Vsevolod Gaidamak

Ian Moran’s Thoughts: 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. 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 really 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.

25 European Late Round Considerations, July 17, 2021: Gaidamak is a well-rounded, versatile forward who can play center or wing and competes hard at both ends. He was dominate at U18 early in the season before making the jump to the MHL where he made a seamless transition as a 200ft forward. He is strong on his skates and on his stick, he can get off checks and drive to the net with the puck. He was tough on the forecheck and equally as committed on the backcheck. He was then selected the the Russian U18 World Championship squad where he played his best hockey of the year as a defensive-forward with a good stick in his own end to break up plays and a physical presence. 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.