Rebels Pick Highly-Regarded D-man In Import Draft
The Red Deer Rebels entered Tuesday’s Canadian Hockey League import draft intent on landing a defenceman of a certain age, give or take a year.
Mission accomplished, on both fronts.
“We wanted a defenceman and we were OK with taking whoever was the best player available as a 17- or 18-year-old,” said Rebels GM/head coach Brent Sutter after selecting Russian rearguard Alexander Alexeyev with the 46th overall pick.
“By all reports, he’s a really good player.”
Alexeyev will report to training camp in August and if he’s as good as advertised, will fill one of Red Deer’s two import spots, with returning forward Michael Spacek taking the other.
Alexeyev will turn 17 in November and with his late birthday won’t be eligible for the NHL entry draft until 2018. If he continues to develop, there’s every indication that he’ll be an early-round pick.
The six-foot-three, 170-pound blueliner is ranked second in Europe among defencemen in his age group — and eighth among overall skaters — and was selected third overall in this year’s Kontinental Hockey League draft.
He played on the Russian under-17 team that competed in this year’s World U18 championship in North Dakota — the Russian U18 squad was denied entry into the tournament due to doping concerns — and picked up two assists and four penalty minutes in five games.
“He fared very well against kids a year older than him,” said Sutter.
Rebels assistant GM/director of player personnel Shaun Sutter talked to various pro scouts in recent weeks attempting to get a proper read on Alexeyev, who this season suited up with a youth team in his hometown of St. Petersburg.
“Shaun did a lot of research on him after the bantam draft (in early May). It was a mission I wanted Shaun on and he spent a lot of time with this,” said Brent Sutter.
“He communicated with different NHL teams and scouts who spoke very highly of the player. He has a great upside and is a very good player at his level.
“He’s a real sound guy who skates well and moves the puck well. This was the player we were hoping would still be there when we picked. And we got him.”
The addition of Alexeyev will bolster a young Red Deer defensive corps in the 2016-17 season, a group that is expected to include 17-year-olds Carson Sass and Ethan Sakowich and 16-year-old Jacob Herauf.
“We feel he can come in and be a top-four defenceman for us right away,” said the Rebels boss.
“We (Sutter and his scouting staff) met internally a couple of years ago and agreed that we needed to add more depth to our back end. Now we have players, young guys, who can come in and play with us. Our back end is going to be internally grown with really good players.”
