[HockeyInTheHimalayas]

My impression of Valeri Nichushkin is that of a power forward with good skating ability, but I genuinely believe he is different from other high end Russian players, in that he lacks puck skills. He protects the puck well, but he is not a pure talent that will deke around players, and his comparisons to Evgeni Malkin are only met in terms of size and skating. It's just one meaningless opinion from a far away observer, but if I could, I would submit that even if he stays in the NHL for a long time, he will not be a highly offensive player, perhaps at best modestly productive as a complimentary power forward type role. He reminds me a lot of the 6'5", 227lbs, Nikita Alexeev drafted 8th overall in the 1st round years ago by Tampa Bay (mind you, Nichushkin is way faster), and also the modestly successful 6'4" 232lbs Viktor Kozlov (he recorded 537 points in 897 NHL games). Then again, he could become a good power forward in the NHL, not every power forward that succeeds oozes pure puck skills. I just think the impression of Nichushkin being this hulking, fast player is correct, yet the impression of him having great stickhandling abilities or puck skills is far from an accurate assessment (for example, he's no where close in terms of elite puck skills to a dynamic stickhandler like Drouin, albeit stickhandling isn't everything). I think if your excited about Nichushkin as a smooth skating power forward then fine, that's great, not all power forwards need world class skill. However, if one is expecting him to possess supreme skill in addition to his power forward abilities, then in my insignificant estimation, it's a huge mistake. Either way, for all draft observers, it'll be really interesting to revisit this thread in a few years.

Despite the brevity of the assessment (released on June 25th), it's rather telling that Bob Mckenzie makes no mention as well about the talent, puck skills, or stickhandling of Nichushkin, rather emphasizing the pure power game of the big prospect:
"Russian forward Valeri Nichushkin. The hulking right shot winger from Chelyabinsk can play a pure power game when he drives the net and now that he's free of KHL commitments and able to play in the NHL next season he may be less of a draft-day wild card."