Nikolay Goldobin had a pretty decent season playing with men for the first time in professional leagues. He split the season between HIFK in Liiga – the Finnish Elite League – and Worcester in the AHL, with a brief break to play for Russia at the World Junior Hockey Championships.
The 27th overall pick in 2014 is a future top six winger for the Sharks that nearly made the team out of training camp. Wisely, he was sent elsewhere to develop his game. His transition back to North America should be minimal given his time with Sarnia in the OHL but the AHL is a different game than Liiga so he’ll be an interesting watch in the AHL Playoffs if you get a chance to see Worcester’s games. His role with the baby Sharks should continue to evolve.
Here is Goldobin’s points breakdown for his time in both professional leagues (regular season) this year.
Neither is a huge sample size but the point isn’t to predict his future – it’s just to give a closer look at what the Sharks top pick in 2014 did this year. The only thing that jumps out at me as being a little concerning is his ES goals against with Worcester (11) – but I’ll just chalk that up to the movement between leagues and lack of familiarity with the Worcester system.
In the playoffs for HIFK in Liiga, Goldobin had six points in eight games. He had one ES goal, one primary assist and four power play assists.
To date, including both leagues and Liiga’s playoffs, Goldobin has 32 points in 55 games in his professional league debut year. He didn’t blow the doors off – but he’s only 19 years old. Goldobin went to Europe at the behest of his agent, Igor Larionov, and had a solid season before returning to North America. Everyone stayed happy and his development went well.
I’m a fan of the shift to European professional leagues versus a return to the CHL when possible – and when it makes sense. Sure Goldobin could have went back to the OHL and put up over 100 points and everyone could ooh and ahh over his statistical totals, but I think it’s more beneficial to have him play against bigger, stronger players to help his transition to the NHL. He wasn’t eligible to start the year in Worcester so it was either back to junior with kids, or Europe with men.
Will he be ready for the NHL next year? It’s possible, but there’s no need to rush him. I’d certainly like to see what he could do on Joe Thornton’s wing – but not at the expense of his development process. There would be nothing wrong with Goldobin taking another season elsewhere to get stronger and work on certain areas of his game, like his own side of the red line. The good news for Goldobin is that Joe Thornton will still be here after next season if he’s then ready to make the jump to the NHL.
There are enough young players for the Sharks that Doug Wilson can still keep his balance without forcing Goldobin into a situation that doesn’t set him up for success. The last thing the Sharks need to do is play scratch and dress with another young player.
Overall, solid year for Goldobin playing professionally for the first time.
Thanks for reading.