There is little need to critique Kirill Nizhnikov, since the gifted 16-year-old is willing to do it himself.
Sunday was a day of firsts for the Barrie Colts’ naturalized Russian winger, who is considered the most talented rookie forward in the OHL. Nizhnikov, whom the Colts ponied up as many as 10 priority selection choices to acquire from the Mississauga Steelheads on Sept. 7, had his first two OHL points and first goal. That rated the first star selection following the Colts’ 7-5 road win against the Ottawa 67’s, but Nizhnikov easily eluded that spotlight like it was a nervous rookie defenceman.
“I can play better – I didn’t play my game,” Nizhnikov, a Muscovite who moved to Vaughan, Ont., with his family three seasons ago. “When I’m playing my game I have a lot of chances. I’m shooting the puck. I’m taking the puck to the net. Today I had a couple of chances, but I know I can have more.
“The speed here is the difference. I don’t have much time to make decisions … every single game it’s getting easier and easier for me.”
Nizhnikov became the wild card in the priority selection after questions arose about whether he would commit to the OHL. Mississauga selected him No. 7 overall, but with the Colts retooling, a move up Hwy. 400 made sense. The price point for the deal puts Nizhnikov under a microscope.
“I really don’t mind it,” he said. “I just need to play my game.”
Nizhnikov displayed his vision by threading a pass into the slot to tee up fellow rookie Kyle Heitzner for Barrie’s first goal on Sunday. Off a turnover in the second, he poked the puck by Ottawa’s Ben Fanjoy, pivoted 180 degrees and snapped a shot inside the post.
“He has a good skill set, and just has to learn the little things of the game that will make it easier for him to create more and more opportunities,” Colts coach Dale Hawerchuk, the Hockey Hall of Famer, said. “He has a lot of passion for a game. For a 16-year-old, he does that really well.”
Barrie produced three NHL first-rounders from 2011 through ’14 – the Winnipeg Jets’ Mark Scheifele, Los Angeles Kings’ Tanner Pearson and the Florida Panthers’ Aaron Ekblad. Hawerchuk sees a parallel.
“You see it when he gets hungry on loose pucks. In practice, he works hard. He’s excited to come to the rink all the time. I’ve had a few guys come through here like that, like Scheifele, Ekblad, and Pearson. He kind of has that already.”
Nizhnikov is a quick study in multiple ways. He says he spoke “zero English” when he settled in southern Ontario to play bantam with the Mississauga Rebels.
“In about two weeks, I heard the guys talking and I started to understand them,” he related. “Then it started to come.”
There was also a quick baptism in Barrie. After the blockbuster trade was consummated, Nizhnikov went right into a Colts pre-season game against the Owen Sound Attack, without having a practice.
“I think it woke him up – ‘woo, these guys are pretty good,’” Hawerchuk said. “That only inspires him more.”
The six-foot-one, 190-pound Nizhnikov is relieved to have landed Barrie. Central Ontario is close to home, plus there is the chance to learn the tricks of the scorer’s trade from Hawerchuk, who had Joseph Blandisi, Kevin Labanc and Andrew Mangiapane all top 100 points within the past two seasons.
“I knew about him – 500 goals in the NHL, Hall of Fame,” Nizhnikov said. “He’s still scoring the goals in our practices. He always plays the guys at the end of practice and always beats us.”
Rasmussen racks up goals
Opening week is pretty much a glorified showcase weekend for draft-year players, since most teams’ top-end performers are at NHL camps. Tri-City Americans centre Michael Rasmussen took full advantage with a five-goal weekend, which included a first-period natural hat trick during the Ams’ opener against the Spokane Chiefs.
At six-foot-five and 200 pounds, Rasmussen offers a unique combo of size and skill. The Surrey, B.C., native, a former No. 7 overall bantam draft selection, had an 18-goal, 43-point first season. With fellow touted 2017 NHL draft hopeful Juuso Välimäki alongside, Rasmussen will be the most heavily scouted forward Tri-City has had in more than a decade.
An Americans forward hasn’t gone in the first round since recently-retired NHLer Scott Gomez was taken by the New Jersey Devils in 1998. That was when the NHL still had only 27 teams.
Fog Bowl in Brandon
Everyone has probably had an August ice time where players have to skate laps rapidly to try to disperse fog caused by outdoor humidity. Having a game fogged out has also been known to happen in older rinks in Central Canada. It is almost unheard of in the WHL, where 100 per cent humidity created such thick fog that the Moose Jaw Warriors-Brandon Wheat Kings game on Saturday had to be suspended.
The remedy will involve finishing the game on Nov. 2, before a regularly scheduled contest. How foggy was it?
Consensus No. 1 NHL draft prospect Nolan Patrick, healing quickly from off-season sports hernia surgery, had three points for Brandon last weekend in what amounted to one and a half games.
New name to know: Henri Jokiharju, D, Portland Winterhawks (WHL)
The 17-year-old had three points over his first two games, illustrating his capabilities as a playmaking, mobile defenceman. Jokiharju’s breakout came last season when he made the jump up Finland’s top-flight under-20 league, counting 29 points in 47 games. He was also an underage player on the Finland team that dethroned Team USA at the world under-18 championship in April.