15 Thoughts: November 30th Edition

I hope everyone ate a ton of food and felt great about it!

By Nick Bass

I  would like to start 15 Thoughts by talking about everyone’s favorite 6’4 Russian defenseman that plays for SKA St. Petersburg of the Kontinental Hockey League. No, I’m not talking about Timur Kol (even if this will be the case going into 2025), I’m talking about Alexander Nikishin. After Roman Rotenberg found out that the experiment of a Nikishin-TDA pairing was a horrible idea and separated them, Nikishin finds himself back in a role he understands. To further explain this, let me incorporate an idea from baseball, made popular to me by Foolish Baseball.

1. A “innings eater” is a pitcher who you can rely on to give you 6 to 7 innings in every start or relief appearance but he will never be outright dominant in those innings. The perfect 4th or 5th starter. Alexander Nikishin is heading towards that role, a “minutes eater” you could say. The key difference between now and last year is that he was posting unreal stat lines in those big minutes. His point totals have dried up drastically, as he has 1 point in 10 games. In those 10 games, he’s averaging 24:43 TOI.

The other big difference is who SKA has brought in defensively. With TDA running the first unit of the power play, Nikishin is out on the boards, where he looks entirely out of place. His head coach doesn’t see a problem in the power play dropping from 3rd in the league in 2023/24 to 19th!!!! and refuses to move Nikishin, the guy who ran the 3rd most effective power play in the KHL and has set multiple records for points, to another unit. Can you imagine Ivan Demidov and Alexander Nikishin on a power play unit? I wish Rotenberg could. (On November 28th, Nikishin ran power play 1 with TDA out. He scored a power play goal.)

2. If anybody follows my personal account on Twitter/X, where I mainly post about day-to-day prospect activities and wrestling, you will know I am extremely intrigued by 3 different Russian prospects. Firstly, Timur Kol. The 18-year old seems to be sticking around at the KHL level and his head coach, coincidentally also Roman Rotenberg, seems to like him a good bit. He’s moved up to the third pair, where he was a +3 against Amur and was even in a win against Torpedo while getting the second most ice time he has had this year. Kol understands to stay in the KHL, he needs to start every shift being defensively responsible, which he has been. He’s adept at intercepting passes while using his freakish frame (6’4) to block passing lanes. He’s physical in board battles and he’s slowly gaining offensive confidence, gathering 2 shots on goal in that game against Torpedo. My educated idea is that he could be the Moneyball* replacement for Alexander Nikishin, should Nikishin leave after the season.

* – Replacing in the aggregate

3. The second player, who took getting demoted to the MHL as a challenge to get better, is Andrei Krutov. The one thing that stood out with Krutov when watching his game tape before this year was that his hands were incredible. He could make defenders look really bad with relative ease. The issue was that he couldn’t translate this to consistent production. Starting off this season, Krutov was with Torpedo-Gorky at the VHL, where he struggled in his first 4 games. He averaged about 10 minutes a night and was healthy scratched in one of those 4 games. He was then promptly sent down to Chaika at the MHL level, where he had 1 goal and 3 assists for 4 points in 2 games. Krutov was then called back up, played 2 games and was healthy scratched in a third, and was sent back down for an extended period of time.

In those 5 games back in the MHL, Krutov had 2 goals and 1 assist while averaging 5 shots a game. This is where he truly found his confidence again and was called back up to Torpedo-Gorky. Since being called up, Krutov has played in 12 games. In those 12 games, he has 7 goals and 5 assists for 12 points. He looks like a player reborn.

4. Lastly, let’s talk about everyone’s favorite uncle. Fyodor Avramov, nickname “Uncle”, is a super fun player to watch. He’s 6’3 with solid skating ability and an incredible shot. He’s deceptive with his puck placement and the power that he generates from his wrists is amazing. Avramov also doesn’t waste his 6’3 frame, being physical more times than not. He’s already played at all 3 levels of Russian hockey, with 13 games at the KHL level, 5 games at the MHL level, and 5 games at the VHL level. His confidence is slowly growing at the VHL level, where his ice time has gone up every game since he arrived. Very interested in Uncle’s future.

