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Canadian Junior Leagues - Many pages have been inked about the once thought to be one of the prime candidates for the 2010 Entry Draft #1 overall pick, Russian Kirill Kabanov, as he has experienced a serious downhill fall after his departure to Canada this fall. During the 2008-09 season the talented winger got the first taste of pro hockey experience skating in a bunch of regular season and playoff games (and getting knocked out by a hit from former NHL defenseman Vitaly Vishnevsky) with Spartak Moscow, then scored eleven points in the 2009 U18 WJC, being thus outscored by Vladimir Tarasenko and Evgeny Kuznetsov. (RussianHockeyFans.com article by Alessandro Seren Rosso) READ MORE

Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) - After Evgeny Skachkov (St. Louis Blues), Maxim Goncharov (Phoenix Coyotes) and Sergei Bobrovsky, another player left Russia to sign in the NHL, Yuri Alexandrov (Boston Bruins). The young offensive defenseman inked a two years deal with his NHL franchise and will most likely start the season with the Providence Bruins of the AHL. This year Alexandrov was a key player for his Severstal Cherepovets, having scored a career high 21 points in 56 regular season games. READ MORE

Sr. World Championships - Enver Lisin (New York Rangers) was one of the 5 players cut from the World Championships. It is unclear for the the motives, since he performed wel for Russia, despite few points. At times Lisin was one of the more noticeable players on the ice, driving towards the net and creating a lot of offense for the Russian squad. The other players cut was the Russia "czar cannon" Denis Kulyash (Nashville Predators) who has had a nother sub-par season in Russia, former NHLer Oleg Saprykin (Ottawa Senators), and Evgeny Ryasensky and youngster Vladimir Tarasenko.

Sr. World Championships - Many prospects made the roster for the two friendly matches Team Russia will play in Italy on April 23rd and 24th. Vasily Koshechkin (Tampa Bay Lightning), Anton Khudobin (Minnesota Wild) and Sergei Bobrovsky are the goalies, with Khudobin most likely as starter. On the blue line Dmitry Kulikov (Florida Panthers) will make his first appearence, and will be joined by Vitaly Atyushov, Konstantin Korneev (Montreal Canadiens), Denis Kulyash (Nashville Predators), Evgeny Biryukov, Denis Denisov (Buffalo Sabres), Dmitri Vorobiev (Toronto Maple Leafs), Evgeny Ryasensky and Nikolai Belov. The forwards corps will be led by NHLers Maxim Afinogenov (Buffalo Sabres), Evgeny Artyukhin (Atlanta Thrashers), Artem Anisimov (New York Rangers) and Nikolai Kulemin (Toronto Maple Leafs). First call for Vladimir Tarasenko and Nikita Filatov (Columbus Blue Jackets). Other players are Konstantin Gorovikov, Denis Parshin (Colorado Avalanche), Maxim Rybin , Evgeny Skachkov (St. Louis Blues), Anton Krysanov (Phoenix Coyotes), Mikhail Varnakov , Alexander Svitov (Columbus Blue Jackets) and Oleg Saprykin (Ottawa Senators).

National Hockey League (NHL) - A total of eight Russian players got picked during the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.

#8 - Alexander Burmistrov (Atlanta Thrashers)
#16 - Vladimir Tarasenko (St. Louis Blues)
#26 - Evgeny Kuznetsov (Washington Capitals)
#65 - Kirill Kabanov (New York Islanders)
#86 - Stanislav Galiev (Washington Capitals)
#101 - Ivan Telegin (Atlanta Thrashers)
#158 - Maxim Kitsyn (Los Angeles Kings)
#195 - Maxim Chudinov (Boston Bruins)

Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) - The Blues finally reached an agreement with Nikita Nikitin (St. Louis Blues). The 24 years old blue liner will most likely start the season in the AHL after the training camp. Nikitin had some successful seasons in the KHL under his belt and his experience will be certainly useful for the Blues. He is a good two-way defenseman with a good frame and solid defensive abilities. READ MORE

Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) - 2010 eligibles Vladimir Tarasenko, Maxim Kitsyn and Evgeny Kuznetsov have been invited to the annual NHL Draft Combine, which will run in Toronto in May. All three Russian forward are well ranked in the NHL rankings and will be chosen fairly high. Vladimir Tarasenko will most likely be a first round pick.

Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) - Russianprospects.com followed the recent regular season match between Spartak Moscow and CSKA Moscow, where played a good number of prospects, in particular Nikita Filatov (Columbus Blue Jackets), Sergei Andronov (St. Louis Blues) and Ilya Kablukov (Vancouver Canucks). (Exclusive russianprospects.com scout evaluation by Evgeny Belousov) READ MORE

Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) - As KHL teams approach the playoffs stage, top teams are going to lure some good players from the bottom seeded ones. Ak Bars Kazan is no exception as they just sent quick winger Evgeny Ketov to Severstal Cherepovets for Nikolai Lemtyugov (St. Louis Blues). This might be a good move for his future as making part of a winning team might motivate him to work harder and in a more consistent way. In this season he scored nine goals and twenty-one points in thirty-eight regular season matches.

U18 World Junior Championships - In the unique test match planned in the USA prior the WJC Under 18, Plyuschev's team Russia beaten Switzerland 7-3. The team led by Kirill Kabanov did fairly well, being up 7-1 until the first five minutes of the match. A couple of late goals by the opponents set the final result at 7-3. Kabanov finished the match with three points (1+2), but also Kirill Yuriev , Alexander Burmistrov , Evgeny Kuznetsov , Vladimir Tarasenko and Dmitri Orlov had a multipoints performance. Igor Bobkov 's play has been okay till the last few minutes, finishing with sixteen saves in nineteen shots faced. (Game's boxscore) READ MORE

Continental Hockey League (KHL) - Russianprospects.com returns back to the KHL with a report based on the January 5th match between Severstal Cherepovets and Dinamo Riga. Maxim Trunev (Montreal Canadiens), Nikolai Lemtyugov (St. Louis Blues) and Stanislav Egorshev skated in this match for the home team who got a deserved 3-1 win against a Dinamo Riga team that proved to be less strong. (exclusive russianprospects.com scout report by Alessandro Seren Rosso) READ MORE

Super League - Ak Bars overpowered Avangard in a battle of the wealthiest Super League clubs, largely behind first line of Alexei Morozov (Pittsburgh Penguins) and Co. Viktor Alexandrov (St. Louis Blues) led HC Metallurg (Novokuznetsk) to 3:2 victory with his 13th tally of the season. Young 1990 born goalie Alistratov back stopped HC Traktor over the top club in the Super League, HC Salavat Yulayev with an impressive performance. HC Dynamo lost once again, this time to HC Khimik, which got two goals from former NHLer Echman, as well as a late tally from Ilya Krikunov (Vancouver Canucks), who is having an off season, scoring just his fifth goal thus far. It appears that Andrei Kovalenko �s time with HC Severstal is coming to an end. The veteran forward skated most of the time on the third and fourth lines and did not stand out despite his team�s 2:1 victory over strong CSKA club. READ MORE

Super League - Maxim Goncharov (Phoenix Coyotes) scores his first Super League goal in HC CSKA�s overtime victory over HC Dynamo. Timofei Shishkanov (St. Louis Blues) was another stand out in that game for CSKA. HC Amur earned a rare victory, and an impressive one over the highly touted HC SKA, despite a monster effort from Maxim Sushinsky . Viktor Alexandrov (St. Louis Blues) is back on track, scoring his 10th of the season, helping struggling HC Metallurg earn a victory. Anton Babchuk (Carolina Hurricanes)�s cannon of a shot helped HC Avangard earn another victory as the elite club has begun to steadily rise in the rankings. READ MORE