The NHL’s decision to push the 2020 draft to October 6th was bound to boost the stock of several European prospects, and you can count Dmitri Zlodeyev among them.

By the time the Vancouver Canucks had selected Zlodeyev in the sixth-round, he’d already put another 11 games under his belt. Four of those games came in the VHL, which is the KHL’s version of the AHL, and in those games he looked the part of a player ready to make the jump to professional hockey.

It wasn’t just the production that made Zlodeyev’s start so impressive. He’d grown from a hard-working, fundamentally-sound defensive player who required a bit of refinement to a full-blown defensive impact player.

Much like fellow Canucks prospect Vasili Podkolzin, Zlodeyev’s an advanced play-killer who suffocates the opposition. Lacki