An aggressive, fiery Russian forward who plays with a lot of fire to his game. Capable of good straight-line speed, but doesn’t show the explosiveness to pull away from defenders while attacking in transition. There is a speedster in there however, as he has shown ability to explode from a standstill and hit top gear. Can use his light feet to manipulate defenders. Willing to slice through defenders on the rush, or opts to go hard on the forecheck. Used as a front-of-net presence. Effective at screening the goalie and excellent at picking up rebounds on the doorstep. Aggressive in attacking loose pucks in the offensive zone. Does not shy away from the corners despite his smaller stature. Can use that smaller stature to duck below checks along the boards and maintain puck possession. Plays a lot bigger than he is, which is to his benefit when in puck battles. Often wins board battles with his stick and hand-eye coordination. Needs to work on cleaning up his pick decisions. A little slow to get started in the game, however, but digs in more as the game progresses and works hard on the forecheck. Employs stellar four-way mobility and the 10-2 skating style to gain space and better angles in the offensive zone. Flip-flops on how hard he battles though, especially on the backcheck. Overall, he has a lot of tools teams will find attractive.

– FCHockey’s 2021 NHL Draft Guide