Last season, Kazakhstan won Division I Group A of the IIHF World Junior Championship to advance to this year’s top-level World Juniors in Ottawa. The 25-man roster that the Kazakhs have named to this year’s team includes 13 returnees from last year.
Kazakhstan has one drafted player on its roster – goaltender Vladimir Nikitin, the Ottawa Senators’ seventh-round pick in 2023 who played last season for the Chilliwack Chiefs in the BCHL, where he scored a goal. This season, Nikitin is back home playing for Snezhnye Barsy, or “the Snow Leopards”, who are the U-20 team in Barys Astana’s system and Kazakhstan’s lone team in the MHL – Russia’s top junior league.
A total of 15 players on this roster play for Snezhnye Barsy and 19 play within the Barys organization at various levels.
Defenseman seems to be Kazakhstan’s most accomplished defenseman, as he has played 30 KHL games this season for Barys Astana. All d-men are in the Barys system except for Danila Belyakov, who plays in Kazakhstan’s domestic semi-pro league.
Several of the forwards play abroad – Absal Alibek and Alexander Kim play in the NAHL, 18-year-old Asanaly Sarkenov has 15 points in 21 games for the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs, and Davlat Nurkenov plays for Ässät in Finland’s top junior league. Semyon Simonov has played seven KHL games for Barys.
Goaltenders: Dzhokhar Dudarkiev, Vladimir Nikitin (both “Snezhnye Barsy”, MHL), Danil Lytkin (“Barys U18”).
Defensemen: Roman Bolshedvorsky, Aslan Zhusipbekov, Sanzhar Ibrahim, Gleb Reshetko, Danial Shakshakbaev, Mstislav Shipilin (all “Snezhnye Barsy”, MHL), Danila Belyakov (Torpedo Ust-Kamenogorsk), Beibarys Orazov, (Barys Astana, KHL).
Forwards: Abzal Alibek (Philadelphia Rebels, NAHL), Adil Beisembayev, Artur Gross, Kirill Kankin, Vladimir Korchagin, Kirill Lyapunov, Alexander Migunov, Asanaly Ruslanuly, Nikita Sitnikov (all “Snezhnye Barsy”, MHL), Alexander Kim (Bismarck Bobcats, NAHL), Davlat Nurkenov (Ässät U-20, U20 SM-sarja), Yegor Levkovets (“Barys”), Asanaly Sarkenov (Spokane Chiefs, WHL), Semyon Simonov (“Barys”).