Because of what he showed on the ice against his peers maybe? What have any of those other players done to be noticed? This is why there is a prospect tournament, to improve your standing within the franchise is it not? Move up the rankings by your play, not your draft position.
Rangers get lucky with 7th round picks for pro D sometimes, Kim Johnsson comes to mind. Not saying I think Pashnin is gonna have a game like Johnsson but he's in a similar position coming into the league.
Being that he is two years older then most of his fellow competition, I would hope he would be one of the better players.
That's a fact that I think doesn't get mentioned enough. He's already 22, it's not like he was playing in the KHL as a teenager.
Everyone is writing Erixon in the top six before a game is played.......i'm not sure this is wise. All I know is i'm pumped as hell for camp this year.
Some people have unrealistic expectations for a player like Pashnin. He will not be on the team out of camp unless he absolutely blows the organization out of the water. Doubt he does. Erixon has played in a top league and succeeded much more than Pashnin. Erixon is ready for the NHL, and if he isn't, there is still MDZ, V-Tank, and Kundratek who are ready to show what they got in camp as well, and have had more success than Pashnin as well.
People get over-hyped about a player like this, and yet undervalue what someone like Del Zotto does for the team. I'm not alone in thinking DZ was MUCH improved in his own zone last year, but lost all confidence in his offense. That was the real reason why he was demoted, to get the confidence back and to be able to get 20+ minutes of ice time and not kill a teams PP that was looking to make the playoffs. MDZ will break out this season, mark my words.
Because of what he showed on the ice against his peers maybe? What have any of those other players done to be noticed? This is why there is a prospect tournament, to improve your standing within the franchise is it not? Move up the rankings by your play, not your draft position.
Dowzak, Klassen and Grant were all guys that we had at Traverse or prospect camp. They put themselves on our radar, played another season of Junior/NCAA, then earned a contract. Same as Pashin is doing. Chris Chappell won himself a contract after looking good during training camp one year. They've all done things to be noticed by the organization, who rewarded them with contracts.
What are they now? AHL/ECHL filler. CHL filler, in Dowzak's case. Now, am I saying that Pashnin is destined to the same fate? Absolutely not. I just think people are getting way, way too excited over a kid that was a seventh round pick, and coming off an okay year in the KHL. Part of it is all the fluff coming from the Rangers (nothing new), part of it is the few tweets we've heard from the beat writers at camp saying he hit everything in sight. And yet another part of it is the fact that the vast, vast majority have seen little to no actual play from him, and have this desire for him to turn into a late-round steal. Imaginations running wild.
Right now, he's an okay prospect that looks like he might get a contract. Can we wait to actually see him before proclaiming that he'll be battling for a spot on the bottom pair? I'm not directing this at you, but a lot of other people.
With our current defensive depth I have a hard time believing Pashnin will ever see time with this club barring injuries.
most likely won't come close to cracking the top 6 if we keep everyone...but the ideal scenario would be for guys like pashnin, valentenko, kundratek, etc to provide enough depth to allow us to trade someone from the top 6 to fill another need. maybe slightly downgrade the 3rd pair to improve another area.
Where we ranked him in the prospect list proves what i'm talking about.
Also proves that people don't know what the KHL draft is about.
I hope I am wrong. I have nothing against Pashnin, I just have a problem with people constantly bringing up the KHL draft without knowing anything about it.
Look at Jyri Niemi. A year younger, drafted earlier, bigger, better offensively, starred for Team Finland and played at least as well in Hartford as Pashnin in the KHL. Yet, nobody talks about him because he never entered the KHL draft.
The experts who follow KHL hockey say that he is nothing special.
that's all i've heard/read too.
I think some on the board have latched onto him b/c anybody who is described as "physical" automatically becomes pushed to the moon as far as expectations around here.
Either way, he obviously showed SOMETHING at the prospect camp for the Rangers to want to sign him. I just don't see him having a chance in hell of making the team out of camp.
