The Toronto Maple Leafs have selected Nikita Grebenkin with the 135th overall pick.

Nikita Grebenkin is a 6’2” winger from Russia, and a D+1 overager. He is coming off a season in the MHL where he had 64 points in 58 games, and another 13 points in 9 playoff games. He only played 1 KHL game this season. He played on a hot line for Mettalurg Magnitogorsk, with top prospect Danila Yurov. He’s still a bit lanky at 176 lbs, but gets good reviews for his stickhandling and skating speed.

Here’s Dylan Griffing, Elite Prospects’ scout for players in Russia.

From McKeen’s Hockey (Draft Guide download):

In his second year of draft eligibility, Grebyonkin was one of the MHL’s leading scorers. He’s skilled, quick, and has good size, but will need to work on his play without the puck to be effective as a pro.

It’s interesting to see Gold Star repping Grebyonkin, particularly because he currently has no contract in Russia that is publicly available. If he’s free to come over, he can join the AHL right now. We’ll have to wait and see what happens.