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Lightning European Report

While the NHL preseason winds toward its conclusion, European leagues have now been underway for a month. Today, the Hockey’s Future-Lightning staff kicks off another year of the best Lightning prospect coverage on the web, bringing you updates from the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Russia, and Sweden.

Czech Republic

D Marek Posmyk	GP	G	A	P	PIM	+/-
2002-2003 Slavia Praha	41	0	4	4	20	+7
2002-2003 Slavia Praha (Playoffs)	13	4	3	7	34	+4
2003-2004 HC Plzen	0	0	0	0	0	E

Stock: Steady
After posting a strong show in helping Slavia Praha advance deep into the Extraleague playoffs, Posmyk has transferred to HC Plzen. Plzen will be the third team in three years in the Czech Republic for the veteran journeyman who has seen his standing in the Lightning’s future plans evaporate with the rise of younger prospects like Gerard Dicaire and Mike Egener. Posmyk has not yet seen game action for the club this season.

W Ivan Rachunek	GP	G	A	P	PIM	+/-
2002-2003 Zlin	48	9	16	25	2	-27
2003-2004 Budejovice	2	0	1	1	0	E

Stock: Steady

Rachunek, who was voted as the most popular player on ZPS by the fans Zlin last season, found himself in the midst of a bitter contract dispute this summer. As a result, Rachunek vowed he would never again play for Zlin, and with his season in doubt he finally was transferred to Ceske Budejovice. He made his debut with the team on 9/26, notching an assist in a 4-3 loss to Znojmo. The small but speedy winger has made modest improvements in his offensive production every season thus far, but needs to take an even greater step forward this season if he intends to catch the attention of the Lightning organization.

Finland

C Karri Akkanen	GP	G	A	P	PIM	+/-
2002-2003 Ilves Jr. A	11	1	6	7	65	-2
2002-2003 Ilves	21	0	1	1	0	-3
2003-2004 Ilves Jr. A	3	0	1	1	20	-1

Stock: Steady
There are two things the Hockey’s Future-Lightning staff can usually count on when checking in on our European prospects. First, Anton But will always put up offensive numbers. Second, Karri Akkanen will always spend more time in the penalty box than on the ice. After finishing up the ‘03 campaign on the fourth line for Ilves’ SM-Liiga team Akkanen finds himself back in the junior ranks this season. On 9/14, in just his second game (a 6-2 win against Assat Jr. A), he notched an assist before earning 20 PIMs and being kicked out of the game near the end of the second period. An imposing figure at 6’6”, Akkanen has untapped offensive ability, but will never develop fully if he continues to play undisciplined hockey.

W Raimonds Danilics	GP	G	A	P	PIM	+/-
2002-2003 Daugavpils Jr. (LAT)	NA	4	5	9	18	NA
2002-2003 Assat Jr. A	0	0	0	0	0	E

Stock: Steady

In the great tradition of Kaspars Astashenko, the Lightning drafted another Latvian born player in this year’s draft by snatching speedy scoring winger Raimonds Danilics from the Daugavpils Stalkers of the Latvian junior league. Speculation that Dainilics was searching for a junior team in either Canada or Finland came to a conclusion when it was learned Danilics had agreed to play junior for the Assat organization, which has strong ties to Latvia with players from the Baltic republic on their SM-Liiga squad. Dainilics has yet to see action for Assat’s Jr. A team.

LW Erikki Rajamaki	GP	G	A	P	PIM	+/-
2001-2002 HPK	40	4	3	7	100	+9
2001-2002 HPK (Playoffs)	10	1	0	1	36	NA
2002-2003 Ilves	6	0	0	0	4	E

Stock: Steady
With his former HPK teammate Eero Somervuori moving on to North America to play in the Lightning organization, rugged checking winger Erikki Rajamaki also moved on, settling with Ilves of the SM-Liiga. Rajamaki has yet to hit the scoresheet this season and is seeing a trend where his offensive output has been sliding year to year. It is hard to see how Rajamaki fits into the Lightning’s future plans considering he turns 25 at the end of October.

Germany

D Sascha Goc	GP	G	A	P	PIM	+/-
2002-2003 Mannheim	49	1	3	4	87	+10
2002-2003 Mannheim (Playoffs)	7	1	0	1	31	+2
2003-2003 Mannheim	6	0	2	2	6	+3

Stock: Steady

Sascha Goc, in 6 games, has already put up half the number of points he did in 49 for Adler Mannheim of the DEL last season. Perhaps it was Goc’s World Championships appearance with Germany or envy of his little brother Marcel who crossed the pond to play in the San Jose Sharks organization that unlocked this comparatively prodigious surge of 2 points in 6 games. All kidding aside, Goc continues to provide Mannheim with solid stay-at-home defensive play, as evidenced by his +3 rating in those 6 games, his combination of decent size, mobility, and his solid defensive play. Goc’s game would be a welcome addition to a Lightning full affiliation should Jay Feaster finally manage to secure one.

