Film Room: Why NHL teams will love Gleb Pugachyov's heavy physical game
The 2025-26 season didn’t start ideally for Gleb Pugachyov.
On his first day of training camp with Torpedo-Gorky, he ended up in the surgery room on the same day, undergoing an emergency appendectomy. That put him on the shelf for a month and a half, delaying his planned professional debut. Instead, he returned to Chaika Nizhny Novgorod to begin his draft-eligible season in the MHL.
Still, the Kazakh-born winger persisted, and after building up to full fitness, he made his first VHL appearance on November 19th and then finally received his call-up to the KHL to open the new year, making his debut against Barys Astana.
From a pure statistics point of view, it doesn't seem that likely for Pugachyov to be a player closing in on first-round discussions for the NHL Entry Draft; however, the energy and aggression he brings to the table are incredibly difficult to match.
Pugachyov began his journey playing pond hockey in Almaty before joining his first club at age five. At just nine-years-old, he moved to Kaliningrad, where he would eventually go on to impress many top systems in Russia before ultimately landing in Podolsk. In 2023, he made the transfer to Nizhny Novgorod, where he remains now.
Here’s why he will be the 23rd Kazakh-born player to be picked in NHL draft history.
Aggressiveness
It would be wrong to start anywhere but here.
Amongst the entirety of the 2026 NHL Draft class, there may be no player as violent as Pugachyov. At 6-foot-3 with a beefy frame, he has proven to be a weapon of mass destruction in every league he has played in. He brings an unmatched energy to the table, capable of shifting the momentum with huge body checks, building up full momentum and bashing opponents with anger.
The pitfall is glaring for those who want their players to… play: he takes a lot of penalties.
In fact, it is a bit surprising that his numbers aren’t higher. He’s a full-fledged agitator, getting under the skin of the opponents with post-whistle activity on top of the dangerous physicality. Regardless, history has shown that some NHL teams just love a mean, high-energy forward to change the momentum of the game with one collision, and this player fits that bill.
His physical game doesn’t present much nuance. The overall style of his game is heavily north-south based, but he's almost always able to apply disrupting pressures on a shift-by-shift basis, thanks to his relentlessness and speed. His checking habits make his projection to the NHL an easy one, fitting a bottom-six energy role with the potential to be the type of player that every team wants in their playoff lineup.
Physical tools can also lead to direct offence when put in the right spot. This was exemplified with a big goal in the quarter-finals against Omskie Yastreby:
The bigger picture
Pugachyov hasn’t blown the competition out of the water with a true scoring touch quite yet. While his professional career got off to a hot start – three points in his first five KHL games – his limited skill creates the question of just how high he can rise.
His skillset can be defined pretty simply. He's a fast-moving tank first, with handles as a backup. Throughout the season, we saw the highs and lows of his methods. If the flashes were consistent, he would easily be in the first-round discussion, but the high-end moments were once in a handful of viewings, leaving much to be desired.
Still, being able to attack head-on with pace and occasional moments of dynamism warrants attention.
His skating may be the highlight of his offensive toolkit. He takes every opportunity to hit the inside lane on offensive zone sequences, blending his power and explosiveness to become a heat-seeking missile through the heart of the defence. The control will have to improve to be a driver through cycles, but there’s plenty of potential for scoring with his ability to create space on counterattacks.
Over the course of his MHL career, he has played exactly two games at centre – both this season – but his fixation on being in the middle of the chaos yielded positive results in a small sample.
For scoring upside, Pugachyov may be an underrated goal-scorer. With the aforementioned rush threat to drive to the net and his off-puck instincts and timing to slip into pockets of open ice to unload whipping releases, he has a few ways to get the puck in the net.
Throughout the season, he had moments of playmaking success, but we mostly see a player who projects with a simple, short passing game. His big frame and shielding habits make him a positive possession player; however, his low-grade handling and puck control make extended puck touches more of a concern.
Long-term outlook
Pugachyov is a pretty cut-and-dry player. Barring groundbreaking developments to his offensive toolkit, his projection is a bottom-six, energy forward in the NHL. Looking at the first three letters of his last name alone, it’s clear he has that dog in him. His play on the ice only backs that up.
The developmental plan for the coming years breeds a positive outlook on this prospect, too. While there is fierce competition for youth spots with Torpedo, Pugachyov's name is clearly towards the top of their priority list to feature in as many professional games as possible.
We could see an NHL team make an early jump to get a player like him.
