Simply put…..almost 2 hours after we picked Cherepanov at #17, my jaw is still on the floor. Want to know what we got folks? In my opinion we got the best player in the draft. Not the best player at 17, the best player in the entire draft. Look, im not talking character, or consistency, or transfer agreements, im talking raw, overall skill. This kid is insanely good. Scary good to coin a Saber phrase. Never in a million years could I have figured he would drop to 17. In my own personal mock draft I had him dropping to 12 at a worst case scenario, and I could even see the Flyers taking him at #2 (albeit a stretch). He certainly has some concerns, mainly about if he can get over here, but to me thats overblown, at the very least he can pull a Malkin and give his 2 weeks notice and just walk out, though I suspect the Rangers may step in and just buy him out. Regardless, the kid will be in the NHL within 2 years guaranteed, and honestly, if he could shift to left wing, you could see a Cherepanov-Nylander-Jagr line in 2 years. Hes legitimate, walk on, first line talent.
Here was TSN’s pre-draft take on him…
The TSN Insider’s Forecast: Aside from Pat Kane, no draft eligible player played the game at as high a level this season as Russian forward Alexei Cherepanov. He set a goal scoring record for an 18-year old in the Russian SuperLeague and, next to Kane, he was regarded as the most dynamic presence at the World Junior Championship. But he has two considerable knocks against him. One of them he has no control over. He’s a Russian. And in the absence of a transfer agreement between the Russian federation and the NHL, many NHL teams will be hesitant if not completely opposed to taking a Russian prospect, especially in the first five or six picks of the draft. But make no mistake, his talent level is consistent with a No. 1 to No. 5 pick. The other criticism, though, is that for as highly skilled and talented Cherepanov is, he is tremendously inconsistent, maddeningly frustrating and a player who only turns it on when he feels like it. “Talented but temperamental,” one scout said. “He’s either the best player on the ice or he’s not even there. There’s no in between. When the effort is there, he can dominate and score goals like no one else in the draft. When the effort isn’t there, you feel like giving him a shake.” If teams in the top five pass him over, there is no telling what’s to become of him in this draft. At some point, though, transfer agreement or not, someone has to step up on a player this talented.
Like I said. I am floored.
More later.
-Inferno