In the fine tradition of Joshua Ho-Sang, Kirill Kabanov and Rob Schremp, the Islanders took a chance on a super-talented but incomplete Ruslan Iskhakov this summer, selecting the NCAA-bound Russian in the second round of the 2018 draft.
Unlike Kabanov (discipline questions), Schremp (awareness of the back half of the ice questions) or even Ho-Sang (parts of both), Iskhakov’s weakness is at once not character/commitment-related, and yet also not something that can be “coached up.”
Because, you see, he’s listed at only 5’8”.
That’s not a deal breaker in the modern NHL, but it is a significant rarity.