Stefen Rosner
MONTREAL, QC–– It seems like each day the National Hockey League has more news to deal with regarding Russia. Will NHL players in Russia be allowed back in the United States before the start of the 2022-23 season? Will Russian draft prospects fall drastically in the 2022 NHL Draft, which kicks off Thursday evening?
Let me rephrase that. Russian prospects will fall in the NHL Draft, especially as more situations in Russia arise regarding the military draft, the false military cards certain players bought, with rumors now circulating that Minnesota Wild superstar Kirill Kaprizov is involved with that.
And then you have the Ilya Sorokin issue, even though New York Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello stated he was not concerned.
Because of the state of the world, I would not be shocked if there are a handful of Russian prospects that end up being free agents this summer. And prior to last week, it may not have been something that would concern the New York Islanders.
But with the New York Islanders recent hiring of scout Jim Paliafito, this now becomes a significant move, and here’s why.
Jim Paliafito’s specialty lies with European free agents, as he was instrumental in the Toronto Maple Leafs acquisitions of Nikita Zaitsev, and Igor Mikheyev to name a few.
Lamoriello worked with Paliafito when the Islanders general manager was at the helm in Toronto.
“Yes, I worked with him in Toronto. He was there prior…went there. And then you know, he was not going back,” Lamoriello said. “And we haven’t had a real strong presence in the European free-agent market. And he’s done a great job in my opinion.”
The New York Islanders have not had much success with European prospects to date.
As mentioned in the Paliafito piece, the Islanders prospect pool is not particularly strong. If Aatu Raty and William Dufour come to mind, they have a lot to prove, with both lining up for full seasons with the Bridgeport Islanders, the New York Islanders AHL affiliate.
So for the purpose of this article, those two do not count.
And Lamoriello stated that even if there is talent in Bridgeport if you can make your team better, you have to do it.
“If you can get better, if they’re better than your player in Bridgeport, no matter how your talent pool is, you know you want to do that,” Lamoriello said. “So what we’re doing now is just kind of focus in an area. And that’s the reason we’ve extended that staff and Jimmy was available and he wanted to come.”
With the 2022 NHL Draft kicking off Wednesday and Thursday, we will get more of an understanding on just how much the Russian news impacts the draft.
Will the Islanders now have a leg up on undrafted Europeans?
The top European free agent has already signed with the Vancouver Canucks, in Andrei Kuzmenko, as he signed a one-year deal, worth $1.8 million.
Per a Yahoo Sports! piece on European free agents, there are a few available that might be worth taking a look at. Now Paliafito is known to find that diamond in the rough type of player on his own, but here are a few current European free agents before the 2022 NHL Draft.
