Continuing the Minnesota Wild Draft Target series with Nizhny Novgorod forward Nikita Artamonov.
Continuing the Minnesota Wild Draft Target series with Nizhny Novgorod forward Nikita Artamonov.
Continuing the Minnesota Wild Draft Target series, today we look at Nizhny Novgorod forward Nikita Artamonov.
Artamonov played 54 games in the KHL last season for Nizhny Novgorod. He played the full season with ex-Wild prospect Vladislav Firstov.
The Russian forward recorded seven goals and 23 points in 54 games in the KHL last season. The biggest knock on Artamonov so far is his skating.
Lucky for him, if Minnesota were to select Artamonov, the Wild are blessed with one of the best skating coaches in the entire NHL.
According to JFresh Hockey's prospect card, Artamonov could be a star in the NHL despite the narrative of him being a bad skater. Tyler Toffoli wasn't the best skater when he was drafted and look at what he has become.
Wild fans remember Andrew Brunette well. He was never considered the best skater yet he produced 268 goals, 465 points, and 733 points in 1,110 NHL games in his career.
There might be a knock on Artamonov but you can't deny his skills and what he did in the KHL. The 5-foot-11 winger set the KHL record for most points with four in a single game as a 17-year-old.
According to Hockey Prospecting, Artamonov had a better draft year and draft minus-one year than guys like Kirill Kaprizov, Artemi Panarin, and Evgeny Kuznetsov.
Ryan Kennedy with The Hockey News has Artamonov at 24 on his top 120 rankings for the 2024 NHL Draft.
"He's one of those guys people won't know, who will probably go higher than people think," one scout said. "Some team might get a steal."
His playmaking ability and his on the boards play, make up for flaws in his game. He is aggressive and has a knack for going to the net hard, with or without the puck. He seems to compliment his linemates well.
If he can work on becoming more explosive and quick to get up to pace when skating, Artamonov could become a really effective top-six winger in the NHL. One scout told Kennedy that there isn't much of a separation between Artamonov and Ivan Demidov, a projected top-five pick.
"Artamonov might be the smartest Russian in this draft, and that's saying something," another scout told Kennedy. "This guy's sense is really good, and he has really good compete."
The Wild's Director of Amateur Scouting said on a call with the Media before the Draft that hockey sense and hockey IQ are the hardest things to figure out when scouting a 17 or 18-year-old prospect.
Artamonov seems to have that.
Two years ago the Wild picked up what some are calling the steal of the draft in Danila Yurov, and they could do it again this year by taking Artamonov with the 13th pick. His contract runs through the 2025-26 season in the KHL.
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Other Wild Draft Targets:
Defenseman: Carter Yakemchuk
Defenseman: Sam Dickinson
Defenseman: Zeev Buium
Defenseman: Zayne Parekh
Forward: Cole Eiserman
Forward: Michael Brandsegg-Nygard
Forward: Berkly Catton
Forward: Tij Iginla
Forward: Beckett Sennecke
Forward: Konsta Helenius
Forward: Terik Parascak
Forward: Michael Hage
Forward: Aatos Koivu