FlamesNation Top 20 Prospects 2020: #12 Yan Kuznetsov

The last time the Calgary Flames drafted a Russian prospect in the first two rounds of the NHL Entry Draft was June 2001, 19 years ago. To adequately express the sheer breadth of time elapsed from thence to the present, allow us to phrase that another way:

The last time the Flames drafted a Russian prospect in the first two rounds of the NHL Draft was June 2001, nine Fast & Furious movies ago—regrettable spin-offs included.

Less than a week after Vin Diesel donned his notorious tank-top and crooned grit and gravel about “family” and “good old American Muscle” for the first time, the Flames selected beefy centreman Andrei Taratukhin in the second round, 41st overall. He never played a game for Calgary.

The Flames likely hope to milk greater use and longevity out of their most recent second-round Russian gamble Yan Kuznetsov, our 12th-ranked Flames prospect—and ideally, the 6’4” 201-pound lumberjack of a defenceman will be an established force heaving hits and poking pucks long before the Fast & Furious crew start scorching rubber in space or something.

Kuznetsov was born in Murmansk, Russia, the largest city north of the Arctic Circle in the world—so Alberta winters shouldn’t faze him, am I right?

He logged minutes at multiple levels of the CSKA Moscow system before hitching it to North America to play for the Sioux Falls Stampede in the USHL as a 17-year-old. In Sioux Falls, Kuznetsov cemented his image as a hulking shutdown defenceman by failing to score and posting only 4 assists in 34 games.

But his towering defensive talents nonetheless attracted suitors from NCAA squads, inking him a spot on the University of Connecticut Huskies Division I blueline last season that he will house and hone again, when college hockey resumes later this month.

Funnily enough, the rearguard who notched zilch in his single USHL season actually finished second among all defencemen on his college hockey team in points—even though he was apparently the youngest player in the entire NCAA last year. Kuznetsov scored two goals and 11 points in 34 games for the Huskies in his freshman year. The shutdown defenceman moniker still applies, but he at least dabbled in displaying some offensive promise—his second goal of the season was a laughable fluke, but his first one was a freaking laser:

But, to paraphrase a legendary pitch from Mad Men, while offensive prowess is a glittering lure, there is the rare occasion where the public can be engaged on a level beyond flash. The Flames did not draft Yan Kuznetsov to flare red lights at the Saddledome every second night, but rather they see protection potential in his swooping stick and protruding shoulders.

Kuznetsov is an aggressive defender, but he does not seem reckless—he restrained his stride when he prodded the puck in the above example, refrained from overskating in his lunge and retained a healthy gap that he eventually slashed and tore with one broom sweep.

Also, he loves contact. Kuznetsov both withstands and bestows blows whenever necessary…

…which is often.

And despite all his lankiness, Kuznetsov is fairly evasive and mobile with the puck. Overall, though they may not translate to seismic numbers, Yan Kuznetsov hauls a whole slew of effective tools with him to the rink every night.

Over at The Hockey Writers, Josh Bell provided his assessment of Kuznetsov prior to the draft:

Slated to lace up his skates for UConn again, Kuznetsov and his absolute flagpole of a stick should enjoy grander deployment in his sophomore season. As the largest defenceman on the team, as well as the highest-scoring defenceman returning to the squad, the neon arrows flash towards him shouldering the heaviest workloads of his young career.

If the amplified minutes and magnified role bear as rich fruits for the Russian rearguard as he himself and the Flames must dually hope, the jump to contending for an AHL berth at the very least could be feasible as soon as next off-season.