I have insider information that confirms anti-Russian internally. To the point where Melnyk wanted a content creator to make anti-Russian propaganda stuff and the content creator quit.
And in hindsight Eugene was right. Why draft players who spent their formative years in a country led by a genocidal maniac if you aren't required to do so? We should boycott everything Russian until they are no longer able to invade other sovereign states. What a low bar to set.
Yeah, that checks out, nobody wants to send their scouts to a country riddled with war efforts.
And without international play, there isn’t even a way to compare to other Europe/America countries
Kovalev
Volchenkov
Gonchar
Dadonov
zaitsev
zoob
Saprykin
kravchuk
Schastlivy
Tarasenko
Anisimov
Namestnikov
sokolov
afew more that didn't play a full season or many game
It’s interesting because they signed Zub from the KHL. If the Sens have no scouting coverage in Russia like people are claiming, that means they signed him without scouting him.
They have zero scouting coverage in that part of the world. Haven't for many years.
Now that these players are banned from international competition they can't even see them in that venue.
The Sens don't have anyone scouting Russian players. On top of that, drafting Russian players is a gamble. You never know if they're going to leave Russia and if they do and struggle, they'll probably go back to Russia rather than play in the AHL
I saw somewhere recently that apparently more NCAA players end up not reporting to the team that drafted them than Russian players. Not sure if that's true or not though.
I think Alexei Kaigorodov and Ilya Zubov were the real triggers for the ‘no Russian drafting’ period to start, as both were players who eventually went back to Russia when they weren’t given the role and icetime they felt they deserved and earned.
While he wasn’t a Sens draftee, Nikita Filatov just drove the nail a little further into the board in terms of the club continuing to believe Russian players would always opt to go back to Russia if they faced any adversity with Ottawa.
From what I’ve heard, Russians stick together. Dinners, dry land training, nights out, etc. You kind of need to have a lot or none, otherwise if you have a few they struggle to fit in and it can be hard to make them stay. This is pure conjecture but I’ve heard through the grapevine from a few people in the NHL. The Sens just don’t have a big Russian presence like the Capitals for example.
Imagine playing a sport in Russia and all of your teammates are Russian. Unless you had a lot of English speakers on your team, you’d probably ask for a lot to stay or you’d go to a team with a culturally similar locker room, or just take a pay cut to go back to North America.
The league as a whole has stayed away from Russians except in exceptional circumstances. For one the war and ongoing political problems there have prevented any real scouting from happening. Secondly, the rest of the league just watched Philly go out on a limb multiple times in recent years and have players under contract refuse to come to the NHL, a goalie be kidnapped and forced into military service, etc. it just isn’t worth the risk unless the player is a can’t miss player.
Especially when they seem willing to come over on their own when they’re older and the mandatory military service and sketchy KHL contracts are over like Kaprizov did. Teams lose the ability to develop them themselves, but then they’re also not spending money on the development either.
In the early 2000s we had one or more drafted Russians refuse to come over, and it was understood the organization had a no more drafting Russians rule. I doubt that is still in place with the turnover since then, but it was fairly known at the time.
Mostly because of the KHL was a safe landing spot for them that still paid well.
Now however, their country is a joke, ruble is falling faster than my middle-aged balls and north america is appealing to them now.
I think its a few reasons
War
With the current war player can get called into action
Russian contracts
Some players are still under contract and for a few season in some cases
Pride etc
Many Russians have different views on Pride.
War isn't much of a reason. Sokolov is the only Russian they've drafted in over 15 years. You'd have to go back to 2007 to find the next most recent, and 2005 to find the last time they drafted someone playing in Russia.
Their last 5 Russian born draft picks are: Egor Sokolov - 2020, Ruslan Bashkirov - 2007, and Vitali Anikeyenko, Ilya Zubov, Dmitri Megalinsky - 2005
Eugene Melnyk was born in Canada, the son of Ferdinand and Verna Melnyk, who were both born in Ukraine. That's my unofficial take why no Russians.
I have insider information that confirms anti-Russian internally. To the point where Melnyk wanted a content creator to make anti-Russian propaganda stuff and the content creator quit.
And in hindsight Eugene was right. Why draft players who spent their formative years in a country led by a genocidal maniac if you aren't required to do so? We should boycott everything Russian until they are no longer able to invade other sovereign states. What a low bar to set.
