As of now, GM Dean Lombardi's first pick in the draft will be at #19. One slot earlier than when Frolov was a first round selection back in 2000.
In addition to the slew of North American players vying to be picked, there are five Russians that may still be on the board when Lombardi and crew are given the mic on the draft podium.
Vladimir Tarasenko, Evengy Kuznetsov and Maxim Kitsyn are the three "pure" Russians in the group, in the sense that they play over there. Stanislav Galiev and Ivan Telegin have already begun their adjustment to North America by playing Canadian Junior Hockey this past season.
Telegin is a 6'2" left wing playing for the Saginaw Spirit in the OHL. Interestingly enough, if he hadn't decided to come over from Russia, he'd be on the same team back home with Kitsyn.
The paths of all five have crossed throughout their youth in the Russian national program and most of them will meet up again at the World Junior Championships next winter. For now though, they aren't a unit, they're five individuals looking to be drafted by NHL teams.
So while the debate rages on about how to individually rank the Super Five, James Paliafito - the Director of Scouting for Telegin's OHL team - had this to say about the player he knows best "Ivan works as hard as any player in the game. Always the first to the puck and very accountable in all three zones. He will score goals and win all of his battles on the boards. Great in front of the net where he enjoys physical contact. Ivan is superb on the power play; he has the ability to deflect shots as well as shoot without much preparation.”
Like his game on the ice, Telegin has been working hard to improve his communication as well. Through his broken English and the Mayor's broken Russian, they had the following conversation...
