In a poll conducted by ESPN a few months back, players and executives around the league voted on the best goaltenders in the NHL. The results? Four of the top nine just happened to be Russian goalies, one of which just helped his team win the Stanley Cup. It seems they at least know how to develop top flight netminders.

Did the Avalanche find the “next one” in the 2024 NHL Draft? After leading his team to a Gagarin Cup and stonewalling NHL players in a charity game over the weekend, hype seems to be at an all-time high for Colorado’s second round pick, Ilya Nabokov.

“But the real MVP was the MVP of the last KHL playoffs. Thanks to his saves, the team of the Russian league reached the end of the regular time and did not lose to more star rivals,” Sport24’s Dmitry Yerkalov wrote this weekend. “In a year, the whole NHL will get to know Nabokov.”

To his credit, the 21 year old is downplaying everything about the game. He knows that everyone wasn’t going full speed.