Top 20 Russian Prospects

There is an interesting article from hockey's future written by Alessandro Seren Rosso on the top 20 russian prospects, drafted and undrafted. It is interesting because the top russian prospect belongs to the Montreal Canadiens organization. His name is Konstantin Korneev. Do you know him? Probably not. Why? Well that's because he was drafted very far away in the 9th round, 275th overall in the 2002 NHL draft. Other than the defenseman Korneev, there is three other Habs prospects on that list. The number 4 prospect is the defenseman Alexei Emelin and he was drafted in the 3rd round, 84 overall in 2004. He was the one who has expressed his interest in playing for the Canadiens, but his agent fooled him to sign a two year contract to play in Russia instead. His contract is ending this year, so hopefully we will see him next year. In the 14th position is the forward Maxim Trunev and was only drafted this year in the 5th round , 138 overall. He was one of the youngest players eligible to the draft this year and Trevor Timming said that he could be the steal of the draft. Finally, the 20th prospect is Pavel Valentenko who was playing for the Hamilton Bulldogs this year, but left in the middle of the season to play in Russia saying as an excuse that his father was ill. He was then suspended by the Canadiens without pay for leaving the team. Though the Habs still have the rights on Valentenko, but I doubt he would get any chance to wear the Canadiens uniform again. Below is the link to the entire article if you want to know more about these players.

http://www.hockeysfuture.com/articles/10944/top20_russia_prospects_drafted_and_undrafted/