Yegor Korshkov

RW - 22 years old - shoots left - fourth full KHL season

Points! Finally some goals that count:

Helping Yegor Korshkov out there with the playmaking is Grigori Densisenko, one of the best young Russians playing in the KHL right now.

Lokomotiv had only two games this past week, and that was from their most recent game, a 7-0 drubbing of Slovan. The previous game was a tight 2-1 win against the second-place team in the East, CSKA, and Korshkov had an assist on the game-winner using one of his favourite moves:

Actually getting points is fun, just ask William Nylander.

That CSKA - Lokomotiv game was highly significant and a very meaningful win for Lokomotiv. They are only three points ahead of Jokerit and CSKA is now one point behind SKA, so both teams were fighting for their final ranking.

Lokomotiv play today, and then they have eight more to play with a very short break in early February for the last leg of the Euro Hockey Tour.

They’re going to finish either third or fourth, but all these games will count towoards determining which.

With 11 games played, Korshkov now has one goal and one assist and is playing 14:30 per game.

Eemeli Räsänen

D - 19 years old - shoots right - first year in the KHL

Eemeli Räsänen played in three more games in the Mestis for Kiekko-Vantaa on a loan. He’s getting about 16- 22 minutes per game, and hasn’t added any points yet to his assist from the first two. With only five games played, it’s likely too soon to even assume he’s in shape.

Jesper Lindgren

D - 21 years old - shoots right - second season in the Liiga

HPK played three times this week, and Jesper Lindgren was not in the first game, but was right back in his place for the other two as the second pairing defender. He only played 16 minutes in each game, so he was not as heavily used as he often is.

Lindgren is still stuck on 11 points in 30 games played, but his points pace is better than last year, and his Corsi is lights-out good this season.

Pontus Holmberg

LW - 19 years old - shoots left - first SHL season

Växjö played two games this week and lost them both 4-2. They’re in a troubling position right now, and the good old days of the early part of the season when all their young players were higher up the lineup are no more.

Pontus Holmberg seems stuck at third-line centre, and at his age, that’s not a knock against him. He’s playing about 16 minutes a game, but he’s not added any points to his total of three goals and four assists in 31 games.

Jonas Røndbjerg, who is also stuck in the bottom six now, but was taken in the third round of the draft by Vegas, is stuck on two points. So lack of opportunity is playing a role here. Holmberg is having a successful season on balance.

Växjö, however, is in ninth place, with two teams below them in range of catching them if they don’t start winning the occasional game.

Semyon Kizimov

RW - 18 years old - shoots left - first year in the VHL

Lada played only one VHL game this week, and Kizimov added another assist in his usual minutes.

He now has four goals and nine assists in 39 games.

Nikolai Chebykin

Winger - 21 years old - shoots left - third VHL season

Nikolai Chebykin is just ticking along, playing his role and not scoring much. He’s stuck at seven points, but his team did clinch their playoff spot already.

Vladislav Kara

Winger/C - 20 years old - shoots left - third pro season, first in the KHL/VHL

I don’t know if Vladislav Kara knows he’s competing with Kizimov, but around here he is. He played twice in the VHL, and, as usual, got more minutes than Kizimov. He also added and assist in one loss and a goal and an assist in a win.

He’s at two goals and ten assists in 14 games played. And again, it’s easy to see that if his KHL team wasn’t pushing for the playoffs, he’d be back there doodling around on the fourth line. Kara is Russian for Trevor Moore, I guess.

That’s all the action for this week. Hopefully everyone gets scoring more for next time. Holmberg has to be thinking he’ll never get a goal again.

Maple Leafs Prospects