It’s been a pretty quiet day for the Flames thus far, but they’ve finally done something, selecting Ilya Nikolayev with their third round pick.
#Flames go with a Russian, grabbing Ilya Nikolayev from Yaroslavl at 88th.
— Ryan Pike (@RyanNPike) June 22, 2019
Nikolayev is from Lokomotiv Yaroslavl in Russia, playing for their MHL team. A 6’0, 190lbs left shooting centre, he put up 10 goals and 15 assists in 41 games played in the MHL. He was ranked anywhere between 28th (ISS) and 74th (hockeyprospect.com) by scouting services. We profiled his game here.
#Flames third-rounder Ilya Nikolaev, through translator, describing his style: “First to play good defensively. And then if you do well at home, then you can go in offensive zone and play attack against the other team.”
— Wes Gilbertson (@WesGilbertson) June 22, 2019
Described as a project pick with top six upside, Nikolayev is described as a player who can be creative in the offensive zone, boasting some pretty strong passing ability. He’ll likely be given time to grow in Russia’s hockey system before coming over to the NHL, one of his goals in his hockey career.
Nikolaev says (through translator) he’s under contract in Russia for the next two seasons. But says he wants to develop his game and would love to come over to North America after that.
— Brendan Parker (@BParkerTV) June 22, 2019
The Flames have picks remaining at 116th, 150th, and 214th at this draft minus any trades. They have already drafted Jakob Pelletier with their first round pick.
Disappears for games at a time, that’s not good. Talented maybe but questionable work ethic. Not impressed. Russians we draft rarely even end up playing for us. Possible waste of a pick.
Shoots left too. Tre sucks!
He’s Russian! The reds are taking over… it should’ve been a big bodied no skilled 6’5 Canadian!!! No heart… shrimp… terrible pick.
WW
Project pick.
Every pick outside the top 2-5 is a project pick lol
Based on the review we got, not sure why they spent this pick on Nikolayev.
While I don’t dislike Pelletier, I was a bit disappointed to see him taken ahead of Brink and Kaliyev. I know Kaliyev has a bit of a bad rep, but you can’t argue with his numbers.
Based on rankings, this seems like some tidy work.
The nation is obviously not running this team.
In all seriousness, seems like a decent pick. Was seen as a 2nd round talent, but concerns about him coming to NA perhaps. Good pick.
Says his hero is Patrice Bergeron.
Me likee.
He was AT the draft. Seems like he was excited about being drafted, so why would you think he wouldn’t want to come over here?
9th ranked European taken at 88?
Perfect.
This guy dropped a bit so probably a good spot to take him. However should have taken Quinn Olson instead – more compete in him.
Steal of a pick??
The June 10th evaluation on FN:
“Based on the general projections, it seems like Nikolayev should be available to the Flames at 26th overall: ISS has him 27th, Dobber Prospects has him 29th, the Draft Analyst/Sporting News has him 23rd, my rankings at The Hockey Writers have him 60th, Sportsnet has him outside the first round, The Athletic has him 38th and outside the top 100, and The Hockey News has him 47th.”
The day started with a flurry but nothing for the Flames. Hopefully it means they will also get it right when do a deal.
In Tre we trust!
Deals will be done after the draft…
There are still plenty of teams that could use TJ.
He dropped:
Ranked #38 by THE ATHLETIC
Ranked #74 by HOCKEYPROSPECT.COM
Ranked #45 by FUTURE CONSIDERATIONS
Ranked #28 by ISS HOCKEY
Ranked #61 by MCKEEN’S HOCKEY
Ranked #9 by NHL CENTRAL SCOUTING (EU Skaters)
Ranked #53 by ELITEPROSPECTS.COM
Ranked #49 by TSN/McKenzie
Can’t complain about this pick based upon all the projections.
I guess the ranking depends on when he (and others) was seen in action. He did well in the Hlinka, not so well in the first half of his season, but >ppg in second half.
Feuk: Ranked #103 by FUTURE CONSIDERATIONS
Ranked #79 by NHL CENTRAL SCOUTING (EU Skaters)
Ranked #57 by ELITEPROSPECTS.COM
Beat me to it Free….
What Elite Prospects says about Lucas Feuk:
An offensively skilled player with good speed and hockey sense. Likes to shot the puck a lot and has a good release. They ranked him #57. Nice pick.
Someone who likes to shoot the puck alot….a replacement for Spencer Foo????
Another Euro; another LHF. Can’t complain about where he is ranked but it sure seems like a non impactful day. All these guys are 2/3 years away from even playing in Stockton.
If Stockton is still the team….
I sure hope so.
You keep saying that. All these negative waves Moriarity why all the negative waves????
Flames farm club in Nanaimo in 2021.
This looks to be a pretty good pick at the number (88) the Flames got him at. Low risk high reward type that was projected to go quite a bit higher. The thing that makes me shake my head about most of these Russian players is the language barrier. If you are a pretty good junior hockey player that aspires to play in the NHL…then why don’t you try and learn the language that will give you a leg up? You know that eventually you’ll need to speak English to succeed here, so why not start earlier. It’s mind boggling sometimes lol
Unfortunately, the bigger fallers were gone by this point, so I’m fine with them picking a player they liked here.
The last three drafts, the mini camp invitees who have been signed and this year’s group of 3 signed for the main camp and potentially for Stockton, has me excited about the future. We have a nice mix of Europeans, College Students and
high level junior guys. I would like to see Van de Leest and Malm on our protected lists somehow. There were other guys that were not signed that looked good. I do not know how the Flames systems works for prioritizing these guys, but we have quite a few options coming down the pike and I like what the future looks like beginning in 2020 and forward.