| Vsevolod Gaidamak | Krasnaya Armiya Moskva | International | L | C | 5’11” | 187 | Ottawa 67’s | 2021 | Khabarovsk | 2003 | 2022-2023: Free Agent 2021-2022: C+ 2020-2021: C+ |
Neutral Zone’s Ed Besinger: He’s positionally sound, he’s always in the right spots, he has correct stick positioning to take away time and space from opponents and plays a reliable game. He supports the puck and presents a target on the breakout and is fearless attacking the net with or without the puck to create chaos around the goalie. He had more ice time than most would have anticipated during the U18 Worlds but his coaches trusted him and he made high percentage plays with very few mistakes. A reliable, two-way forward who can impact the game both with and without the puck.
Neutral Zone’s Ian Moran: I give the kid credit. Gaidamak easily could have stayed in Russia where he was comfortable playing in the MHL, but instead, he came to North America to play in the best NHL development league in the World, the Ontario Hockey League. He doesn’t do anything that makes you jump out of your seat, but he does everything very well, consistently shows high-end anticipation, and has very good hand-eye coordination. Every time I see him play he is knocking a puck out of the air to create an offensive opportunity. He plays a full 200′ game and I like his compete. He’s hard on his opponents and generally difficult to play against. On the lowest-scoring team in the OHL Gaidamak finished with 16 goals out of the 199 that Ottawa scored. One thing that I think is of special note; I am normally not a plus/minus fan because I think it can be a misleading team-generated stat, but Gaidamak finished the season at +1 on a team with 12 players having -7 or worse and five forwards who were -12 and lower.
Neutral Zone NHL, July 4, 2022: Why an NHL Draft pick, he 2003 is in his second year of draft eligibility and has been a captain back home in Russia. He plays a detailed orientated game at both ends of the rink but was a dominant defensive forward at the U18 World Championships in 2021. During the 2021/22 season, he attempted 246 with 219 coming from below the tops of the circles and 65% of his shots hit the net. Why not an NHL Draft pick, at 19 years old he is already thought of as a defensive forward. As a defensive forward he won 50% of his puck battles.
Photo Credit: Dan Hickling/Hickling Images