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RippleLuck · 04-30-2020, 04:10 PM

As the plane touched down in Toronto only a week after Kharlamov had declared for the upcoming SMJHL draft no one was there to greet him. Why would they, no sports news station would even bother giving him a small article about him coming to North America from Russia. Kharlamov is not a hot prospect that most people have been watching for the last few years, most people probably have never heard of him outside a few small highlights on YouTube.

To be fair to the media and fans Kharlamov has not really done much to excite them. Labeled a “Future bust” in the making, mostly due to his lack commitment to hockey often looking at other career opportunities. This is why I find him so interesting is that with this declaration he is going to commit to SMJHL at least for now. So I’m the next few paragraphs I’m going to try my best to get you hyped for Pavel Kharlamov.

Getting past any issues of effort or commitment to the life of a hockey player aside we should look at his ability to play. He is not your godlike two way Center from Russia like Pavel Datsyuk or Fedorov, which is fine since he plays on the wing. He is also not the big body at 5’10 which many GMs would take in later rounds of the draft since “You can’t teach size”. Lastly he is not yet Pavel Bure with generational speed, able to blow past all defenders who dare to keep up with him.

Now that we have established what he isn’t it’s time to talk about what he is, a pure goal scorer. Yes it’s time for another Russian sniper, but Kharlamov is more of a thinking man's sniper. For someone who has only played 43 games of “Professional” hockey he has a great shot and high level game sense. Pave in his short stint in a Moscow development league put up 36 goals even strength as he didn’t get PP time since he missed several practices. In the small amount of footage available on him the best way to describe him is like a cloud floating around the offensive zone waiting for the man covering him to let his guard down and then either a Ovechkin like one timer beats the goalie or he takes a clean drive at the net.

Now Kharlamov is not a liability on defense it’s just he won’t be a front runner for defensive forward of the year. He is mostly in position and reads the play well, just doesn’t have the tools to get that key takeaway or big hit that can change a game. I think with some proper coaching he would be fine at the SHL level after a couple of years in the SMJHL. At 20 he is older than most prospects but his lack of commitment definitely hurt his shot at getting into the league any earlier.

One of the biggest knocks on him at the start of his playing days was his speed. After a year of working on skating before coming to North America he looks much better. I got to sit in on a par with him and skating coach Kyle Lawson and you can see how hard Kharlamov is working on his skating. He has much better too apples an acceleration, while his stamina is fine for the SMJHL will only improve as he gets play time.

The guy can score, and score from almost anywhere. This comes from his ability to get open and shake any defender who give him even a second of space, reading the play well and a SHL level shot. I think him on the power play will be a deadly sight but we will only see if he gets a chance on a SMJHL team.

After talking with a few former teammates of his I got a better idea of the type of locker room guy Pavel is. A bit on the quiet side but not shy, often deep in his academics which Pavel has said is the main cause of his distance from the sport at that time. Pavel also claims that now that his schooling is over he is 100% committed to hockey and getting drafted.

Now I believe he will get drafted this year but will go later in the draft due to his baggage of not being committed to the game and could stop off without warning. His pure skill will help him get drafted as a project player that could pan out great for almost any team who takes a chance on him. I think any team at this years draft should be interested in Pavel Kharlamov as he is one of the highest boom or bust prospects available. I’m sure more will come out about his growth between now and the draft.

Oliver DuPont, Ice Side Post

DeletedAtUserRequest · 04-30-2020, 07:32 PM

Woooo
Interesting prospect
+1

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***Ohtaay*** · 05-01-2020, 01:23 AM

The boom or bust Pavel

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