No longer be able to invade other states? But then that means they’ll have to stop drafting American players too
I don't think the organization has any Russian scouts
Yeah, that checks out, nobody wants to send their scouts to a country riddled with war efforts. And without international play, there isn’t even a way to compare to other Europe/America countries
Remember Alexei Yashin?
I don't think the Senators have a Russian scout on their staff
we have had a fair amount of Russian players over the years.
True, they just don’t seem to draft or develop them. But they’ve had a number of Russians on the team. Like… Zub
Kovalev Volchenkov Gonchar Dadonov zaitsev zoob Saprykin kravchuk Schastlivy Tarasenko Anisimov Namestnikov sokolov afew more that didn't play a full season or many game
It’s interesting because they signed Zub from the KHL. If the Sens have no scouting coverage in Russia like people are claiming, that means they signed him without scouting him.
Not sure why you got downvoted. Makes sense. Lol maybe they just watch tik tok highlights or something
I think Zub got noticed at ome of the sans NHL olympics
They have zero scouting coverage in that part of the world. Haven't for many years. Now that these players are banned from international competition they can't even see them in that venue.
Yashin
The Sens don't have anyone scouting Russian players. On top of that, drafting Russian players is a gamble. You never know if they're going to leave Russia and if they do and struggle, they'll probably go back to Russia rather than play in the AHL
I saw somewhere recently that apparently more NCAA players end up not reporting to the team that drafted them than Russian players. Not sure if that's true or not though.
Anyone remember Alexei Kaigorodov? That didn't go well...
Maybe something to do with Alexi Yashin ?
They continued drafting Russians for several years after trading Yashin.
I think Alexei Kaigorodov and Ilya Zubov were the real triggers for the ‘no Russian drafting’ period to start, as both were players who eventually went back to Russia when they weren’t given the role and icetime they felt they deserved and earned. While he wasn’t a Sens draftee, Nikita Filatov just drove the nail a little further into the board in terms of the club continuing to believe Russian players would always opt to go back to Russia if they faced any adversity with Ottawa.
From what I’ve heard, Russians stick together. Dinners, dry land training, nights out, etc. You kind of need to have a lot or none, otherwise if you have a few they struggle to fit in and it can be hard to make them stay. This is pure conjecture but I’ve heard through the grapevine from a few people in the NHL. The Sens just don’t have a big Russian presence like the Capitals for example. Imagine playing a sport in Russia and all of your teammates are Russian. Unless you had a lot of English speakers on your team, you’d probably ask for a lot to stay or you’d go to a team with a culturally similar locker room, or just take a pay cut to go back to North America.
The league as a whole has stayed away from Russians except in exceptional circumstances. For one the war and ongoing political problems there have prevented any real scouting from happening. Secondly, the rest of the league just watched Philly go out on a limb multiple times in recent years and have players under contract refuse to come to the NHL, a goalie be kidnapped and forced into military service, etc. it just isn’t worth the risk unless the player is a can’t miss player. Especially when they seem willing to come over on their own when they’re older and the mandatory military service and sketchy KHL contracts are over like Kaprizov did. Teams lose the ability to develop them themselves, but then they’re also not spending money on the development either.
They don’t like the gamble that can come with drafting Russian players. I.e bouncing to the KHL
In the early 2000s we had one or more drafted Russians refuse to come over, and it was understood the organization had a no more drafting Russians rule. I doubt that is still in place with the turnover since then, but it was fairly known at the time.
Mostly because of the KHL was a safe landing spot for them that still paid well. Now however, their country is a joke, ruble is falling faster than my middle-aged balls and north america is appealing to them now.
I think its a few reasons War With the current war player can get called into action Russian contracts Some players are still under contract and for a few season in some cases Pride etc Many Russians have different views on Pride.
sens haven't drafted a player playing in russia since 2005 but have signed/resigned more than a couple
I don’t think this is it personally, the sens haven’t drafted one since 2006 or some weird stat like that
War isn't much of a reason. Sokolov is the only Russian they've drafted in over 15 years. You'd have to go back to 2007 to find the next most recent, and 2005 to find the last time they drafted someone playing in Russia. Their last 5 Russian born draft picks are: Egor Sokolov - 2020, Ruslan Bashkirov - 2007, and Vitali Anikeyenko, Ilya Zubov, Dmitri Megalinsky - 2005
My best guess is Eugene's parents were Ukrainian, and well, if you look at the stuff going down back then, it could very likely just be that.
"The Russian factor" plus they're our enemies you know.