After a brief trip abroad, we’re back to round out the top-3 of the draft board, and we’re back in the NCAA to do it. This time, we’re heading over to the Big 10 and Michigan State to meet Artyom Levshunov, a smooth-skating offensive defenseman, and one of the most exciting defenders of this draft class.
Pre-Draft Rankings:
No. 2 by The Athletic (Scott Wheeler)
No. 4 by Sportsnet
No. 3 by TSN (Bob McKenzie)
No. 4 by Elite Prospects
Statistics
What’s there to like?
His position, to begin in the broadest of strokes — a RHD with a well rounded toolkit — is always an attractive piece, and when that’s combined with his size (6’2 and 209 pounds at just 18 years old), and his mobility (good mobility not just for his size, but in general), that makes for an eye catching package.
And speaking of eye catching, his production in his freshman season at Michigan State certainly qualifies. With his 35 points in 38 games played, he led the Spartans in scoring, again, as a freshman defenseman, and that’s huge. Generally that point per game mark in the NCAA is something teams look for as an indication that a player is ready to graduate to the professional level, and Levshunov has already just about hit it (and done so on a team which hasn’t offered him the most support).
There’s a lot to like about his offensive toolkit, generally. He’s helped along by his passing ability — which is clean and crisp — as well as his shot — which is hard and accurate — but the real core of his strength is his confidence, how often he’s willing to lead a rush by carrying the puck, or activate in the offensive zone to get more directly involved in the cycle. His feel for the game, his sense, is really unmatched among his teammates, for one, and his creativity combined with that confidence has been a real driving factor in his success.
For a big defenseman, he’s elusive, both deeper in-zone and at the point, which is an asset to his strictly offensive game, but we see is strength in skating helping him in really all areas of his game. His stride is smooth and he has good power behind it, and he cuts well in all four directions (meaning he isn’t often caught flat-footed). This allows him to be quick to gap up defensively on the rush, and also plays a bit part in his success in transition, broadly.
Because he is impactful in a number of ways in transition — not just that he has a good first pass, or is confident enough to begin rushes skating the puck out on his own (both of which are true, of course), but we also see it in how often he’s able to force turnovers, or win races to loose pucks, and then transition from defense to offense, and how quickly he gets actively involved in that rush, even when the puck is out of his hands.
In addition to that, he plays quite a physical game — something that can be a bit tough in college, with how tightly games are called, but he’s already generally hit the sort of sweet spot for walking the line of playing the game with a good physical edge, without crossing over it. This physicality, combined with his overall strength, has made him a solid defender in front of his own net, as well.
And for those more visually inclined, below you’ll find a really excellent breakdown of some of the minutia of his game, as it manifested in a pair of Michigan State’s games at Penn State this season.
Finally, before we move on, it’s worth noting that in some ways, what feels the most exciting about Levshunov’s game is what we haven’t seen yet. There’s a feeling that we might just be scratching the surface with him — that is, we see it often with highly skilled college players (Cam York recently, for one), that we don’t see the full compliment of their abilities because their teammates just aren’t processing at the same level, and it isn’t until they move up to the professional level, when they have adequate support from their teammates that we really see their game break open, and Levshunov certainly has that potential. Now, that’s a hard thing to bet on comfortably, but the potential here should be intriguing.
What’s not to like?
For all of the positives that we highlighted in his game already, it’s worth remembering that he still isn’t a finished product, particularly on the defensive side. We saw it in the highlights above, but it wasn’t just contained this series, that he’s still susceptible to lapses in judgement when it comes to his one-on-one coverages, or can be caught not pressuring hard enough on the forecheck. Opponents can surprise him, and he ends up making the wrong read (and even if he often finds a way to make up for that by turning around and doing something positive, the initial poor read remains.
But with that said, the “issues” in his decision making, for our money, look to point less to a player who struggles to think the game at a high level, and will have this problem only further exacerbated as he continues to move up in the levels, and more like a player adjusting to a new league and just finding himself in need of some fine tuning. work with the right development staff and/or defense coach will sort that out easily enough
Also, as Flyers fans, we’d be remiss if we didn’t also emphasize that Levshunov is a college player, and as such has that agency that college players have to not sign with the team that drafted them, and cause a whole heap of drama. Is this something we see often, and should it be a huge concern about drafting college players going forward? Not really, but the fallout from the Cutter Gauthier situation is certainly something that we’re keeping in the backs of our minds.
How would he fit in the Flyers’ system?
As it stands, between the current NHL roster and the prospect pipeline, the Flyers certainly aren’t hurting for bodies who can play the right side on defense. The sort of raw numbers game might make the situation seem a little dodgy, as you consider that even beyond having a number of right defensemen, the Flyers already have a couple of defensemen in the system (York, Ronnie Attard, and beyond them Oliver Bonk) who play that side and all play shades of the same game that Levshunov plays, but as they say, you can never have too much of a good thing.
The Flyers are still in a position in their rebuild where what they need is more dynamic talent up and down their lineup, at all positions, and Levshunov would certainly help them address that need, plain and simple. His addition into the pool would certainly leave some questions about how and where everyone would fit into the long term plan, but we’re at the range of player in the draft where that isn’t a question you think about now — if a player of Levshunov’s ilk is available to you, you draft him and figure out the rest later.
Can the Flyers actually get him?
There is, with any draft, the possibility of some weirdness or spiciness to happen. A top prospect might fall out of their projected top-3 spot and down towards the bottom of the top-10. A team picking around the middle of the round might make a big trade and move up in the order. But even if both of these things happen this year, it still doesn’t feel like Levushonov would fall far enough to meet the Flyers where they might reasonably move up to.
So the short answer here, then, is no.
What scouts are saying
After beginning to take over games offensively and show a more dynamic element over the second half of last season in the USHL, he played with an abundance of confidence and identity in college hockey this season (even if that identity is a little haywire at times). He already possessed all of the tools he needed to become a stud, and he just keeps getting better and better. The decision-making is a little raw, but he’s very much still learning it, and the raw tools are incredibly appealing. With continued fine-tuning, I believe there’s first-pairing upside there. I was very high on him coming into this season, and he still exceeded my expectations. The Spartans have won his 22-23 minutes a game handily most nights. He’s a force.
Scott Wheeler, The Athletic
He is the most complete package for a defenseman. He’s just a beast physically. … He’s got the right kind of confidence. He’s not cocky, he’s just really motivated.
I spent a lot of time with Artyom early in the year and every game now at Michigan State, you’re talking 50-plus NHL personnel. The game I was there, I walked around, did a head count and it was 56 and that included two general managers. He’s really got a lot of people talking about him.
Dan Marr, NHL Central Scouting
We’ll make one addition to the poll for today, and it’s Medicine Hat’s big center Cayden Lindstrom.
Lindstrom came out of the gates this season flying for the first few months. He then was hurt for most of the second half though between a hand and back injury. When healthy, he’s an elite athlete. He has the quick twitch feet of a smaller forward, and can get by opposing defenders. He’s a big, powerful center with a ton of physicality in his game. Lindstrom has good offensive skills, and can score goals. His playmaking is something I’ve questioned at times although he’s shown good instances this season.
Corey Pronman, The Athletic
