This is the Draft to Buy in on Russians

The Flyers have kind of made a habit out of not drafting Russians. They have only drafted 3 Russians in the last 10 drafts. As I've mentioned before, that doesn't mean the Flyers are anti-Russian, but that they prefer to draft North Americans which are viewed as safer bets. The league as a whole has shifted away from drafting Russian trained Russians due to the fear that those players wont come over to the NHL. But with this draft class loaded with talent the time is right for the Flyers to turn to Russia from top prospects.

Over the past four drafts there have only been 36 Russians taken. 7 in 2009, 8 in 2010, 9 in 2011, and 12 in 2012. The rise in Russians selected is most likely due to the amount of Russians coming over to the CHL. Of those 36 Russians only 22 were trained in Russia. There hasn't been more than 6 Russian trained Russians selected in any of the last four drafts.

In the last four drafts there have only been 8 teams that have selected more than one Russian. Only 4 have selected multiple Russian trained Russians. St. Louis (who hasn't drafted a Russian since 2010), Florida (who drafted their Russians in the later rounds), Washington (who have only drafted a Russian in 7th Round since 2010), and Tampa Bay (who is the only team that I believe is comfortable and confident in selecting Russian players).

The threat of young Russian players staying in the KHL has been real for the past few seasons. With more and more players going to or staying in Russia and more and more money being pumped into the KHL; teams would be gambling if they drafted a Russian trained player. But as Bob Dylan once said the times they are a-changin'. More young Russians are coming over to the Canadian Junior leagues and even those who spend their junior careers in Russia are leaning more to NHL glory than KHL money. Recently Russia's most prominent hockey ambassador, Vladislav Tretiak (yeah, that Tretiak), said that Russia's humiliating 8-3 loss to the United States at World Championships was due to the team lacking NHL talent; essentially bashing the quality of play in the KHL.

With Russia's recent success at the World Junior level we can see that Russia is brimming with young talent. And as Vladimir Tarasenko showed players who come over from the KHL are usually closer to being NHL ready. Most Europeans are closer to being NHL ready due to the fact that they are playing against grown men at 17 or 18 years old as opposed to North American who are playing against 16-20 year olds. With guys like Valeri Nichushkin, who says he's planning on playing in North America next season, it appears that young Russians will again be flooding into the NHL soon.

But a lot of NHL teams are usually set in their ways. Only one team has drafted multiple Russian trained Russians in a single draft in the last two seasons. Could the Flyers really change their ways and draft multiple Russians? Two or more Russian trained Russians? I think if a team buys in on Russians in this draft they will be pleasantly surprised.

In my post about who the Flyers could draft in the 2nd Round, I mentioned that a few Russians were dark horse candidates. Big center Bogdan Yakimov, winger Pavel Buchnevich, and KHL Champion defenseman Andrei Mironov. Behind them is Anton Slepyshev, a big winger who was the 10th ranked European skater in last year and went completely undrafted due to the fact that he was expected to be a KHL lifer. Now there are rumors that he wants to come over to North America after his KHL contract expires after the 2013-14 season. Then there is defenseman Rushan Rafikov who was one of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl players who trained in Lancaster earlier this year. Winger Vyacheslav Leschenko who jumped 71 spots between the Midterm and Final rankings on the NHL Central Scouting's list. Towards the end of the draft is one of my favorites is 6'7 230 lbs defenseman Nikita Tryamkin. Ranked as the 123 best European skaker (a spot where players aren't usually drafted) but spent over half the season in the KHL and scored 8 goals and 18 points in the 28 games he played in the Russian junior league. Between Leschenko and Tryamkin there are plenty of talented players that play all sorts of roles.

Would the Flyers select one of these players? Two? Three? What if I told you there is a very good chance the Flyers select a Russian the 1st Round of the draft. The best forward and defenseman that will likely be available at the 11th pick will the Canadian trained Russians (F) Valentin Zykov and (D) Nikita Zadorov. There is even a chance that Valeri Nichushkin could fall all the way to 11th (remember last year Mikhail Grigorenko was supposed to be a top 3 pick and fell all the way to 12)

So would the Flyers draft multiple Russians? I don't know. They have looked more towards Russia recently. They drafted Valeri Vasiliev last season. But there is gold in those Russian hills. If they were to draft a couple of Russian trained players I don't doubt that they would be quality NHLers.

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