Nashville Predators take Yegor Surin with their 1st Round Pick of 2024 Draft

With the 22nd overall in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft, the Nashville Predators went international and selected Yegor Surin, from Loko Yaroslavl of the MHL, the top junior league in Russia.

Born August 1st, 2006, Surin is only a month away from having not even being eligible for the 2024 draft, and that could be one of the reasons for his fall down the charts. He's been productive in his two seasons, and really evolved last year to become a top-flight player on his team.

He scored 53 points in 43 games, as well as 23 points in 19 playoff games. He had 23 goals, 30 assists, and 108 penalty minutes. A talented scorer, and physical presense, he is also 6'1" 192 pounds. At only 17 years old, he still has some room to physically grow which should be scary for his future opponents. He is credited with 100 hits and his game should translate well to North America.

What's the next step for Serin in 2024 and Beyond?

Now, we have to factor in the Russia of it all. Surin is staying over there at least next year, and will likely play in both the MHL and the KHL. If he's in the junior league we might see Surin make a push for the league lead in points, and possibly goals.

If Surin is in the KHL we'll get to see how a barely 18-year-old handles playing against men. Either way, the Predators will have a lot more useful data on Surin, who will also be a candidate for the Russian U20 World Junior team.

We also can believe that he'll attempt to take over a game and put a lot of pressure on himself. Sometimes it doesn't work and he'll look bad, doing too much and making a stupid mistake. Other times he'll dominate. In the MHL playoffs the only player who outscored him was Ivan Demidov, who went 5th overall to the Montreal Canadians.

Surin is a player whose motor is not going to stop, and his physical ability and willingness to play a 200-foot game will endear him to his teammates. He has had a few NHL comparables listed. On the high end, a highly offensive super pest in the mold of Brad Marchand, only bigger. He might not produce that much offensively, but even a more conservative projection would still put Surin as a future middle-six forward.

Now the Russia factor and the penalties are likely the two biggest "flaws" or red flags when it come to Surin. We don't know when he'll be ready to come to North America, or even when he'll be ready to step into the NHL. We do know that he's probably interviewed well and had some reassuring words with Barry Trotz, who likely watched Surin up close at a recent Florida camp for Russian skaters held during the Stanley Cup Finals.

Surin is a player that will fit the mold of a very competitive player who wants the puck, wants to score, and will take the puck off of you by any means necessary.