[Sandman]

Draft Thoughts (Hammer and Sickle Edition):

RHC Matvei Korotky doesn't get many minutes in the top-6 of one of the MHL's best teams, SKA-1946 St.Petersburg- a club laden with top talent, including 2024 draft-darling Ivan Demidov. Despite this, he still managed to post a respectable 20 goals and 38 points in 51 games, and has proved himself valuable in the playoffs as the team's 4th-leading scorer with 14 points in 18 games, to go with 31 penalty-minutes. Korotky is a blend of skill and finesse, mixed with power and grit, measuring 6’2”,190lbs.

Korotky will attract scouts with his warrior mentality- he's fearless, and doesn't back down. He wins battles in all of the hard areas, and pounces on loose pucks. He plays a hard, heavy game along the boards, and has no problem taking a beating in front of the net. Korotky plays with high energy, an unrelenting motor, and pushes pace- he's quite competitive, and gets under opponents skin with his cockiness in the form of taunts and over-exhorbitant goal celebrations. On the forecheck, he's hard-nosed and disruptive with the way he attacks puck-carriers, cuts to the inside, and crashes the crease. He's physical, finishes his checks, and will drop the gloves if challenged. His main contribution to his team's offense is his goal-scoring, and he's considered to be pretty clutch in this regard, with a hard, heavy wrister and a lightning-quick release. He doesn't need to always score the pretty ones though, as he will go to the net to clean up garbage as well, and is always working the puck to the net. Though he loves to score, he has the hockey sense and IQ to make plays, showing the confidence and creativity to make quick decisions based on good instincts, and solving problems on the fly.

Korotky has a fairly high skill set to go with his sandpaper, and is a skillful puck-carrier with quick hands and tight protection skills. As is the case with most Russians it would seem, he skates well and augments his speed by staying active and by keeping his feet pumping. He always seems to be in the right place, at the right time to support his teammates, and be playable. He's effective in all three zones, and can fly through the neutral zone for clean entries with control. He brings his work-ethic and physicality with him to the defensive zone, where he's quick to shut down puck-carriers. Korotky has a pretty high floor, as he could concievably play in an NHL team's bottom-6 in the future if all else fails, with his size and grit to go along with his two-way mindset. The only question is how his overall game will translate, specifically his offense. He's still raw in many ways, and will need time to round out his skill set, strength, and skating. Look for him in the 5th round.