Youngster report: third week
Several players opened their goalscoring account in the KHL this week, but that may be not enough. Let’s have a look at the best youngsters in the third week of action.
Nikita Artamonov
F, Torpedo, 2005
Week stats: 3 G, 3 (1+2) points, even
The youngster had a tremendous start of the season, showcasing exceptional playmaking ability, but failing to score. However, on Thursday, he finally opened his goalscoring account in Torpedo’s 2:1 OT win over Ak Bars. In the first minute, Artamonov picked up a smooth pass by Nikolai Kovalenko – he had two assists in the game – and saw an opening on the far post. He had all the time in the world to load up his wrister and sent it in the back of the net through traffic past Artur Akhtyamov. In the game against Kazan, Artamonov was also one of the busiest forwards for Torpedo, only trailing Kovalenko and Maxim Letunov for time on ice. Artamonov is currently one of the top rookies in the league and if he keeps with such a pace, he’ll certainly be one of the candidates for the Alexei Cherepanov award.
Artemy Pleshkov
G, SKA, 2002
Week stats: 3 G, 3 W, 98.82%, GAA 0.50, 2 SO
The young SKA goalie has been incredible between the piping this week, allowing just one goal in three games and posting his first shutouts in the league. Pleshkov started the week with a 39-save performance against Amur, blanking the opposition for the first time in his KHL career, allowing SKA to get a 4:0 victory. Then, on Monday, he had 25 saves against Admiral, with SKA achieving a 2:1 win, but allowing a goal to Tyler Graovac. Two days later, Pleshkov had another shutout, when the St. Petersburg men had a 3:0 win in Novosibirsk. This time, the goalie – who moved to SKA this summer from HC Sochi – recorded 20 saves. For his efforts, Pleshkov was awarded Best rookie honors for the third week.
Vasily Atanasov
F, Torpedo, 2002
Week stats: 3 G, 3 (2+1) points, +1
The Torpedo flamboyant forward had another strong showing this week, with a multi-game point when Igor Larionov’s men won in Minsk (4:3), and scoring the game-winning goal in OT in the game against Ak Bars on Thursday. Atanasov got full advantage by a fantastic pass by Nikolai Kovalenko as the Nizhny Novgorod side was on the powerplay to deflect the puck in the open net and win the game for Torpedo. Atanasov is currently tied with Maxim Letunov for the most goals for Torpedo, and only trails Kovalenko in overall scoring. In the week, Atanasov has failed to appear in the scoresheet when Torpedo defeated Vityaz 4:1, but he did earn a plus-2 differential that night.
Timofei Davydov
D, Severstal, 2002
Week stats: 3 G, 2 (0+2) points, +4
The d-man is another player who is benefitting from being on a new environment with a coach who trusts his younger assets and help them reaching a new level. Davydov moved this summer from Avangard to Severstal – he struggled to find space on a stacked Avangard lineup and found a new home for himself in Cherepovets under Andrei Kozyrev. The coach, who was an assistant to Igor Larionov in Torpedo last year, is known for his trust in younger players, and he’s showing it this season again, giving Davydov more than twenty minutes a night. The d-man is repaying this trust being Severstal’s top scorer from the blue line and the team’s top passers, with eight assists in ten games – not to talk about his defensive prowess confirmed by his plus-10 rating. Davydov is yet to find the back of the net this season, but if he keeps this pace, he’ll soon score his first goal with Severstal. The defenseman scored twice in the 2022 playoffs for Avangard.
Stanislav Yarovoi
F, Vityaz, 2003
Week stats: 3 G, 2 (2+0) points, -1
The 20-years-old forward had a slow start of the season after scoring 16 (9+7) points last year – he was expected to have a breakout season with Vityaz. However, Yarovoi struggled to find consistency so far, with Vityaz also collecting defeats after defeats. Earlier on, the winger had a nice showing in the Moscow Region team’s loss to Ak Bars 4:5 OT, when he scored a goal and an assist, but last week, he found some of his good old touch back. Despite Vityaz lost both goals, Yarovoi found the back of the net in two consecutive games, against Dinamo Minsk and Torpedo, respectively. On Thursday, Vityaz has finally returned to victory with a 1:0 OT win over Lada, but Yarovoi didn’t appear in the scoresheet. With that being said, Yarovoi is keeping on progressing, and finding some consistency will be key in his return to last year’s level.
