The Toronto Maple Leafs selected Nikita Grebenkin 135th overall.
Nikita Grebenkin is a 6’2” wing from Russia and a D+1 overager. He is coming off an MHL season where he had 64 points in 58 games and another 13 points in 9 playoff games. He played only 1 game in the KHL this season. He played hotline for Metalurg Magnitogorsk, with top prospect Danila Yurov. He’s still a bit lanky at 176 pounds, but he gets good reviews for his stick handling and skating speed.
Here’s Dylan Griffing, Elite Prospects scout for players in Russia.
Nikita Grebyonkin, drafted by the #LeafsForever, is an overager and pure skill forward. Playing on arguably the best line in the MHL with Yurov/Kantserov and Kvochko. He is an interesting player, not against him in this range.
— Dylan Griffing (@GriffingDylan) July 8, 2022
From McKeen’s Hockey (download draft guide):
In his second year in the draft, Grebyonkin was one of the MHL’s leading scorers. He is skilled, quick and has good size, but will need to work on his game without the puck to be effective as a pro.
It’s interesting to see Gold Star represent Grebyonkin, especially since he currently has no contract in Russia that is publicly available. If he’s free to come, he could join the AHL right now. We’ll have to wait and see what happens.
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