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With the Vancouver Canucks drafting forward Danila Klimovich 41st overall in the 2021 NHL entry draft, here are five things to know about the Belarusian sniper:
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A vaulted ceiling
There’s so much potential packed into this second-round pick.
Dangerous with the puck. A heavy, accurate shot. And a willingness to play a hard, effective game inside the faceoff circles.
The on-ice tools that Klimovich possesses have vaulted the 6-foot-2, 202-pound forward to the top of the Canucks’ prospects heap, with forward Vasily Podkolzin and defenceman Jack Rathbone expected to make the team’s opening night roster this coming season.
But it’s up to the 18-year-old to put it all together to reach the heights he’s capable of.
“He’s a big guy, powerful and we think there’s a lot of upside. We were looking for high-end skill,” Canucks director of amateur scouting Todd Harvey said on draft day. “With his size and determination, it really sold it for me.”
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While he only scored one goal in six Belarusian men’s league games this past season, Klimovich turned heads at the Under-18 world championship this spring with six goals in five games, including a hat trick.
He also piled up 52 points (28 G, 24 A) in 37 games last season in the top Belarus junior league and added 14 playoff points (9 G, 5 A).
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The knock on Klimovich, a right winger who can also play centre, is his decision-making with the puck. He’s got great hands, but his confidence to take on multiple defenders can get him into trouble and lead to turnovers.
Still, this is a player who, after some fine-tuning and professional coaching, has a realistic shot of not only making the Canucks down the road, but making an impact.
Signed, sealed and delivered
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With the possibility of Klimovich signing and playing in the KHL, the Canucks knew they had to act fast.
Klimovich had a tryout with Dinamo Minsk recently and had a goal and an assist in his first exhibition game.
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That’s why Canucks GM Jim Benning pulled the trigger on a three-year entry-level deal with the Belarusian last week,
“We did that (contract) right way so we have more control over his future and where he’s going to play,” Benning said last week. “We want to control where he goes to junior or goes back home and plays. We’ve talked about Abbotsford (AHL), but we’ll see where he’s at when he comes to training camp.”
Klimovich has an $886K salary cap hit, which works out to a $925K Annual Average Value (AAV).
Should he play nine games or less with the big club, his ELC will slide back to the 2022-23 season. Klimovich can play AHL games without it affecting the status of his ELC.
His agent, Dan Milstein, told Rick Dhaliwal on Thursday that while Klimovich is coming to Vancouver to make the team, the AHL is more likely where he’ll end up.
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If Podkolzin’s rollercoaster ride in Russia was any indication, it was a smart, proactive move by management to get the player signed.
Klimovich can still play in the KHL or even the QMJHL, where he was drafted by Rouyn-Noranda before the start of last season, which was wiped out by COVID-19.
The difference now is that the Canucks have the final say on where he plays.
From Belarus, with love
Still a bit of a hockey outpost, Belarusians are getting used to their names being called at the NHL draft.
Three Belarusians were taken in the first three rounds of the 2021 draft, with Klimovich being the first one selected.
The Philadelphia Flyers took goalie Alexei Kolosov 78th-overall while the Winnipeg Jets went with defenceman Dmitri Kuzmin with the 82nd pick.
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Since 1988, 35 Belarusians have been selected by NHL teams, with the most prolific being Mikhael Grabovski, who had 296 points (125 G, 171 A) in 534 games over an 11-year career with the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Washington Capitals and New York Islanders.
The greatest Belarusian to ever play in the NHL is defenceman Ruslan Salei, whose consistency and toughness allowed him to log 917 games, mostly with the Anaheim Ducks.
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Salei, tragically, was killed in the infamous Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash in 2011, of which 44 out of 45 passengers on board died. The flight’s mechanic, Alexander Sizov, was the only survivor.
Klimovich, who was born in the historic city of Pinsk, Belarus (pop. 138,415) and was raised in the capital city of Minsk, told sports.ru last week that he’s thrilled to be coming to Vancouver.
“I am very glad that I was drafted, grateful to Vancouver… I worked hard to achieve this,” he said. “Vancouver is a very beautiful city with a very good team.”
That swagger
Cockiness, confidence — whatever it is, it’s oozing out of him on and off the ice.
Whether it’s pulling the puck between his legs on a breakaway or using brute force to plough through a defender, Klimovich possesses an arrogance that can insulate the youngster from
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“I’m a sniper. I love to shoot pucks. I think Vancouver fans will be happy with my performance,” he told sports.ru last week. “I want to show myself in the pre-season training camp.”
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With a player that sure of himself, there could be some red flags. But aside from the odd ill-advised penalty, there doesn’t appear to be any for Klimovich. His coach in Belarus is even said to have compared him to another mercurial sniper, Alex Ovechkin — only meaner.
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A player with Klimovich’s temerity could fit in nicely alongside other prickly players like Podkolzin and resident hot-head J.T. Miller — especially come playoff time.
A team needs temperamental balance — and for all the goodwill that young core players like Elias Pettersson and Bo Horvat exhibit on and off the ice — one or two extra firebrands in the lineup can only help the Canucks overcome nasty teams like the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Podkolzin factor
The Canucks said they wanted to add another Russian player to the lineup, to help blue-chip prospect Podkolzin along as he settles into a new life in North America.
Does Belarusian count?
Klimovich and Podkolzin will be at Canucks training camp together in late September in Abbotsford before the team kicks off a seven-game pre-season schedule, which begins on Sept. 26 in Spokane, Wash. against the expansion Seattle Kraken.
While Klimovich and Podkolzin are working on their English, the majority of Belarusians speak Russian — so they should be able to form a bond and, hopefully, become fast friends.
— with files from Ben Kuzma and Patrick Johnston
Five things to know about Danila Klimovich, the Canucks' newest top prospect - The Province
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