| Andrei Buyalski | Dubuque Fighting Saints | USHL | L | F | 6’3″ | 190 | Vermont | 2021 | Karaganda, KAZ | 2000 | 2020-2021: C+ |
Neutral Zone NHL’s Anthony Walsh, June 2021: Buyalski is a tall, lanky forward for the Fighting Saints who had a productive year, tallying 15 goals and 17 assists for 32 points in 36 games played. The University of Vermont commit is a strong skater who has the ability to blow past defenders if they give him too much time and space to get going. He is most noticeable when he is skating through the neutral zone with the puck on his stick. When given room to build up speed he is able to drive defenders back and make them uncomfortable, opening up options on the rush. Buyalski’s first instinct is to beat his opponent wide and work the puck towards the net, often showing a quick release with his feet moving. Because he is able to generate so much speed through the neutral zone, he is often given space to make plays laterally as he enters the offensive zone. He doesn’t have a very heavy shot, but he does look to get the puck to the net often and isn’t afraid to throw it into traffic. On the power play, Buyalski is very effective at carrying the puck into the zone. He was often tasked with carrying the puck up ice for the Fighting Saints and was efficient with his zone entries. His speed helped him force bad gaps and win races to pucks that were chipped behind defenders. The Kazakhstan native plays a straight ahead style of hockey and pushes the tempo every time the puck is on his stick. He does have a tendency to float when he is away from the puck and can be somewhat lackluster in his details. As he moves up in his career he will have to tighten up his defensive details and be more disciplined in his positioning. However, when the puck is on his stick he has the rare ability to take control of the play and is most effective transporting the puck through the neutral zone.
USHL: Dubuque vs Waterloo, March 2021: Buyalsky was the best player on the ice in this game; his speed was electric and his puck handling and playmaking ability at top speed even more so. He opened up the scoring going wide with speed through the neutral zone, skating right around the defender at the top of the circles and cutting in to the goal, deking the goalie and lifting a backhand upstairs. His head was up the whole rush, he read the play and trusted his feet to get around the defenseman and had the poise in tight to wait for the goalie to go down and then lifted it to the open net. He has smooth hands and controls the puck with pace, he can pull and drag it around defenders and has a nice bag of 1v1 tricks to beat opponents with regularity in open ice. He carried the puck end to end several times and has a knack for finding open ice and accelerating to it and has a quick, accurate release that he gets off in stride. The USHL rookie is averaging a point per game and added a goal and an assist here and did it with style. While Buyalsky is an expectational speed and puck possession style forward, he does tend to over handle and keep a lot of pucks that he should have passed off to his teammates. College: Vermont Grade: A
USHL: Dubuque vs Green Bay, March 2021: Buyalski is a tall, lanky forward who skates extremely well and is strong with the puck on his stick. He is most noticeable skating through the neutral zone where he has fantastic north/ south speed and has the ability to blow wide past defenders. He does a great job of lowering his shoulder if he is able to get a step on a defender and is not shy about taking the puck to the crease. Buyalski is also effective when his team establishes an offensive zone presence where he works well low in the zone using cutback and protecting the puck with his frame and reach. On one play in particular he made a hard cut, used his free hand to keep the defender off him, and worked his way to the crease where he barely missed on a stuff attempt. Overall, Andrei’s biggest asset is his speed and if he is given room to get his feet moving he is very difficult to contain. Grade: A-
USHL: Waterloo vs Dubuque, January 2021: Buyalski is a tall forward who skates well and has good skill with the puck on the rush. He registered four assists in the game and was looking to generate offense for the Fighting Saints consistently by funneling the puck into the goalie’s feet or delaying on the rush to find the second wave. He is strong on his stick and won a number of puck battles in the neutral zone. On one play he stayed strong on his stick, won the puck around the redline and quickly moved it up ice to his teammates for a 2 on 1 chance that they were able to capitalize on. Buyalski had six shots in the game and didn’t pass up any opportunities to put pucks in the goalie’s feet. Another one of his assists came after he shot the puck low and hard off the goalie’s pad for a rebound chance that popped right to his linemate. Overall, he is dangerous on the rush and creates offense by throwing pucks into the goalie’s feet, which contributed to his four assists in the game. Grade: A-
USHL: Dubuque vs Muskegon, January 2021: Buyalski is a tall forward for Dubuque that has great speed with the puck on his stick and some room to work. Buyalski was most noticeable through the neutral zone, where his speed made defenders uncomfortable and forced bad gaps. The new addition to NZ had an easy time entering the zone with the puck because the Lumberjack defensemen were too concerned with getting beat wide. This gave Buyalski space to make some really nice plays at the offensive blueline and attempt to create on the rush. Buyalski was especially effective carrying the puck up ice on the powerplay, where Dubuque consistently looked to drop the puck back to him so he could carry it into the zone with speed. Buyalski’s skating was his best asset and it allows him to make plays with the puck because of the cushion defenders feel they need to give him. If Buyalski can learn to be more efficient around the net and in scoring areas he could be a real problem for defensemen. Grade: B+
Photo Credit: Dan Hickling/Hickling Images