[News] With the 211th OA pick, the Flames select C Yan Matveiko

[the-rasta-masta]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Bader doesn't count goalies, but if he did, I'm guessing Wolf would be projected to be a star.

On the current roster, I don't see Zary, Shark or Frost having that potential. Coronato might.

The other stars, would come from the group of prospects with high potential like Battaglia, Mews, Morin, Honzek, Potter, Suniev, Basha, Gridin. Basically you probably will get 1 star out of that group. if you get 2 you are laughing.

What are we doing if we get 3? or 4?

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by the-rasta-masta

What are we doing if we get 3? or 4?

Guffawing.

[Johnny Makarov]

Mark Giordano from the KHL.

Man Sutter wasted a year of good Gio when he let him goto the KHL.

[Knut]

Originally Posted by Johnny Makarov

Mark Giordano from the KHL.

Man Sutter wasted a year of good Gio when he let him goto the KHL.

Or, he came back a better player with the experience.

[Hockey-and_stuff]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Guffawing.

You can upgrade to ROFLing

Sent from my SM-S931W using Tapatalk

[gvitaly]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1970879746776117531

[Kipper_3434]

Russian junior stats are confusing. Tons of ppg+ plus players and like 20 goalies with.930 sv%.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Kipper_3434

Russian junior stats are confusing. Tons of ppg+ plus players and like 20 goalies with.930 sv%.

I'd have to look at the stats, but it sounds like there must be high shot totals in Russian junior games. Shooting percentage might be a useful stat over there to really see how good some of those offensive players are.

[FleeceGang]

I imagine if they are playing on an international sized rink while also playing a more modern style of hockey there is just a ton more space to shoot.

Edit: To stay on topic, this prospect is very interesting! Perhaps our scouts have yielded another 7th round gem?

[Macindoc]

Originally Posted by Kipper_3434

Russian junior stats are confusing. Tons of ppg+ plus players and like 20 goalies with.930 sv%.

Inflation of statistics is the Russian national pastime. I mean, the total population of Ukraine and the entire armament of NATO have been destroyed multiple times over, according to government sources.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by Macindoc

Inflation of statistics is the Russian national pastime. I mean, the total population of Ukraine and the entire armament of NATO have been destroyed multiple times over, according to government sources.

It's a very old pastime, too.

Stalin once had the entire committee of commissars for the Russian census shot because they stated that the population of Russia was what it was, and not what Stalin wished it to be. They were formally charged with ‘conspiring to diminish the population of the Soviet Union’. After they were shot, Stalin personally edited the figures before allowing the census to be published.

[mile]

https://calgaryherald.com/sports/he-...rious-prospect

“I haven’t seen him live — we’re not going to Russia this year — but I have probably watched him play 10 regular-season games,” said Ray Edwards, the Flames’ director of player development. “The last one, he only had an assist, but I think I counted him for, like, six quality scoring chances.

“So he’s been really good. He’s a big body, a natural centreman. And once he gets stronger, he could be a force.”

Matveiko marked a career milestone toward the end of January, logging his pro debut in the VHL, which is Russia’s equivalent to the AHL. He had an assist in that game, too.

“He’s a seventh-round pick, so you don’t know what you’re getting,” Edwards said. “But today, I’m really excited about this pick. Because he checks a lot of the boxes that we need.”

“You’re kind of excited and nervous at the same time,” said Grebeshkov, reflecting on those draft-day dealings. “There is nothing you can do besides just saying, ‘I want that guy. I want that guy. Just please believe me.’ And thanks to our management that they believe in me and they actually made a trade at the end of the draft to get an extra pick for us and drafted Yan.”

Why was Grebeshkov so keen on Matveiko, who was in his second year of draft eligibility after being overlooked in 2024?

“He’s a good-sized centreman. That’s what we were looking for,” Grebeshkov told Postmedia during the Flames’ mid-season scouting meetings. “He’s a really smart guy, solid, can skate, does have some skills, can make plays.

“In our junior league, he plays in any situation — the penalty-kill, the power-play. Right now, he’s on the top line for his team and he’s doing really well point-wise, too. I guess for him, the biggest thing is just to get heavier, to get stronger. He’s got every tool to be an NHL player one day.”

“I don’t know where they got that from,” Edwards said with a chuckle. “He is definitely not that now. He is probably 6-foot-3, and he’s pushing 195 pounds.”

When Edwards watches video of Matveiko, he is often reminded of Wranglers left-winger Willam Stromgren, saying they are similar in both body type and “in the way they skate.”

That’s an encouraging comparison since Stromgren’s size and mobility helped him to earn his first career call-up earlier this season.

“He is competitive. He’s just light,” Edwards said of Matveiko. “And when I say light, his body has to take another step from a strength standpoint.

“That’s typical for a lot of these young guys but because he has sort of sprouted in the last couple of years, the body has gotta catch up with his height. He’s gotta get the muscle mass to go with it.”

“All he needs to do is get stronger, get bigger,” Grebeshkov agreed. “He’s got everything else to be a pro player.”

The Flames are already working on the necessary paperwork to bring him to development camp this summer, and this 19-year-old pivot prospect is represented by Gold Star, an agency that has several of the Calgary’s current players on its client list.

Asked if Matveiko has NHL aspirations, Grebeshkov replied: “Oh yeah.”

“I texted him right away, right after we picked him, and I think he was asleep,” said Grebeshkov, whose own NHL journey started as a first-round selection in 2002. “He told me as soon as he woke up, he read the message and he started calling his relatives and saying ‘Thank you’ to everyone. He was pretty happy in that moment.”

[DionTheDman]

Our only Russian scout is a dirty greaser? We need to work on that!

[Calgary4LIfe]

In fact, the Flames haven’t picked a future NHLer directly out of Russia’s junior system since goalie Andrei Trefilov in 1991. (You might be wondering about Oleg Saprykin and German Titov, but one skated as a teen in the WHL and the other in Finland.

Wasn't Rushan Rafikov picked out of the Russian junior system? Yaroslavl Loko Jr is in the Russian system, right, or am I overlooking something?
https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/...php?pid=168021


Either way, hopefully Matveiko will at least come over. He really is such a mystery right now other than simply counting stats (thanks Sandman for keeping us updated on him!).

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe

Wasn't Rushan Rafikov picked out of the Russian junior system? Yaroslavl Loko Jr is in the Russian system, right, or am I overlooking something?

He is, but he's 30 years old now and still in Russia. He doesn't count as a ‘future NHLer’, which is the criterion used in the article.

[Goriders]

Originally Posted by the-rasta-masta

What are we doing if we get 3? or 4?

Peeing your pants?

[Reggie Dunlop]

No set deadline to sign him either. Plenty of time to fill out his frame.

Have him in for development camp, set him a pathway.