With the KHL season set to begin on September 5, the Vancouver Canucks have reportedly bolstered their scouting department by hiring someone with ties to the Russian League.

According to The Athletic’s Thomas Drance and Donnie & Dhali’s Rick Dhaliwal, the Canucks have hired Sean Finn as an amateur scout.

The 46-year-old Kitimat, BC native started as a head coach for the Vasas SC U20 Hungarian League. After serving there for one season in that role, he was hired by Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the KHL as the Director of Player Development. Finn remained in that role until the 2018-19 season, when he was promoted mid-season to the Director of Hockey Operations.

Finn would serve in that role for the remainder of the season, plus another full season, before transitioning to Avangard Omsk as the Youth Hockey Supervisor. Mid-season, Finn was replaced by Nikolai Kuznetsov and would take the following year off before returning as a Development Coach for the Kunlun Red Star in 2022-23. This was Finn’s last documented role for a hockey club before joining the Canucks in a scouting role.

As Drance notes on the hire, the 2027 NHL Draft class contains a few high-end Russian prospects. And with Finn’s seven years of experience in a development role in the Russian League, he may be tasked to help in that jurisdiction.

In Daily Faceoff prospect experts Steven Ellis ‘ way-too-early 2027 top-32 rankings, released less than a week after the 2026 NHL Draft concluded, Ellis had five Russian-playing prospects in those rankings: Nazar Privalov (2nd), Sergei Skvortsov (4th), Yevgeni Yakunin (17th), Andrei Pustovoy (18th), and Vladimir Shtyrkhunov (23rd).

Privalov is a 6’4″ forward, coming off a 30-goal, 49-point campaign in 51 games with the Krasnaya Armiya Moskva of the MHL. Skvortsov is a 6′ winger who scored 19 goals and 43 points in 52 games with the Chaika Nizhny Novgorod of the MHL. Yakunin is a 6’3″ centreman who scored 13 goals and 47 points in 58 games with the MHK Spartak Moskva of the MHL. Pustovoy is a 6’3″ forward, coming off a 32-goal, 62-point campaign in 52 games with the Loko Yaroslavl. Shtyrkhunov is a 6′, right-shot defenceman who scored four goals and 32 points in 55 games with Privalov at the Krasnaya Armiya Moskva of the MHL.