August 21, 2008
Poile: Stop drafting Russians, please
I’d like to see Alexander Radulov return to Nashville as much as any Preds fan, but the team’s luck in developing Russian players speaks for itself:
Russians drafted by the Predators:
1998 — Denis Arkhipov, C, Four seasons with Preds, five in NHL. Now playing in Russia.
1999 — Yevgeny Pavlov, C, One season in North America, did not reach NHL.
Alexander Krevsun, RW, One season in North America, did not reach NHL.
Konstantin Panov, RW, Five seasons in North America, did not reach NHL.
2001 — Timofei Shishkanov, LW, Two games with Preds, 24 games in NHL. Now playing in Russia.
Denis Platonov, RW, Three games in North America. Did not reach NHL.
Anton Lavrentiev, D, Never played in North America.
2003 —Konstantin Glazachev, LW, Never played in North America.
Grigory Shafigulin, C, Never played in North America.
Rustam Sidikov, G, Never played in North America.
Andrei Mukhachev, D, Never played in North America.
2004 — Alexander Radulov, RW, Two seasons with Preds. Now playing in Russia.
Denis Kulyash, D, Never played in North America.
There’s an inherent risk in selecting any player under any circumstances. When home is half a world away and a competing league is emerging as incentive to stay there to play, it’s just not worth the gamble. This advice may be playing into the KHL’s hands, but it can only help the Preds, who need all the help they can get from the draft.
![Rob Robinson](http://thinktrain.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2007/02/Rob.jpg")
GoldnI said,
August 21, 2008 @ 4:43 pm
Heh, I hadn’t thought about it before but I guess you’re right. I think we do better with Czechs (Vokoun, Erat, etc)
Rob Robinson said,
August 21, 2008 @ 4:50 pm
I didn’t realize how bad the track record is until I saw it in The Tennessean today. It’s lousy. You’re right that we’ve done much better with Czechs.