Nadvorny’s strong debut and Surin’s usual leadership. September top youngsters

Commentator for KHL TV channels and expert at KHL.ru, Anton Vasyatin, presents the top ten most prominent young players (U23) in the league based on their performance in the first month of the regular season.

The list is compiled based on the Player Ratings, which the League calculates using an extensive set of statistical metrics.

10. Daniil Orlov, defenseman (2003, Spartak)

Player’s rating: 2.05

Last season, Daniil Orlov gradually began to emerge as one of Spartak’s key players. That rise was driven both by injuries in the Red-and-Whites defensive lineup and by his own steady development. Now, at the start of the new regular season, the defenseman is once again a standout figure for Spartak, thanks above all to his excellent skating, which makes him effective at both ends of the ice.

In September, Orlov became the top-scoring defenseman under 23 in the league, posting seven points in ten games, including a pair of goals. Nearly every time he found the scoresheet, Spartak came out on top — beating Sochi, CSKA, and Traktor twice (the lone exception was in Yekaterinburg, where Alexei Zhamnov’s team still came close to victory). His goal in Chelyabinsk even stood as the game-winner. On average, Orlov logged about twenty minutes of ice time per night, including both power-play and penalty-kill duties.

9. Nikita Yevseyev, defenseman (2004, Amur)

Player’s rating: 2.19

Right behind Orlov on the list of top-scoring under-23 defensemen comes Nikita Yevseyev. The young blueliner picked up five points in eight September games. Highlights included a two-assist performance against CSKA in a 2:0 victory — with one of those helpers coming on the game-winner — and a power-play goal against Avangard. Despite modest numbers in his first two KHL seasons, Yevseyev’s breakout shouldn’t come as a surprise. A few years ago, he made plenty of noise as a development player when he first broke into the league. Now, on loan from Ak Bars, he’s logging heavy minutes — an average of 22 per game, the highest on Amur — and playing in every situation. Naturally, the results have followed. In September alone, he dished out six hits, blocked ten shots, made two takeaways, and finished the month with a plus-1 rating.

8. Matvei Nadvorny, forward (2003, Neftekhimik)

Player’s rating: 2.19

While Orlov and Yevseyev are already familiar names, Matvey Nadvorny is a fresh face for KHL fans. His chance to prove himself at this level didn’t come by accident. Last season was his first full campaign in senior hockey, and he made it count, finishing as one of the top goal scorers and point-getters in the VHL. A fast and skilled forward, it’s no surprise he’s thriving in Igor Grishin’s system.

In September, Nadvorny registered four points, scoring three goals against Dinamo Minsk, Dinamo Moscow, and Traktor — all at even strength. What’s remarkable is his efficiency: he scored those goals on just six shots on target, an incredible 50% conversion rate. At the same time, he played with plenty of grit, delivering 26 hits — by far the most among Neftekhimik forwards.

7. Yaroslav Busygin, defenseman (2003, Avtomobilist)

Player’s rating: 2.50

In the offseason, Yaroslav Busygin moved from Vityaz to Avtomobilist, joining a team with bigger ambitions and resources. Even so, his role on the blue line hasn’t diminished — in Yekaterinburg he’s averaging seventeen minutes a night, right in line with what he logged in the Moscow Region.

The brightest moment of his September came right out of the gate, in the opening period of the very first game of the season in Togliatti. Over those twenty minutes, Busygin was the best player on the ice, almost single-handedly creating two goals — first setting up Brooks Macek, then scoring one himself. Since then, his scoring has been limited to a single assist, but even that came on a game-winner against Ak Bars.

Busygin has been steady and reliable otherwise: he fired at least one shot on goal in nearly every game, finished the month with a plus-3 rating, blocked 17 shots, and delivered 17 hits.

6. Matvei Korotky, forward (2005, SKA)

Player’s rating: 2.56

Last season, Matvey Korotky made a smooth transition into the KHL, delivering solid play despite limited ice time. Now, in an updated SKA lineup, his role remains largely the same — centering the fourth line while also taking shifts on the penalty kill — but his production has taken a step forward.
In September, the St. Petersburg forward recorded six points in nine games, splitting them evenly between goals and assists. He found the net against Traktor, Lada, and Avangard, with all three goals coming at even strength and proving crucial for Igor Larionov’s team. Korotky finished the month with a plus-3 rating, along with 14 hits, four blocked shots, and four takeaways.

