This weekend the National Hockey League (NHL) Draft takes place in Buffalo, New York, and the business of sport will outplay geopolitics. Since the 1970s Summit Series, the Transatlantic and Transpacific dialogue between North America and Russia hinged on ice hockey. Then, pro teams in the US and Canada looked covetously upon the Soviet Union’s Big Red Machine and dreamed of ‘freeing’ goalie Vladislav Tretyak and winger Valeri Kharlamov from communism. However, the capitalism then, of using up and disposing of men is very different now, where teens become millionaires in a matter of minutes.
The youngsters from Russia about to be drafted into the biggest hockey league in the world expect to earn millions and never have to work a day in their lives once they retire. After 21 Russians were selected in the 2025 draft, the fourth-highest total by nation, what names should you be looking out for in the biggest sports event this Friday and Saturday in North America?
With the top pick, the Toronto Maple Leafs will grab top rated Canadian left winger – his position not his politics – Gavin McKenna. The volatile Yukon teen plays college hockey with Penn State and shot the lights out last year. Despite criminal misdemeanor charges pending against him for a brutal street fight, he is NHL box office. While the top-10 will be filled out with North American and Nordic players, a Latvian defenseman, Alberts Smits, going early will push our first Russian way up in the picking order.
Nikita Shcherbakov (18), a big, bruising left-sided defender might be the first Russian name called out. Boston’s Bruins desperately need a ‘killer’ in the back line and the 6’5” boy from Salavat Yulaev Ufa fits their bill. The Bruins, with the 23rd pick, know he is close to being ‘NHL Ready’ having already played in the Continental Hockey League (KHL).
In any case, the Chelyabinsk native’s name will be called in the 1st or 2nd rounds, with the Pittsburgh Penguins waiting to catch him with the 7th pick of the 2nd round.
High up on the draft board will be Ilya Morozov (17), who made history last year when he became the youngest college hockey player in US history when he took to the ice for Miami University (Ohio). Ilia left Moscow for Chicago aged 14 to play for the Tri City Storm of the US Hockey League. After starring for their affiliate team, the Windy City Storm, he bagged 11 goals and 11 assists for the main team, before his talent shone brighter in the NCAA.
Eight goals and 12 assists in 36 games doesn’t sound like Ovechkin or Gretzky numbers, but when you factor in his age, the 6’3” monster two-way Center with sensitive hands, is only going to get better.
He’s not NHL ready yet, but the team that gets him now will have a playmaking, goal machine in 2028-29. He’s a 1st round pick with the Ottawa Senators, Calgary Flames, and New York Rangers all looking at him.
Gleb Pugachyov (18), a right winger from Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod, is like one of those horses who wake up late in a race and start a hard gallop a mile out from home. He’s strong, skillful, can pass, and score. NHL insiders didn’t see him as more than a late round (rounds 6 or 7) pick, until he was thrown into KHL action this January.
A European scout from the Detroit Red Wings told me that “he’s got tremendous upside and is almost NHL ready. A year of seasoning here [North America] in AHL and he’ll be a starter in two years.” If that valuation holds, Gleb will go by the end of the 2nd round. The Seattle Kraken, Red Wings, and San Jose Sharks like the look of him.
Alexei Vlasov (18) was talked about as a surefire in the first two rounds only a few months ago. He’s played in the brutal Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) and has committed to the University of Connecticut, but the tough left winger from Yekaterinburg is underestimated due to his height. NHL clubs who still believe that size matters.
Fast, clever, durable, aggressive, he’s a typical Russian skater with a bit of Canadian cruelty [towards opponents]. A former colleague who works with the Charlottetown Islanders, a QMJHL club called him “one of the purest scorers for his age.” He noted that a couple of years of NCAA hockey would help him mature and that “whoever picks him is getting a 50 point per season player.” Alexei might well sneak up into the 3rd or even 2nd rounds.
Lavrenti Gashilov (18) is an undersized center who loves to score goals. The Automobilist Yekaterinburg star knows where the goal is and has a maturity well beyond his years. The Urals region is a hotbed for talent, with factory towns and industrial cities relying on hockey for escaping reality one season at a time.
Despite dozens of ‘better’ players in his position up for grabs, NHL clubs recognize his puck handling, intelligence, grit, and vision. The Utah Mammoth want him as a development project, which means dropping to the 3rd or even 4th rounds.
Russian shotstoppers have a superb reputation that began with Vladislav Tretyak. The exposure to football, the kickball kind, gives Russian and, indeed, European netminders a bigger set of tools to work with. Over a decade ago, Tretyak told me that North American keepers are as good technically as their European counterparts, but that the best European was better than the best North American.