I think some on the board have latched onto him b/c anybody who is described as "physical" automatically becomes pushed to the moon as far as expectations around here.
Either way, he obviously showed SOMETHING at the prospect camp for the Rangers to want to sign him. I just don't see him having a chance in hell of making the team out of camp.
I think people are getting attached to him because of the PR articles as well as his performance in camps (while failing to acknowledge that he is older then most of the other players in that camp).
I don't mean to crap on him, but as Emma said, people are getting way too excited over a guy who really hasn't proven anything, except for being an adequate depth KHL d-man.
1. He was 21 years old last season, and turned 22 during the playoffs.
2. His 5 points in 16 games were in the MHL, which is the Russian junior league.
3. I don't see him making the Rangers this year. I will be happy if he can be a very good top-4 defenseman in Hartford. So long as he outplays Jyri Niemi (who is a year younger than Pashnin) and Blake Parlett (who is exactly the same age), I will be very glad with his performance. It is possible, however, that he'll be only a #6 blueliner in Hartford, behind Redden, Kundratek, Parlett, Niemi and either Valentenko or MDZ.
4. I hope he can make the Rangers. If we can get an overload of defensemen like we had in 1993-94, we can pull another trade like Turcotte+Patrick for Larmer, where we acquire a great top-6 forward in return for a redundant top-4 defenseman and a 2/3 line tweener.
But I would like to hear real analysis of Pashnin, not the fact that he went first overall in the KHL (waiver/supplemental) draft.
Pashnin is a defensive defenseman who likes to battle.
He played in the KHL when he was 20 as well, thats what I was meaning by 20-21.
I would say he is about on par with a Parlett, but if Parlett comes to camp and does well he could have a shot at the Rangers as well.
I dont think he has the potential to become anything more than a Francis Bouillon/Darius Kasparitis/Shane O'Brien like player BUT the fact that he is close to that now, is a great thing for a 7th rounder.
He is a pretty good skater as well. He will never put up a ton of points. Thats like looking at Marc Staal's numbers in junior and saying he will never amount to much. Or McDonagh in college. Or Sauer in juniors.
Players drafted after Pashnin in the 2009 KHL draft (it was not a dispersal draft)
Magnus Paajarvi
Erik Karlsson
Mattias Tedenby
Mikael Granlund
Zach Kassian
Jacob Josefson
Erik Gundbranson
Viktor Hedman
Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Taylor Hall
I think he's coming over to get better.
I think his passion will push him to get better.
I think he will be an NHL player eventually.
I think he'll be in CT for 1.5-2yrs minimum before he's ready.
Some people have unrealistic expectations for a player like Pashnin. He will not be on the team out of camp unless he absolutely blows the organization out of the water. Doubt he does. Erixon has played in a top league and succeeded much more than Pashnin. Erixon is ready for the NHL, and if he isn't, there is still MDZ, V-Tank, and Kundratek who are ready to show what they got in camp as well, and have had more success than Pashnin as well.
People get over-hyped about a player like this, and yet undervalue what someone like Del Zotto does for the team. I'm not alone in thinking DZ was MUCH improved in his own zone last year, but lost all confidence in his offense. That was the real reason why he was demoted, to get the confidence back and to be able to get 20+ minutes of ice time and not kill a teams PP that was looking to make the playoffs. MDZ will break out this season, mark my words.
I don't know about MDZ. I remember one game where he was responsible for blowing coverage on 4 goals. Without those 4 goals, we give up the fewest goals in the Eastern Conference.
He was competent at times, but there were some brutal games. After he gave up the 4th of those goals, you could see it written all over his face that he knew that he wasn't doing well.
If MDZ improves his defense to where it's competent and scores 45-50 points per season, he will be a valuable defenseman. If he scores over 50 points, he'll be a huge part of the team.
yet another part of it is the fact that the vast, vast majority have seen little to no actual play from him, and have this desire for him to turn into a late-round steal. Imaginations running wild.
This is true not just for him. I've been meaning to say this in prior posts, but I couldn't word it well, and thank you for doing it.
