Kirill Kudryatsev is a very skilled two-way defender who plays a mature and patient game. His ability to react to loose pucks, take advantage of opponent’s mistakes, get his stick into lanes, and straight up steal pucks is very impressive. He makes great decisions off the puck in the offensive zone, understanding where and when to be aggressive with his pinches and when to hold off and retreat to defensive positioning. While his positioning is strong, his lack of high-end skating ability can expose him when defending against quicker players on the rush and when he gives his assignment too much space in the defensive zone. He doesn’t have the speed to recover. Once he’s beat, he is beat and there’s little he can do to stop it. In his own zone, he can drift towards the puck, moving himself out of position and leaving an open man behind him – allowing for quality scoring chances against. The mobility will be his biggest concern going forward. Despite having the skill and patience to make plays, the inability to push the pace of play and consistently defend against speed will hinder his potential. Improving on the skating ability and his processing speed will help him adjust to higher levels of play quicker. There’s a lot in his game to like, and the right situation will be key for him. Patience and time in his program will be required to develop him into a full-time NHLer more than most of his peers, but he has the potential to be a nice depth piece who plays a majority of his minutes at five-on-five. The puck skills are certainly adequate, but he has a lot of mobility issues that will cause him to fall in the draft and limit his long-term potential. He makes sense as a late-round gamble in the draft.

– FCHockey’s 2022 NHL Draft Guide