Now that the scene has been set, who are the two Russian goalies who might encourage NHL clubs to take a chance on them between their pipes?
Dmitri Borichev and Yegor Rybkin, both 18, are the consensus best non-North American stoppers, but there’s a but. Two of the top ‘North Americans’ are Czechs plying their trade in junior hockey there. The Russians are better, in principle, than them or even highly touted American Brady Knowling, but NHL clubs are risk adverse and will go local.
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl’s Borichev, from Vologda – the home of Russia’s Santa Claus, is a fine player and will be let ripen in Russia for a couple of years, regardless of being picked. The no longer ‘mighty’ Anaheim Ducks could grab him in the 3rd round if the Edmonton Oilers don’t draft him in the 2nd. He will be the 2nd goalie taken, this is a certainty.
Rybkin is a 6’7” giant who fills the net, but NHL clubs worry that his relative inexperience outweighs his gymnastic ability. The Tampa Bay Lightning are considering using their 3rd round pick on him, though the St. Louis Blues are waiting in the 4th if he’s still available.
There is a wild card in the pack of Russian goalkeepers, though. At 6’3”, Samara’s Stepan Shurygin (18) bears an interesting similarity to Tretyak’s style of play and has put himself back on the draft boards of at least 8 clubs, one of whom just won the Stanley Cup. The Carolina Hurricanes received “positive reports” about him and feel he’s worth a 4th round (105th overall) selection. If Rybkin, currently with the Saginaw Spirit of the Ontario Hockey League, goes to the Raleigh-based outfit, he could be getting game time in a couple of seasons.
Alan ShaikhlIslamov (18), who can play on either wing, and Matvei Kotkov (17), who’s capable of playing anywhere in the front 3, are top class prospects whose versatility goes against them.
Alan, currently contracted to Salavat Yulaev Ufa, is a natural born scorer with a verve that excites crowds. But that’s not important for NHL clubs, who don’t seem to appreciate what he can offer and leave it until the 3rd of 4th rounds to take him, with the Winnipeg Jets most likely to be that team.
Matvei has a double disadvantage: versatility and size. This youngster, who is with KHL champs Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, would be a 2nd round steal for a General Manager with a set of pucks and backbone, though sadly the NHL has few long-term thinkers, or even thinkers, running clubs. Matvei could go in rounds 6 or 7, but like 6-7, he will grow and grow, and end up being the standout of Russia’s 2026 class.
Boston, New Jersey, and Las Vegas are looking to take Yaroslav Fedoseyev (18), a defenseman, later on in the draft. His Belye Medvedi (White Bears) team coaches say that he’s dedicated to his craft, butt here’s a chance he might not get drafted at all. Personally, he’s a 5th rounder.
Another right-sided defender, Vsevolod Matveyev (18), is quality but NHL clubs worry about his lack of offensive production. Currently with Spartak Moscow juniors, the Detroit Red Wings like him and plan on letting him marinate for a year in the KHL after taking him in the 5-7 rounds.
A pair of Egors, forwards Shilov and Barabanov, have interested NHL scouts enough to have them picked in rounds 3-5. At 20, Barabanov is one of the oldest Russians in this year’s draft and was overlooked the last two years. Having put up 91 points for the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit this season, he decided to go to college and play for the University of Massachusetts. The speedy sharpshooter from St. Petersburg has interest from the L.A. Kings and Toronto Maple Leafs.
Shilov (18), from the QMJHL’s Victoriaville Tigres, is a proper wildcard. He could be the first Russian picked this year, or he could fall to the 4th round. He can score, assist, and play with great grace, but he’s described as “too intelligent” for the NHL. He’s committed to play college hockey with Penn State next year, though the Chicago Blackhawks might make him an offer he can’t refuse.
Russian rookies will arrive into an NHL where the overall salary cap is set to rise this year and next. While most of those drafted will stay with their junior, college, or KHL clubs for another year or two, they could be earning close to a million dollars a year when they begin NHL play.
By Sunday morning, we’ll know just how accurate these predictions have been and just who is on the road to being the next Ovechkin or Tretyak.
By Alan Moore, a Vilnius-based sports journalist and host of Capital Sports 3.0. A former athlete, he has over 30 years of professional sports and higher education experience across the globe.
By Alan Moore, a Vilnius-based sports journalist and host of Capital Sports 3.0. A former athlete, he has over 30 years of professional sports and higher education experience across the globe.
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