Paul Berthelot: Breaking Down the Draft Picks: Vitali Abramov Profiling the Jackets third round pick Vitali Abramov

You guys are gonna love Abramov!!

I watched ~20 Gatineau Olympiques games this year and he was awesome! Fast, great hockey sense, awesome hands, can deke a D out of their skates and always seems like he's giving it his all! You can even see him back check effectively thanks to his speed. Did all this in his rookie year!

Obviously his size is a knock against him and the reason he fell to the 3rd round but put him on a line with some size (& talent!) like the Olympiques did (he played a lot with his fellow Russian Yakov Trenin) and he should be fine.

Great pickup, wished the Sens, being next door to the 'Piques would have picked him but Russian history with the Sens is pretty sketchy at best...

Silky smooth hands. Some nice shootout goals at development camp.

Paul Berthelot: Breaking Down the Draft Picks: Vitali Abramov
Profiling the Jackets third round pick Vitali Abramov
- Paul Berthelot

Oliver Bjorkstrand 2.0 perhaps...

Thanks for the post Paul. I'm not big into fancy stats like you are in this case, but if the numbers show he has the opportunity to play, great! Now let's see him do it over the next couple of years.

Detroit has made a living off these kind of picks over the years, it would be nice to see the CBJ get a great player low in the draft.

I loved watching him for the Olympiques, definitely a very talented player, very shifty around the net to bring pucks in front or get open for a shot. He also played near the half wall on the PP and they'd look for him for one timers a lot. Definitely has first round talent, just needs to keep working on his strength to make an impact in the NHL.

Oliver Bjorkstrand 2.0 perhaps...
- Alexzanki

With his size, I would have said Russian Atkinson. But as long as he plays well, I don't care who he compares to.