Goalkeeper's share: how was the NHL draft for Russian hockey players?

Russian hockey players are still in demand overseas. At the 2025 NHL draft, our country became the fourth in terms of the number of players selected - 21. Only Canada (85), the USA (52) and Sweden (30) had more. However, none of them became the main stars of the event — suffice it to say that only one Russian was selected in the first round of the draft — goalkeeper Peter Andreyanova. None of the field players, for the first time in many years. All the Russians whose names were mentioned at the ceremony in Los Angeles can be found in the Izvestia article.

Who was selected in the first and second rounds

20. Petr Andreyanov, goalkeeper (Columbus)
Current club: CSKA

Peter became the only Russian hockey player selected in the first round of the draft. This fact is all the more surprising, considering that, according to Izvestia, he can extend his contract with the army club until 2030.

Andreyanov spent the last season completely in the MHL. He played 37 matches for the Red Army with an incredible 94.2% deflected shot percentage. In the entire history of the league, at the age of 17 or younger, there was only one goalkeeper with a similar indicator — this is another Armenian Andrei Filonenko in the 2011/12 season.

In Columbus, Andreyanov is already being called the new Bobrovsky. But it will take a long time to wait for the Russian goalkeeper in the NHL.

34. Alexander Zharovsky, striker (Montreal)
Current club: Salavat Yulaev

Most recently, Alexander Zharovsky played in the NHL for the Podolsk Horse, having moved there from the Vityaz school. Only a year has passed since that moment, but life has changed dramatically: the Moscow region club in the KHL no longer exists, and the hockey player was selected in the second round of the NHL draft.

Zharovsky spent most of the season at Tolpara (he was traded to Ufa for monetary compensation), and in the playoffs he suddenly got the opportunity to play for the main team. The striker even managed to score an assist in the first match of the semifinal series with Lokomotiv.

Judging by the latest news about Salavat, Zharovsky will have a chance to gain a foothold in the Ufa team. And Viktor Kozlov has already shown that he knows how to develop young players.

41. Semyon Frolov, goalkeeper (Karolina)
Current club: Spartak

The second Russian goalkeeper selected in this draft. Frolov does not have such powerful statistics as Andreyanov's in the MHL, but they were quoted quite close before the ceremony, in the region of 40-50 places.

During the season, the goalkeeper was traded to Spartak from the Lada system. So Frolov managed to play for three teams in the MHL: Spartak, Krylia Sovetov and Ladya.

42. Daniil Prokhorov, forward (Islanders)
Current club: Dynamo St. Petersburg

A real giant, at the age of 18, Prokhorov grew up to 197 cm and 99 kg.

Last season, the forward played 51 games for Dynamo in the MHL and scored 24 goals. It's not for nothing that The Athletic noted Prokhorov's throw in the draft guide.

47. Alexey Medvedev, goalkeeper (Vancouver)
Current club: London Knights, Ontario Junior League

This is the third Russian goalkeeper to be selected in the top 50. Alexey has been playing in North America for a long time, so he is less known to Russian fans than other juniors.

Last season, Medvedev played 34 games for London and blocked more than 91% of shots.

It was expected that he would be selected closer to the third round, but Vancouver decided to spend its peak on the Russian goalkeeper.

62. Ivan Ryabkin, striker ("Carolina")
Current club: Muskegon Lumberjacks, U.S. Junior League

It is quite rare for a player who was listed in the top 10 a year before the draft to fall into the third round in the final list. But Ivan Ryabkin succeeded.

Throughout the pre-draft year, he was accompanied by strange news and actions. From the termination of the contract with Dynamo during the season and departure to North America to unsuccessful interviews with scouts, which they immediately went to tell reporters about.

"I don't know much about Ryabkin, except that many people have heard that he is a huge red flag," one of the scouts told The Athletic. This allegedly meant poor physical fitness and disrespectful attitude towards team representatives.

Nevertheless, Ivan still has a chance to play in the NHL. Karolina took a chance — of the Hurricanes' first three picks, two went to Russian players.

Who was selected in the third and fourth rounds

67. Kurban Limatov, defender ("Carolina")
Current club: Dynamo Moscow

Kurban was immediately remembered by those who follow Russian hockey with his unusual surname. But there are many other skills in the player's arsenal, thanks to which he was quoted quite highly.

In the pre-draft lists, the defender with a height of 193 cm was in the middle of the second round. The guide noted that, despite his size, Limatov is quite mobile and can play actively on both sides of the court.

