After Wednesday’s prospect scrimmage, the 2017 seventh-round pick quipped, “I have never seen so many Russian guys on the same team in the US.”
There are nine Russian-born skaters at San Jose Sharks development camp — six San Jose assets (Chekhovich, Artemi Kniazev, Ivan Kosorenkov, Vladislav Kotkov, Yegor Spiridonov, Danil Yurtaykin) and three try-outs (Yaroslav Alexeyev, Artem Ivanyuzhenkov, Nikolai Knyzhov). Just for comparison, Vegas has one and Los Angeles has zero Russians in their camps.
The Sharks also spent three of their five 2019 draft picks on Russian-born prospects.
This might be surprising because the signability of Russians and getting them to North America is still considered a potential obstacle by some NHL organizations.