NHL Draft Preview - Part I: The Russian Conundrum

The COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine will likely result in a lot fewer Russians taken in this year's NHL draft. Some teams will likely use both as an excuse to ignore Russians

Kirill Kaprizov wasn’t taken until the fifth round and it was five years before he made his way to the NHL. But both waits have been well worth it for the Minnesota Wild.

MONTREAL – NHL teams took a total of 29 Russian-born players in the 2021 NHL draft, which represented the fourth-highest total of the 21st century. One year and a very different world landscape later, that number is sure to be significantly reduced, perhaps down to half that number. And the Russian players who do get selected on Thursday and Friday will likely have dropped to a lot later in the draft than anyone would have expected a year ago.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine have, in some ways, conspired to thrust the hockey world back into the days of the Cold War when Russian players were filled with mystery and intrigue. The pandemic significantly curtailed North American-based scouts’ ability to travel to Europe to see the many tournaments in which draft-eligible players appear and once the International Ice Hockey Federation suspended the Russian and Belarusian federations for their parts in the invasion, the opportunities all but disappeared. The Russians played only two games in the World Junior Championship before the tournament was shut down and they were barred from participating in the World Under-18 Championship.