5. I fully believe that Alexander Rykov would be a KHL regular if he stays healthy. 12 points in 17 games at the VHL level this season after playing in 27 KHL games last year. He even started his season with the KHL team during training camp, but an injury cut that short. I also wonder, as we’ve seen with other team’s prospects in the past, if his noted want to play in North America after his contract expires might play a role in this. Who knows! I just would like Rykov to stay healthy and play like he has to start the year.

6. Speaking of players openly talking about contracts, Simon Forsmark recently mentioned in an interview that he’s “close” to signing a contract with the Carolina Hurricanes. His SHL contract with Timra expires at the end of the 2025/26 season, so if he is signed, that’s when I’d expect to see him in North America. Forsmark is a solid 200-foot player who has been a top 4 defenseman for Timra over the past 2 years. His point production is off to a quicker start this season, with 4 goals and 6 assists for 10 points in 21 games compared to 6 goals and 13 assists for 19 points in 52 games last season.

7. After a year where the Hurricanes were only represented by Felix Unger Sorum and Jakub Vondras at the World Juniors, this year should be much more interesting for Canes fans. Bradly Nadeau has a solid chance of making the Team Canada roster. Unger Sorum is almost a lock for Team Sweden, while Oskar Vuollet and Noel Fransen both projected to make the roster. Dominik Badinka should be a top 4 defenseman for the Czech Republic. I’m more making this point to fantasize about how much fun a Team Russia roster would be.

From The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler:

Nikita Artamonov with potential top-10 pick Ivan Ryabkin? Alexander Rykov and Yegor Chernyshov? Timur Mukhanov-Matvei Korotky-Mikhail Ilyin is an insane 4th line to have. Timur Kol and Dmitri Simashev on the same pairing would’ve been amazing to watch and Roman Shokhrin would’ve been awesome. This Russia team would’ve easily challenged for the gold, in my opinion.

8. Justin Poirier is continuing his historic start with Baie-Comeau Drakkar of the QMJHL, with 22 goals and 16 assists for 38 points in just 23 games. This has Poirier tied for the scoring lead with Justin Carbonneau, who is looking like he will go in the lottery of the 2025 NHL Draft.

9. The Chicago Wolves have looked like a completely different team over the past few games. They’re moving the puck more confidently, they’re generating better chances and they are converting those better chances. The Wolves should seriously look into converting Dustin Tokarski’s PTO into a contract, he’s been stellar.

10. Let’s touch on some Wolves players, starting with the leader in points Ryan Suzuki. I knew that he had another level to reach when he continued to get better towards the end of last year when he kept moving up in the Springfield Thunderbirds’ lineup. Now, his line of himself, Brendan Lemieux, and Bradly Nadeau is a confident first line in the AHL and he’s been looking the part. Suzuki should get in NHL games this year, in my opinion.

11. Noel Gunler has slowly turned it on, with 4 goals in his last 4 games (5 points). His shot has been a big reason the second power play unit has looked deadly for the Wolves.

12. I know his +/- might not be great, but Aleksi Heimosalmi is finding his footing in the AHL. His skating is such a huge attribute in his game but it’s taking him longer to adjust to North American ice. Not going to lie, it caught me off guard that this is his first season of North American hockey after being drafted back in 2021, but he’s slowly finding his game.

13. Gleb Trikozov FINALLY got the imaginary “monkey off his back”, getting his first career AHL goal on November 21st. I’m hoping this will snowball into more production from the young Russian. (He added his second point on a primary assist on November 29th).

14. Noel Fransen didn’t get a ton of run with the Sweden National Team during their 5 Nations friendlies, which honestly shocked me since he has been having a nice season with Vasteras in HockeyAllsvenskan. Since going back to Vasteras?

7 games
1 goal
4 assists
5 points
+1
19:08 TOI

That is how you make a statement going into WJC selection time. Keep it going, kid.

It’s been awesome to see KHL media start calling 19-year old Nikita Artamonov a KHL star. I think everyone could see the talent that he possessed on tape and knew he was going to get awesome coaching from Igor Larionov and I’m super glad he’s putting it all together. 24 points in 31 games so far, which has him still on pace to break the KHL U20 scoring record and slightly behind pace for the U21 scoring record.

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