| Vyacheslav Ulyanov | Almaz Cherepovets | MHL | L | RW | 5’9″ | 148 | Cherepovets, RUS | 2006 | Not yet rated |
Game Grade: C+
Comments: Ulyanov started the game off well but disappeared as the night went on. He showed great effort on the forecheck and applied good pressure to opponents, forcing them to make quicker decisions with the puck than they would have liked. He snapped the puck around quickly and made crisp passes to his teammates. He needs to improve his skating form as he was incredibly hunched over and his stride is a bit short. He needs to keep the motor that he had early in the first consistent over course of the whole game.
| Vadim Dudorov | Loko Yaroslavl MHL | MHL | L | C | 5’11” | 185 | Sarov, RUS | 2006 | 2023-2024: B- |
Game Grade: B+
Comments: Dudorov has been given top line minutes in the last two Loko games I have watched and he has filled that role well so far. His motor has improved a ton over the past few weeks and applies badgering pressure while on the forecheck. He gets on his horse and hustles on the backcheck, often catching up to his opponents and shutting down play using his body and well timed pokes. His offensive ability and IQ has been very impressive recently. He makes smart, well timed cuts into space to support his teammates and create scoring chances. With the puck on his stick, Vadim is able to handle it with poise and makes smart reads of the zone to cut into open space and hit his teammates with perfectly placed passes to set up chances. He is very patient with the puck and is able to cancel original play ideas when they are shut down by opponents. He adapts well to defensive movement and makes smart reads to keep play moving. He was also able to execute a couple of nice drag and shoot moves in the OZ. He is no Bedard but was able to change the angle of his shot well enough to get around defenders and hit the goalie with a hard shot. Dudorov has continually shown improvements in his decision making and confidence in every game I have seen him in this season. His stock is rising and if he continues to give the effort he has shown so far this year, he will set himself up for a lot of future success in hockey.
Ilyas Magomedsultanov | Loko Yaroslavl MHL | MHL | L | D | 6’1″ | 171 | Yaroslavl, RUS | 2006 | 2024-2025: B |
Game Grade: B-
Comments: Magomedsultanov might be the most impressive 16 year old defenseman in the MHL. In this game he looked incredibly confident with the puck and was very calm under pressure. He skates with a smooth and fluid stride that allows him to jump up on the rush with speed and join play deep into the offensive zone. He is a very mobile skater and was able to escape tight pressure with a quick turn to the outside. His decision making is going to need some work but he made some smart reads and is not afraid to take risks when passing/controlling the puck. He has a great base of skill, size, speed, and brains for such a young player and should develop into a high end defenseman in the next few seasons.
Roman Shokhrin | Loko Yaroslavl MHL | MHL | L | D | 6’4″ | 192 | Nizhny Novgorod, RUS | 2006 | 2023-2024: B- |
Game Grade: A-
Comments: Another great performance by Shokhrin. He was given more responsibility tonight with minutes on both the powerplay and penalty kill. His puck movement was patient and calculated. He escaped pressure with skilled hands and protected the puck using his impressive tight turns. He even pulled off a dirty toe drag around a forechecking opponent with very little space between them and continued up ice with a crisp pass. He showed off a couple of clean zone entries after rushing the puck through the NZ on his own. One thing I noticed on a rush attempt was that his head was down and staring at the puck. He was able to effectively enter the zone on this attempt but needs to keep his head up in the future to scan for oncoming attackers as well as open teammates/lanes to utilize. A new addition to his game since my last viewing was more effort on the defensive rush. He made a deliberate effort to close off lanes using his body and stick. Roman got down to block passes and shots and was able to shut down multiple rush attempts by Almaz. Shokhrin wasn’t given much ice time in the third period due to a large number of penalties taken by Loko but his overall game was very solid today.
Player Evaluations: Henry Lawrence