A well-rounded, hard-nosed forward with virtually no glaring weaknesses, Korotky looks poised to remain a regular presence among the league’s top young players of the month.

5. Anton Silayev, defenseman (2006, Torpedo)

Player’s rating: 2.75

Anton Silayev is the only skater on this list without a point to his name — but that hardly tells the story. The Torpedo defenseman brings plenty in other areas. At his size, combined with excellent skating, he’s a nightmare matchup for any opponent.

In September, Silaev posted a plus-5 rating, registered at least one shot on goal in every game (averaging nearly two per night), and led all young players in both hits (29) and blocked shots (22). Just as he did last season, he remains a cornerstone of Nizhny Novgorod’s penalty kill and a key piece of the blue line overall. With him on the ice at even strength, Torpedo allowed only two goals the entire month.

4. Yegor Zavragin, goalie (2005, SKA)

Player’s rating: 2.77

Heading into the regular season, it wasn’t clear which of SKA’s three talented young netminders would take the starting job. In truth, the team doesn’t have a clear-cut number one, but in September it was Yegor Zavragin who saw slightly more action than the others.

He didn’t make his first KHL appearance of the season until Sept. 19, but since then he’s gone on to win three of his five starts. With Zavragin in net, SKA earned victories over Dinamo Minsk, Lada, and HC Sochi. In every outing he turned aside at least 28 shots, and against Lada he recorded his first shutout of the campaign.

3. Roman Kantserov, forward (2004, Metallurg)

Player’s rating: 3.18

At the start of this season, Roman Kantserov has often been deployed as the center of Metallurg’s top line alongside Dmitry Silantyev and Vladimir Tkachyov. That’s an intriguing twist, since earlier in his career — even in junior hockey — Kantserov had never really played down the middle. A couple of years ago, head coach Andrei Razin made a similar move when he shifted Danila Yurov from wing to center, and Yurov’s game took off immediately. Now, the same seems to be happening with Kantserov, who is on track for the best season of his career.

In September, the forward appeared in ten games and collected as many points, including a scoring streak of eight straight outings that began once that new line was formed in Metallurg’s third game of the month. Of his five goals, four came at even strength. He struck twice against Ak Bars in separate games, and also found the net versus Barys, CSKA, and Sibir. On average, Kantserov registered 2 shots on goal per game, converting at an impressive 24% rate.

2. Yegor Vinogradov, forward (2003, Torpedo)

Player’s rating: 3.30

Yegor Vinogradov closed out September with eight points — and he didn’t need any time to find his rhythm, as all of them came in his first six games of the season. In the opener under Torpedo’s revamped coaching staff, he helped set up Nikita Shavin’s beautiful game-winner against Salavat Yulaev.
In the very next game against SKA, he was slated to play on the fourth line, but when Maxim Letunov went down during warmups, Vinogradov was bumped up to center the second unit. He seized the opportunity in style, figuring in all three Torpedo goals, including the OT winner. Not long after, the forward put together a three-game goal streak, scoring against Spartak, HC Sochi, and Lada.

By the end of the month, Vinogradov carried a plus-4 rating and was averaging close to 18 minutes of ice time per game — a clear sign he’s becoming a major piece for the Nizhny Novgorod side.

1. Yegor Surin, forward (2006, Lokomotiv)

Player’s rating: 3.95

Last season, the very young Yegor Surin started in a modest role. But over time — thanks to a mix of circumstances, his skill level, and readiness for senior hockey — he became a core player for Lokomotiv and a key leader for Igor Nikitin’s team. This season, he’s come out of the gate as if the championship playoff never ended.

In September, Surin was one of Yaroslavl’s top point-getters and led all under-23 players in the league, posting seven goals and three assists in 10 games. He put together a six-game scoring streak and found the net against Traktor (scoring the team’s first goal of the season), Severstal (in two separate games), CSKA, Lada, Neftekhimik, and Avtomobilist. Two of his goals were game-winners.

Surin plays in his usual aggressive style — delivering 26 clean hits on the month, forcing turnovers, and creating scoring chances in front of the opponent’s net almost magnetically. Remarkably, he achieves all this while averaging just thirteen minutes per game, not even cracking the top seven forwards in ice time for Lokomotiv. Simply outstanding efficiency.