Quote:
Originally Posted by Robbob
Probably could be its own thread, but is there any team worse than the Flames for drafting and developing a Russian player? Saprykin being the high level mark is disappointing.
I am all in on Matveiko that he will be the next one. I am even going to learn to spell his name so I don't have to scroll to the top or hover over the tab to get the tool tip of the thread with his name in it.
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To be fair, the organization has been shy on drafting Russians since Darryl Sutter took over as GM in 2003. Sutter never drafted a Russian during his tenure as GM.
Feaster drafted the first Russian for the Flames since 2002 in the 2013 7th round with Rafikov. But Rafikov never even came to Calgary for a development camp.
Treliving drafted Zavgorodniy (2018, 7th) and signed him in 2019 to an ELC. Making Zavgorodniy the first Flames Russian draft pick to sign with the team since Taratukhin in 2005. However, Zavgorodniy was also playing in North America when the Flames drafted him.
Treliving would also draft Nikolaev (2019 3rd), Kuznetsov (2020, 2nd), Chechelev (2020 4th), and Sergeev (2021 7th). Kuznetsov and Sergeev were already playing in North America when the Flames drafted them.
Conroy would draft Suniev, Yegorov, Gridin, Zarubin, and now Matveiko. Suniev and Gridin were playing in North America when the Flames drafted them.
So yes up until recently the Flames have not been drafting Russian born players. But still the majority of the draft picks on skaters have been for the Russians who have already made the move to North America, so the risk is reduced.
We have yet to see the Flames use a high draft pick on a high profile skating prospect in the KHL in the modern era.
There are obviously some teams who are very comfortable in drafting Russians out of the KHL. They may have more/better network of people to help navigate the legal and political issues for KHL players. Also those teams maybe more willing to grease the wheels under the table to get the player out of their KHL contracts. Or they just have a good group of current and Alumni Russian players recruiting for them.
