Good news from the Russian front : Brunet

[M. Beaux-Eaux]

18-01-2005

Mathias Brunet
La Presse

Alexander Perezhogin gave a very beautiful performance at the European Champions Cup last week in St. Petersburg, according to the Canadiens Russia scout, Nikolai Vakourov.

The Canadiens prospect picked up two goals and an assist in three matches and Omsk Avangard won the tournament, thanks to Jaromir Jagr's winning goal. Perezhogin, a first round choice in 2001 (25th overall), got his three points in a crushing 9-0 victory against Sweden's HV 71 (a poor team, even if it won the Swedish championship last year). He finished ninth in scoring in this competition, a point behind Jagr who finished third.

"I give him a lot of credit because he has played much less often since the arrival of Jagr and Kovalenko to Omsk this fall", Vakourov notes. "He was relegated to the fourth line and almost never takes part in the power play."

Omsk Avangard is compared to the New York Rangers in Russia. The team does not hesitate to blow its budget to attract players with glamorous reputations over talented youngsters. Despite everything Perezhogin has succeeded in collecting 15 points in 26 games this season, an extremely respectable total for a 21 year old in a league where goal are rare.

After having dominated the American Hockey League as he did in the second half of the season last year, Perezhogin will undoubtedly play with the Canadiens in September if there is NHL hockey. A member of the organization has confirmed this in the past few weeks.

Perezhogin provides proof to NHL scouts that it is worth the pain of casting aside prejudice towards Russian players and not to take into account the language barrier when the time comes to draft a player.

The Omsk Avangard forward did not speak a word of English on his arrival to Hamilton last year. He took time to adapt, but from January on he became one of the most spectacular players in the American Hockey League.

Andrei Kostitsyn seems to be following a similar route this year.

The Habs drafted five Russians (or Belarusans) in the last four years. Perezhogin and Kostitsyn constitute the two most beautiful hopes. Center Mikhail Grabovsky could be the next to come to North America. The 20 year old has amassed 21 points in 41 games with Neftekhimik, which places him among the top 25 RSL scorers. Grabovsky was drafted in the fourth round in 2004, after being ignored by NHL teams for two years.

"I will recommend that the Canadiens offer a contract to him this summer so that he can continue his development in Hamilton next year", Vakourov mentions. "I like Grabovsky very much. He has a lot of offensive talent and is super-fast. The only question mark remaining is his size. He's 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighs 185 pounds. Tomas Plekanec of the Bulldogs, is a success in the AHL and is no taller than him but has an advantage of 15 pounds. I am curious to see how Grabovsky will react to North America. He could be very good."

Vakourov also closely supervises the progress of two young defensemen in the organization, Konstantin Korneev and Alexei Yemelin. As the depth of the team is rather thin on defense, the Canadiens would undoubtedly not hate to see one of the two (or even both) develop to their full potential. Korneev and Yemelin have both been successful in representing their country at the WJC in recent years.

Korneev, 20 years old, is regarded as an offensive defenseman, whereas Yemelin, 18 years old, is particularly recognized for his defensive reliability and his toughness. They both play in the RSL in spite of their youth.

"Korneev has seen better times", Vakourov offers. "He doesn't play much any more with Kazan since the arrival of Dairius Kasparaitis, Alexei Zhitnik and Ruslan Salei, three NHL players. We would like to convince him to come to North America next year. But he will have to accept a salary cut since he earns $300,000 American in Kazan."

- texte français original

[blaise]

I believe it would be hard to convince him to play for less in North America. Would anyone on this board accept a pay cut to work in Russia?

[M. Beaux-Eaux]

Blaise said:

I believe it would be hard to convince him to play for less in North America. Would anyone on this board accept a pay cut to work in Russia?

No. But if they paid me enough I might be able to stick it out despite the culture shock, language difference, homesickness and my likely lack of overall importance in the scheme of things. Or I may just split and come home (perhaps due to some vague, general injury) because I couldn't handle it, and tell the story of my unbelievable hardship to the media.

But those Europeans, it's a piece of cake for them to come over here and play, right? I mean North America is where everyone wants to be, and it's how it is everywhere else anyway, right?

[NWTHabsFan]

As long as Ak Bars Kazan keeps paying that kind of money for 4th pairing Defensemen, how can we possibly compete for a guy certainly destined to the AHL, not the NHL? Fortunately, not all RSL teams pay at the levels of those crazy Siberian White Panthers. It definitely makes luring Korneev over to North America a challenge. A skilled offensive defenseman, even one as undersized as Korneev, would be a valuable addition to Hamilton next season with the anticipated loss of both Hainsey and Daley to their respective NHL teams.

[Habs_fan_in_LA]

Puts a whole new spin on the term, "Small market team."

[NWTHabsFan]

In a recent interview that Dan (montreal) posted from HabsWorld, Grabovsky did mention interest in coming over this summer's camp in Montreal to see how he stacks up. So, we may see him here sooner rather than later (even if only for a short visit). In that same interview, he planned on another season in Russia to work on getting bigger and more physical, in anticipation of adapting to the North American game.

I always like to hear prospects who (a) have some plans to come over the pond, and (b) who know what they have to work on to possibly make it in NA. It is really hard to gauge just how success at home is going to translate into the North American game for some of these players until they finally make the move.

Here is a reminder of Dan's interview from before:

www.habsworld.net/article.php?id=752