Alexander Avtsin: “Ovechkin #2”

You may or may not recall the Montreal Canadiens using their 109th overall pick to select Alexander Avstin at the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, hosted in Montreal earlier this summer. What you probably didn’t know at the time is that he is already being hailed as the next Alex Ovechkin.

Avtsin flew under the radar for most teams; the fact that he was Russian kept him off the top of many lists. It’s an unfortunate reality that teams are not willing to take chances and draft Russian-born players. There is always the fear that they will either stay in Russia, or suddenly bolt back home to the welcoming arms of the KHL (see: Pavel Valentenko).

At any rate, Russian stock has fallen but that only means that intuitive scouts like Trevor Timmins end up with Russian spoils in the later rounds. Avtsin is considered a low-risk, high-reward type of player. If he can be half as good as other former Russian late-round picks such as Andrei Markov or Pavel Datsyuk, then I’m sure we’d all agree that Timmins stole a gem.

This Russian youngster is described as having smooth skating skill, soft hands, a bit hit and great size at 6’3 and 198 lbs. He dominated the Russian junior league with Dynamo Moscow, scoring 56 goals and putting up 110 points. Sound like anyone you know?

I was reading a translated interview between Alex Ovechkin and Sovetsky Sport’s Pavel Lysenkov. In it, Ovechkin praises Avtsin as “the face of Dynamo in the junior league”. He has also been hailed as “Ovechkin #2” by some Russian experts. Alessandro Seren Rosso from RussianProspects.com calls Avtsin “the new Ovechkin”. Those comparisons are not thrown around liberally. I can’t wait to see what he’s got.

For more information, check out his profile at RussianProspects.com, and be sure to read his interview.