow at the tournament's semi-finals.

This was definitely not Team Russia's best game and it showed already during the first period, in which Plyuschev's team wasn't really dangerous until the sixteenth minute, when Vladimir Tarasenko hit the post after a breakaway launched by a great pass by Maxim Chudinov.

In the second period Igor Bobkov stood up and made some good saves to rescue the result, but after eight minutes Michaël Loichat scored the go-away goal for Switzerland, surprising the crowd at the Credit Union Center in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Team Russia tried to react, failing to capitalize the bigger number of moments. But after a big save by Benjamin Conz on Nikita Filatov something happened for Plyuschev guys.

Maxim Kitsyn got a good puck in the offensive zone and served Tarasenko without thinking twice. The Russian Number 10 lifted the puck over Swiss goalie Benjamin Conz in style and tied it up at the 38th minute.

Just a bunch of seconds later Filatov fed nicely the rushing Kirill Petrov right in front of Conz and that was an easy chance for the Islanders prospect, who scored the go-ahead goal.

In the third period Russia relaxed and controlled the match. Just like last year's during the semifinals, team Russia allowed a key late goal: 2010 eligible Nino Niederreiter fired the puck from the blue line, the shot hit defenseman Nikita Zaitsev and went in past Igor Bobkov, sending the game to the overtime.

Russia controlled the flow of the game for most of the extra period, but there were chances for both teams and Bobkov was rather busy. Once again though team Russia lacked the concentration to finish up the plays and with only twelve seconds to the final horn another shot by Nino Niederreiter has been deflected in and that meant that Russia will have to play for a hugely disappointing fifth place on Monday, while Switzerland will try to surprise Canada too tomorrow in the WJC semi-finals.

After finishing the group stage with nine points in four games, Team Russia earned the second seed of the B Group and thus is going to face in the World Junior Championships quarterfinals the third seed of the A group, team Switzerland, who managed to skate past Slovakia 4-1 despite being without their top two defensemen, Luca Sbisa and Roman Josi.

The game is scheduled for Saturday, January 2nd at 4 PM local time.

In the last two group stage games Team Russia faced Team Sweden and Team Czech Republic. The match against Tre Kronor wasn't good for Plyuschev's guys, as they were down 2-0 already after the first period. During the second period Team Russia tried to react and scored a goal with Kirill Petrov, but it wasn't enough as Team Sweden added a further marker in any period to finish the match 4-1.

In the very last group stage match Team Russia downed Team Czech Republic. The game's breaker was Vladimir Tarasenko, who scored a double and added one assist in Plyuschev's squad 5-2 victory. Tarasenko himself opened the score in the first period after a beautiful combination between Maxim Trunev and Alexander Burmistrov. Kirill Petrov doubled the advantage for Team Russia in the second period, who allowed a powerplay breakaway to Jan Kana at the thirty-sixth minute that meant the 2-1. The third period was quite until the 54th minute mark, when Stepan Novotny tied up the match.

But less than one minute later Vladimir Tarasenko took control of a loose puck in the neutral zone, launched Maxim Kitsyn, who returned him the puck seconds later. After a couple of strides Tarasenko shoot the puck in and scored with an eye-catching wrist shot.

Team Russia added a couple of goals later, first with Maxim Chudinov and then with Alexander Burmistrov.

The winner of the quarterfinal match will face Team Canada in the semifinals on January 3rd.

2010 eligible Evgeny Kuznetsov scored two goals, Kirill Petrov, Vladimir Tarasenko, Maxim Chudinov and Maxim Trunev contributed with one goal each as Russia downed Austria 6-2 in WJC first game for both teams. The match was pretty much decided after the first period as Russia was up 4-1 after the goals scored by Trunev, Chudinov, Kuznetsov, Tarasenko, this last one was particularly eye-catching. Team's captain Nikita Filatov has been silent and left out the score sheet.

Plyuschev's team didn't had their best game even if they controlled the flow of the game with relative ease thanks to its forward's superior skating, probably they tried to save energy for the upcoming matches. Goalkeeper Igor Bobkov stopped 14 shots, but he wasn't really responsible in any of the goals he allowed.

The defense's game wasn't really spot-on, but Washington Capitals' prospect Dmitry Orlov had two assists, Maxim Chudinov scored two points (one goal and one assist) and both players logged big minutes and were the most noticeable among blue liners.

Read Russianprospects.com's article for a complete game report and scouting notes.

Team Russia's next match will be played on Monday against Team Finland.

On December 25th, Russian national junior team head coach Vladimir Plyuschev named the final roster for the World Junior Championships. He took some drastic decisions as he decided not to call goalkeeper Alexander Pechursky, defenseman Kirill Yuriev, forwards Mikhail Fisenko and Dmitry Kugryshev.

This is how the final roster looks like:

Goalkeepers
Igor Bobkov, Metallurg Magnitogorsk, 1991
Ramis Sadikov, Erie Otters, OHL, 1991

Defensemen
Anton Klementyev, Bridgeport Sound Tigers, AHL, 1990
Dmitry Orlov, Metallurg Novokuznetsk, 1991
Maxim Chudinov, Severstal Cherepovets, 1990
Dmitry Kostromitin, Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, QMJHL, 1990
Nikita Zaitsev, Sibir Novosibirsk, 1991
Nikita Pivtsakin, Avangard Omsk, 1991
Alexander Tarasov, HC MVD, 1990

Forwards
Nikita Filatov, CSKA Moscow, 1990
Alexander Burmistrov, Barrie Colts, OHL, 1991
Vladimir Tarasenko, Sibir Novosibirsk, 1991
Pavel Dedunov, Amur Khabarovsk, 1990
Ivan Telegin, Saginaw Spirit, OHL, 1992
Maxim Kitsyn, Metallurg Novokuznetsk, 1991
Maxim Trunev, Severstal Cherepovets, 1990
Evgeny Kuznetsov, Traktor Chelyabinsk, 1992
Evgeny Timkin, Avangard Omsk, 1990
Vyacheslav Kulemin, CSKA Moscow, 1990
Kirill Petrov, Ak Bars Kazan, 1990
Magomed Gimbatov, SKA St. Petersburg, 1990
Petr Khokhryakov, Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk, 1990

Team Russia's first match will be played on Boxing Day against Team Austria.

Blue-chip prospect Vladimir Tarasenko talked about team Russia's chances for the upcoming World Junior Championships, clarified whether he'll use or not a visor and also about the team's captaincy.

The original interview appeared on Russian site "Molodost Sibiri" and RussianHockeyFans.com offers you a translation:

Today coach Vladimir Plyuschev released the extended list of the players called for the WJC. Nikita Filatov is there, as well as Evgeny Grachev, who recently has been ruled out by the Rangers. Kirill Kabanov isn't part of the roster.