It seems like with non-blue chip prospects, the less fans know, the more they value a prospect because they let their imagination run wild.
Thus for instances, if we have two big guys with limited skill and one is close to being a 4th liner while the other is still in juniors, the fans will overwhelming pick the guy in juniors, even though he has almost no chance of being more than a 4th liner and will likely be the next Justin Soryal.
he obviously showed SOMETHING at the prospect camp for the Rangers to want to sign him. I just don't see him having a chance in hell of making the team out of camp.
A team gets 50 NHL contracts - 23 of them are on the Rangers, another 23 in Hartford. That's 46 with 4 NHL contracts given to ECHLers.
But the reality is that several players in Hartford will be on minor league contracts. JAM, Kale Kerbashian, Oren Eizenman, etc are on minor league contracts for whatever reason. That means that there are at least a half a dozen guys in the ECHL with NHL contracts.
Now let's consider only the guys in the NHL and the top-9F/top-4D AHLers. That's 36 guys total, maybe fewer if guys on minor league contracts make the top-9F/top-4D. That allows for 14+ guys who are either ECHLers or garbage AHLers.
Some people have unrealistic expectations for a player like Pashnin. He will not be on the team out of camp unless he absolutely blows the organization out of the water. Doubt he does. Erixon has played in a top league and succeeded much more than Pashnin.
This. Exact.
Pashnin is a very average player in the KHL, I never understood all the buzz around him and I don't really think he's gonna last in the NHL, given that he'll ever play [more than a 3-game stint]. To be frank, even Valentenko is - imho - a superior player, and he's not quite the force in the NHL (he wasn't in the KHL either, tho).
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Алексей Черепанов навсегда в наших сердцах
Also proves that people don't know what the KHL draft is about.
I would roughly compare the KHL draft to the CHL Import Draft. Most of the picks are people who either confirmed they're gonna report or they will defect to N. America. Other picks are crapshoots (like KHL teams drafting Huberdau/Pajaarvi and CHL teams drafting Kovalchuk/Filatov).
I would also add that I love people who compares him to Kasparaitis. Maybe many of you don't remember, but Kasparaitis, before getting to N. America, won an Olympic Gold Medal, while I would say that Pashnin and I don't have many different chances to play the Olympics with Team Russia...with all the due respect
Players drafted after Pashnin in the 2009 KHL draft (it was not a dispersal draft)
Magnus Paajarvi
Erik Karlsson
Mattias Tedenby
Mikael Granlund
Zach Kassian
Jacob Josefson
Erik Gundbranson
Viktor Hedman
Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Taylor Hall
surely he's better than all of these guys
All Swedes and North Americans who were very unlikely to show up at a KHL training camp. Real shots in the dark.
The thing is most if not all European teams have a club system that brings kids along from a very early age. Someone like Erixon would have been property of the Skelleftea team much earlier than 17-18. Just being raised in Skelleftea made him a Skelleftea player. The draft Pashnin found himself in was for unafiliated players or players without a team. So his being chosen first in that draft was not the big deal that some would make it out to be.
I would also add that I love people who compares him to Kasparaitis. Maybe many of you don't remember, but Kasparaitis, before getting to N. America, won an Olympic Gold Medal, while I would say that Pashnin and I don't have many different chances to play the Olympics with Team Russia...with all the due respect
The Rangers have been impressed with him two development camps in a row--and apparently they see a player they want to sign. Their take is he's more a NA style player than a European style player. Maybe it works out in the end--maybe it doesn't--but I do agree he's going to need more work and improvement.
I've always thought he'd be an AHL guy with the potential to maybe do something 2-4 years away if we trade/fail to re sign guys like Vtak, Kundratek and guys like MDZ don't work out AND we don't really get any other D men ready. In other words I'm excited to thin about him panning out but realistic about it. He's made an impression we'll get to see more of him this year.
Also I hope MDZ finds his O again too. His passing and vision was amazing his rookie year
