Yan Kuznetsov

This Russian import came over two years ago to get a foothold on the North American game and has gone on to be a student of the college game with UConn. A tall lanky kid with a frame that could handle more muscle and weight, his bread and butter so far is his ability to play a solid defensive game using his four direction skating prowess to close down on attackers, disrupt the cycle, and move in and out of game situations with strong stride and push to his acceleration. You have to view his as a glass half full; his size, his feet and his soft hands are already evident and help him play a solid game, and contribute decent minutes 5 on 5 and some standout work on the penalty kill. The new age defenseman that continue to emerge play with strong active sticks, high end agility, foot quickness and use their skating ability to pressure as defenders. Has a heavy shot. This kid is starting to show similar attributes at a much bigger size. Granted he is not going to be considered as a premier attack style offenseman to anybody who has seen him, but there is a quite a bit of upsize there to build his game from one where he projects as a mid pairing defensive defender to one who will eventually build a creative attacking style where he is much more confident in jumping into the play. 

--Bill Placzek--