Russia

C/W Dimitri Bezrukov	GP	G	A	P	PIM	+/-
2002-2003 Spartak (Superleague)	51	10	12	22	24	-4
2003-2004 Nizhnekamsk	6	0	1	1	4	NA

Stock: Dropping

The good news is that Bezrukov led Spartak Moscow last season in scoring. The bad news is that Spartak got relegated to the Upper League in the process, leading the big scoring forward to return to his former club, Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk. The move will mean less ice time for Bezrukov, which partially explains he anemic start to the season. Turning 26 in November, one has to wonder when the window of opportunity to come to North America will begin to close on Dimitri.

LW Anton But	GP	G	A	P	PIM	+/-
2002-2003 Yaroslavl	44	16	13	29	16	NA
2002-2003 Yaroslavl (Playoffs)	9	1	2	3	6	NA
2003-2004 Yaroslavl	6	1	3	4	6	+2

Stock: Steady
Anton But and Yaroslavl enters the ‘04 campaign in search of a three-peat as the Russian Superleague champions. On 9/12 he notched a goal and an assist in a 7-2 Rout of Magnitogorsk, showing he has no intentions of letting up offensively this season. In Hockey’s Future’s opinion, the question is not if Anton But could play in the NHL, the question is when and how much money would he ask for from the Tampa Bay Lightning.

C/W Alexei Glukhov	GP	G	A	P	PIM	+/-
2002-2003 Khimik (Upper League)	38	4	4	8	30	+4
2002-2003 Khimik (Playoffs)	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
2003-2004 Khimik (Super League)	2	0	0	0	0	NA

Stock: Rising Slightly

Fresh off a recent appearance at the Four Nations Tournament for the Russian U-20 team, Alexei Glukhov is starting to emerge from prospect obscurity in Russia. His club team Khimik earned promotion from the Upper League to the Superleague this season and the talented young forward should see a modest amount of ice time this season in the best league Russia has to offer.

C/W Dimitry Kazionov	GP	G	A	P	PIM	+/-
2002-2003 Lada2 (Upper League)	34	14	13	27	26	+27
2002-2003 Lada	6	0	1	1	4	+2
2003-2004 Lada	6	2	2	4	2	NA

Stock: Rising

The unfortunate automobile accident suffered by Lada Togliatti star center and Detroit Red Wings prospect Igor Grigorenko served to open an opportunity for young Dimitry Kazionov, which he is seizing by the throat. After spending much of last year with Lada’s farm team in the Upper League, many in Russian hockey circles considere this season a make or break season for the former fixture of the Russian U-18 team. Deep within the top secret Hockey’s Future-Lightning underground headquarters, our writing staff decided before the season to tap Kazionov as its pick for the Hockey’s Future-Lightning European breakout player of the year. To this point, he has not disappointed. After notching a goal in a 9/11 opening night 3-2 win over Ufa, Kazionov soon followed with a strong 1 goal and 1 assist performance against SKA in a 4-2 win on 9/22. Don’t be surprised as the season wears on if the Lightning brass starts to talk up their 2002 4^th round draft pick, as he is displaying that he can perform at a high level on a good Lada Togliatti team on the biggest stage in Russian hockey.

G Evgeny Konstantinov	W-L-T	GAA	Sv%	SO
2002-2003 Springfield (AHL)	13-23-1	3.24	.889	1
2002-2003 Tampa Bay (NHL)	0-0-0	3.00	.833	0
2003-2004 Cherepovets	0-0-0	0.00	.000	0

Stock: Falling

The story of Evgeny Konstantinov to this part of his career has been a sad one, mixing lax work habits with unfortunate work environments that have led to the wasting of his abundance athletic gifts thus far. This season, with the Lightning without even a strong half-affiliation and with no AHL team willing to take him, Konstantinov was loaned out to Severstal Cherepovets of the Superleague. Unfortunately, Cherepovets already has two goaltenders in Superleague veteran Viktor Chistov and former Rangers prospect and veteran of the AHL, Elitserian, and SM-Liiga Jamie Ram, meaning game action will be terribly hard to come by for the prospect known as”Georgie.” He has yet to play a game between the pipes for the club, and frankly It’s unlikely he’ll see much action any time soon.

