Quote:
Originally Posted by Fire
Has their ever been a top end Russian draft pick that hasn't come over to the NHL? Radulov went back, but I wouldn't consider him top end. While I wouldn't be thrilled with the pick I don't think we need to worry about him not playing in the NHL. Though they might have to wait 2 years.
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Players drafted in the top-10 from Russia since the fall of the Berlin Wall (draft position, player name, drafting team, NHL games played, first season in North America):
1992...
2) Alexei Yashin - OTT - 850 GP (1993-94)
5) Darius Kasparaitis - NYI - 863 GP (1992-93)
10) Andrei Nazarov - SJS - 571 GP (1993-94)
1993...
6) Viktor Kozlov - SJS - 897 GP (1994-95)
1994...
2) Oleg Tverdovsky - ANA - 713 GP (1994-95)
1996...
2) Andrei Zyuzin - SJS - 496 GP (1997-98)
1998...
5) Vitaly Vishnevsky - ANA - 552 GP (1999-00)
10) Nikolai Antropov - TOR - 788 GP (1999-00)
2000...
10) Mikhail Yakubov - CHI - 53 GP (2001-02)
2001...
1) Ilya Kovalchuk - ATL - 816 GP (2001-02)
3) Alexandr Svitov - TBL - 179 GP (2002-03)
5) Stanislav Chistov - ANA - 196 GP (2002-03)
2003...
4) Nikolai Zherdev - CBJ - 421 GP (2003-04)
10) Andrei Kostitsyn - MTL - 398 GP (2004-05)
2004...
1) Alex Ovechkin - WAS - 601 GP (2005-06)
2) Evgeni Malkin - PIT - 458 GP (2006-07)
2008...
6) Nikita Filatov - CBJ - 53 GP (2008-09)
The KHL was founded in 2008, and no Russian player (who played his draft year in Russia) has been drafted in the top-10 since.
To answer the question: Prior to the KHL, it was never really a problem to get Russians to come over. Since the founding of the KHL, teams have shied away from drafting Russians high in the first round.
So, the real question is: Which team is going to be the first to take the chance on a hot-shot Russian who might snub the NHL (for a couple of years, at least); and which player is going to be good enough for that team to take the risk?