He played 53 games in the MHL this season, scoring 28 (10+18) points. He also made his KHL debut for the main team: in the victorious match against Kunlun, the Moscow coaching staff entrusted the defender with two shifts.

And again, Karolina spent the choice on the Russian. He is already the third in the 2025 draft.

87. Roman Bausov, defender ("Carolina")
Current club: Dynamo St. Petersburg

Karolina decided not to stop and took away another Russian, this time a defender from Dynamo St. Petersburg.

He played 43 games in the MHL last season and scored 12 (2+10) points.

89. Artem Gonchar, defender (Rangers)
Current club: Metallurg Mg

Artyom is Sergey Gonchar's nephew. And while the elder Potter is without a club, his relative was drafted by the Rangers.

Artyom performs in the Metallurg system. Last season, he played 53 games for the Steel Foxes, in which he scored 26 (7+19) points.

115. Ilyas Magomedsultanov, defender (San Jose)
Current club: Lokomotiv

Ilyas has already spent two full seasons in the MHL. He managed to play for both Lokomotiv teams in the tournament.

In total, at the MHL level, he has 98 matches and 14 (3+11) productive actions.

Who was selected in the fifth and sixth rounds

134. Maxim Agafonov, defender (Seattle)
Current club: Salavat Yulaev

Another player from the Salavat Yulaev system selected in this draft. Agafonov spent most of the season in the MHL, but managed to catch 12 matches in the VHL, scoring 3 (1+2) points.

In the pre—draft lists, the defender was listed in the area between the second and third rounds, but he was selected much later - in the fifth under the overall 134th number.

140. Nikita Tyurin, defender (Detroit)
Current club: Spartak

Last season was Tyurin's debut in the MHL — and immediately bright. In 69 matches for the Spartak youth team, he scored 24 (4+20) points. And he deserved a call-up to the base, for which he played one game.

142. Ivan Tkach-Tkachenko, goalkeeper (Utah)
Current club: Salavat Yulaev

Ivan became the fourth Russian goalkeeper selected in this draft. The goalkeeper has played 40 games for Tolpar this season. The statistics (for the MHL) leave much to be desired — almost three missed goals on average per match and less than 91% of deflected shots.

147. Mikhail Fedorov, forward (St. Louis)
Current club: Metallurg Mg

This season has been a breakthrough season for Fedorov in the MHL: the forward scored an average of almost one effective action per game. Mikhail even joined the main team, but played only three matches for it.

149. Dmitry Isaev, forward (Ottawa)
Current club: Avtomobilist

This season, the 18-year-old forward has scored 49 points in 49 MHL games. For such results, like Fedorov, he deserved a call-up to the main team. But in the KHL, Isaev played only three games without scoring points.

165. Kirill Yemelyanov, forward (Boston)
Current club: Lokomotiv

The forward spent two full seasons in the MHL for Loko. He has 82 matches and 44 (23+21) assists in the regular season. The pre-draft guide highlighted his ability to help the team both offensively and defensively.

Who was chosen in the final round

194. Ilya Kanarsky, goalkeeper (Chicago)
Current club: AKM

Ilya is the fifth Russian goalkeeper in this draft. Moreover, he is much older than most of the players who were chosen.: Kanarsky was born in 2004.

Last season, he played 34 games for AKM in the MHL (93.8% of shots deflected) and three in the VHL (94.2% of shots deflected).

206. Roman Luttsev, forward (Tampa Bay)
Current club: Lokomotiv

This season, Roman lit up in the MHL, scoring 69 (32+37) points in 59 games. However, the forward failed to maintain this performance in the playoffs: in the relegation games, he has only three effective actions in eight meetings.

211. Jan Matveiko, forward (Calgary)
Current club: CSKA

This season, the forward played 42 games in the MHL for Krasnaya Zvezda and scored 24 (10+14) points.

The selection of Calgary can be called sensational: before the draft, Matveiko did not appear in any of the ratings.

213. Andrey Trofimov, goalkeeper (Ottawa)
The current Metallurg Mg Club

The sixth Russian goalkeeper in the 2025 draft. Last season, Trofimov played 26 games in the MHL, where he blocked almost 93% of shots.

224. Egor Midlak, goalkeeper (Florida)
Current club: Spartak

Russian goalkeepers are absolutely in hot demand. Middlack became the last player to be selected in the 2025 draft. Last season, he played only four games in the MHL, but how! 94.1% of shots deflected and one missed puck on average per game.