G Vasily Koshechkin	W-L-T	GAA	Sv%	SO
2002-2003 Lada2 (Upper League)	NA	NA	NA	NA
2002-2003 Olmp/Nfty (Upper League)	NA	NA	NA	NA
2003-2004 Lada Togliatti	0-1-0	1.78	NA	0

Stock: Rising

After bouncing around among three Upper League teams last season Vasily Koshechkin seized the backup job with Lada Togliatti by the throat with strong play in a preseason tournament in Finland while the team’s new starter, former Columbus Blue Jacket J.F. Labbe, was en route from Canada. Koshechkin played solidly in his Superleague debut on 9/15 despite losing to defending champions Yaroslavl 2-1. Hockey’s Future-Russia correspondent Max Dostoyevsky has raved about Koshechkin for much of the preseason and predicts the massive 6’6” goaltender could see somewhere between 15 and 20 starts for Lada this season. This further fuels a goaltender prospect Renaissance that began in the Lightning’s training camp scrimmages with the play of recent picks Jonathan Boutin and Gerald Coleman. Don’t be surprised if Koshechkin’s name is soon mentioned in the same breath as those two prospects as well.

C/W Alex Polushin	GP	G	A	P	PIM	+/-
2002-2003 CSKA	47	5	6	11	22	NA
2003-2004 CSKA	8	3	0	3	0	NA

Stock: Rising Slightly

Easily the best long-term prospect in the Lightning organization, Alex Polushin has done just about everything an organization can ask of a 20 year old prospect in Russia. Everything, that is, but put up numbers at the Superleague level. Polushin went to work to scratch that goal off the to-do list by recording an opening night goal in a dominating 5-0 win against Ak Bars Kazan on 9/10. More impressively, he dominated play in a 5-2 victory over Magnitogorsk on 9/20 notching two goals and being named best player of the match. Polushin is currently set up on a solid position on an extremely talented young CSKA team with the likes of top Blue Jackets prospect Nikolai Zherdev as well as linemate and Superleague Star Andrei Razin, not to mention the venerable Russian national team coach Viktor Tikhonov. All these signs point to a very solid season for young Alex Polushin.

W Pavel Sedov	GP	G	A	P	PIM	+/-
2002-2003 Khimik (Upper League)	25	1	5	6	6	+2
2002-2003 Khimik (Playoffs)	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
2003-2004 Khimik (Super League)	2	0	0	0	0	NA

Stock: Steady

It is difficult not to crack a smile when contemplating the newfound good fortune of prospect winger Pavel Sedov, who struggled last year just to hold an Upper League job. Now, the former 2000 5^th round selection is capitalizing on the promotion of Khimik to the Superleague ranks by seeing modest ice time. Who would have thunk it?

W Ilja Solarev	GP	G	A	P	PIM	+/-
2002-2003 DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-
2003-2004 Barnaul (Upper League)	2	0	0	0	0	(-1)

Stock: Rising Slightly

Ilja Solarev just couldn’t find any love in the Russian leagues last season. After being cut by Molot Perm, then of the Superleague, Sedov bounced around from tryout to tryout in multiple Upper League destinations before finally returning to Molot Perm to practice, but not play, with the team’s farm club. This year, Solarev is ahead of the curve simply by securing full time employment with Motor Barnaul of the Upper League, which gives hope that perhaps he has gotten his career back on track.

W Albert Vishnyakov	GP	G	A	P	PIM	+/-
2002-2003 Kazan	46	7	6	13	47	NA
2002-2003 Kazan (Playoffs)	5	1	0	1	0	NA
2003-2004 Ak Bars Kazan	2	0	0	0	0	NA

Stock: Steady

It may prove difficult for young utility forward Albert Vishnyakov to match last season’s output of 13 points in the Superleague, but there is no doubt the undersized but hard working forward continues to prove his worth for Ak Bars Kazan by continuing to stick at Russia’s top level for his second full season.

Sweden

LW Johan Hagglund	GP	G	A	P	PIM	+/-
2002-2003 Ore/Ham (Alsvensakan)	26	9	7	16	32	+3
2002-2003 Hammarby (SuperAlsv’)	14	1	4	5	2	+3
2003-2004 Hammarby (Alsvenskan)	1	1	0	1	0	+1

Stock: Steady

Largely a forgotten man in the Lightning organization, versatile forward Johan Hagglund returns this season with high powered Hammarby of the Alsvenskan. Hagglund has shown the ability to play both center and left wing on scoring and checking lines alike and notched an opening night goal for Hammarby in a 6-0 blowout of Vallentuna on 9/17 in which he played 3^rd line left wing. Unfortunately, Hagglund has not been in the lineup for the team since, but when he does play expect steady and solid production while Hagglund waits for a call up to MODO of the Elitserian that may or may not ever come.

G Fredrik Norrena

W-L-T