Coming off a wildly successful final year in the WHL with the Calgary Hitmen – Fazleev was the team’s top scorer in the 2015-2016 season, scoring 71 points and was honored with the team’s Player of the Year award – Radel Fazleev jumps one spot to number 17 on our ranking, in the same year that he makes the jump to the AHL.
If there is one thing that is an absolute certainty heading into next season, it’s that the Lehigh Valley Phantoms are going to be a heck of a lot of fun to watch. A big part of that will be due to the crop of young forwards that the team has assembled. Now that he’s aged out of juniors, Radel Fazleev will join guys like Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Taylor Leier on a team that should score a lot of goals next season.
No. 17: Radel Fazleev
Position: C
Age: 20 (1/7/1996)
2015-16 League/Team/Statistics: Calgary (WHL) – 19 G, 52 A in 59 GP
Nationality: Russian (Kazan)
Acquired Via: 2014 NHL Draft — Round 6, Pick 168
Sometimes, taking a look at a player’s simple box stats is enough to get you excited about having him in your organization. Over the course of three seasons with the Calgary Hitmen, Fazleev’s point totals have risen each year, from 25, to 51, to a career-high and team-leading 71 points with the Hitmen last season. His final season in the WHL wasn’t a total success, though, as the Hitmen were ousted by the Red Deer Rebels in the WHL playoffs, in part due to a late-season hand injury that made it impossible for Fazleev to shoot the puck effectively. It gave us a look at how Fazleev deals with adversity, though, and it’s promising. From the Calgary Herald, after his team was eliminated:
But he never considered sitting out.
“I didn’t have a choice,” Fazleev said. “I had to play. I know that the team and coaches were counting on me. I had to play. Still, I didn’t play the way I had to play.
“I tried my best but I wasn’t able to show my best game. I think it was a big part of our loss.”
The injury that kept him scoreless in the playoffs also kept him from joining the Phantoms at the end of last season, so we are still waiting to see what Fazleev’s pro debut will bring. It’s always hard to predict how a player’s game will translate from juniors to the bigger, faster pro leagues, but we have reason to be hopeful about Radel. Plus, he’s already making himself at home in Philly.
How we voted for Radel Fazleev :
| Kelly | Travis | Charlie | Allison | Kurt | Brent | Collin | Kevin | Al | Community |
| 21 | 16 | n/a | 15 | 19 | 14 | 18 | 22 | 19 | 21 |
How we voted at No. 17 :
| Kelly | Travis | Charlie | Allison | Kurt | Brent | Collin | Kevin | Al | Community |
| Philippe Myers | Philippe Myers | Wade Allison | Felix Sandstrom | Taylor Leier | Jordan Weal | Petr Straka | Carter Hart | Mark Alt | Jordan Weal |
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Previously in Philadelphia Flyers Top 25 Under 25, Summer 2016:
