Dmitri Zavgorodny is a player that has seen his stock rise and fall throughout the course of the 2018 season as he had some really promising periods of time during the year but he is always fighting an uphill battle as a 5’9″ centre.

Zavgorodny is a crafty centre who has a good shot and playmaking abilities. He will be playing on the same team as wonder kid Alexis Lafreniere next season and could see another step offensively.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at the 78th ranked prospect in the upcoming draft.

Zavgorodny was selected 8th overall by the Oceanic in the 2017 CHL Import Draft after splitting his D-1 season between the U17 team for Avangard and the MHL. He presented Russia at the Ivan Hlinka tournament to start his draft year and then again to close out the season with the U18 team.

His KHL rights were traded to SKA St Petersburg in October and if he does choose to return there at some point, it’s safe to assume that’s where he will go. There is no speculation either way and it’s fair to believe that he will go back to the QMJHL next season as they look to challenge for the QMJHL title after finishing in third place this past season.

Nothing particularly stands out from the above table and nothing raises any red flags but also doesn’t leave you chomping at the bit to select him.

As we can see in the chart above, Zavgorodny’s 5v5 role decreased as the season went along but his scoring rates per 60 skyrocketed.

Given his size, there aren’t very many successful cohorts and quite a few unsuccessful ones. As always, historically there is a lower success rate among QMJHL players and thus needs to be considered when looking at that percentages. His successful cohorts did have decent production with an expected production of 43 points per 82 games.

Dmitri Zavgorodny is an interesting case study because of his size and the game he plays. He is a really smart player with a good shot and puck handling skills. He is a worker on the ice, willing to buzz around the ice to make things happen but is smart in his positioning to put himself in positions to force turnovers and offensive chances. He isn’t the most fleet of foot due to his smaller size and lack of strength. Zavgorodny is willing to go to the dirty areas but can have issues with physical play and being overpowered.

His willingness to take the puck to the net or muck it up is something that does stand out. Zavgorodny doesn’t just stay on the outsides of the play and wait for his chance, he is willing to make things happen despite his size. But his size will always be an issue.

The Omsk born centre was strong at the Ivan Hlinka tournament, which can be seen below:

He led the entire Hlinka tournament with five goals and five assists in 10 games but when he represented Russia at the U18 tournament to close out the season, he was limited to one goal.

Without a doubt, he had a very good rookie season as an import and will look to build on those numbers next season.

There is always a risk with taking a smaller player as you are never sure if they will be able to make an impact in the professional ranks, let alone in the NHL. Zavgorodny had some encouraging signs to his game but he didn’t exactly blow the doors off offensively after a really impressive showing at Ivan Hlinka. His smarts, defensive play, shot and willingness to grind are the standout qualities to his game. He will need to continue to improve his strength have a shot at the NHL.

Personally, I wouldn’t have him as a second-round player like some draft rankings have him but his skills are worth a risk in the later rounds.