Alexander Sapozhnikov:
Projection: Bottom 4 Defence
Strengths: Poise, Stick skills, Size
Weaknesses: Strength, Mobility, Top speed
Note: Overager
Analysis:
Alexander Sapozhnikov is a huge puck-moving defenceman. He has immense
poise with the puck on his stick. He never rushes to make a play and
considers all his options before making the best play available. His
passing and vision are extremely good, consistently getting his passes
from tape to tape and finding open players through lanes. He is great
at using his stick in every situation. He can use it very well to
disrupt players on the rush, along the boards in puck battles to come
out on top, or control the puck while he evaluates his options. His
size is also a huge plus.
For someone as big as he is, I wish he would be a little harder to
battle against. He uses body positioning well to put himself in a
place to come out on top, but if he was slightly stronger he would
almost never lose a battle against an opponent. His skating is also
fairly good for someone as large as he is, but his agility and top
speed could still use some work. He still has some work to do, but he
could become a very good value pick in the middle rounds.