Eastern Europe Stock Watch: Chicago Blackhawks prospect Roman Kantserov continues scoring pace
November marked the start of the first rendition of the Future Cup this season, featuring two Russian national teams representing the under-20 and under-18 age groups. The older crop came out on top of the competition while the youth squeezed into a third place finish.
The goal to improve parity in the MHL is off to a great start, as the first and last place teams are separated by 17 points in the East and 15 points out West, compared to a 45 and 49 point gap respectively to end last season. Still time for things to change and the Silver Divisions remain chaotic as ever, but this is a very promising progression to enhance the talent crop.
In the VHL, it’s a horse race between Novokuznetsk and Khanty-Mansiysk at the 30-game mark of the season, though Almetievsk boast a +49 goal differential in third place. Metallurg Magnitogorsk are running the KHL right now as they look to return to Gagarin Cup glory, averaging nearly four goals a game.
Here’s a look at multiple players who rose to the occasion for the Future Cup, some KHL breakthroughs, one of the most electric prospects in the world, and more:
Stock Rising 📈
Roman Kantserov, C, Metallurg Magnitogorsk (Chicago Blackhawks)
As of December 1, Roman Kantserov is on pace to score 45 goals this KHL season. That would be the third highest single-season total in the league’s history, behind just Joshua Leivo (49) and Sergei Mozyakin (48).
This season, he made the full-time switch to centre and immediately found a home on Magnitogorsk’s top line. Currently the third top scorer in the league, Kantserov has been undeniably one of the best players outside of the NHL this year. His move to centre wasn’t seamless, but as the season has progressed, he has taken steps in the right direction with adjusting positioning on transitions, assisting defensively, and conducting plays through the middle of the ice. His goal-scoring instincts have increased monumentally to maximize a quick, powerful release while still maintaining his threat as a playmaker with quick hands and even quicker processing speed.
With his contract expiring at the end of this season, it would be expected for Chicago to be chomping at the bit of bringing their former second-round pick over in the summer.
Nikita Gromakov, LW, MHK Dynamo St. Petersburg (2026 NHL Draft)
Nikita Gromakov is a lesser known name for the 2026 NHL Entry Draft, but one to keep an eye on for a potential late-round steal. The speedy winger opened up his November hot, scoring the opening goal of the Future Cup with Russia U18 with an insane sprint down the wall, bouncing around check after check, and getting a lucky deflection off a defender to finish it off.
With our latest rendition of draft rankings at Elite Prospects, Gromakov was bumped up from a W to a C – marking him as a potential mid-round prospect. That comes down to his blistering pace, ability to access high-danger areas, and a sneakily lethal shot. After splitting last season between the MHL and NMHL (the second-tier of Russian junior hockey), he has established himself as a top-six mainstay with MHK Dynamo St. Petersburg and currently sits as the ninth highest producer among draft-eligibles in the league.
Unlike many pace-first forwards coming through the Russian system, Gromakov’s 6-foot frame gives him an additional advantage with the ability to withstand physicality. Progressing higher in this crop will come down to controlling the chaos and finding more stability to his offensive output.
Semyon Gerasimov, LW, Kuznetskie Medvedi (2027 NHL Draft)
In the 2024/25 season, Semyon Gerasimov made his presence known in the MHL. Born in Novokuznetsk, he hasn’t left the Metallurg Novokuznetsk system since childhood and became the second-highest scorer among 16-year-olds with Kuznetskie Medvedi, behind just Kirill Kaprizov.
To this point in his sophomore season, he has identically matched his point total from the year prior with 17 goals and 25 points, though he has played 18 less games. Starting his November with Russia U18, his pace of play proved to be highly valuable against the older opponents, switching between high speed on carries and off-puck efforts and manipulating with low pace for playmaking. His return to the MHL after the competition was awesome. He went back-to-back-to-back on multi-goal games, capped off with his first ever hat trick in a 6-3 defeat to Chaika.
He ended his month with his VHL debut with Metallurg as he looks to become the first player since Kaprizov to be selected in the NHL Draft out of the Novokuznetsk system.
Matvei Shuravin, D, CSKA Moskva (Florida Panthers)
The alarm bells were ringing when Matvei Shuravin lined up with Krasnaya Armiya Moskva in the MHL to start his D+2 season. He played a key part in earning their promotion back to the Gold Division last year, but was only featured in two games of VHL hockey after a draft-year spent between all three levels of Russian hockey.
On October 12th, he was given his first KHL appearance since February 2024, though a short-lived 1:32 of ice time. He bounced around for a few weeks before leaving for the Future Cup with Russia U20, then returned to CSKA and has been playing somewhat regular minutes since. His improvements to his puck-moving game have been welcomed – poised, controlled, and showing a willingness to look off first options in favour of enhancing his chances. He remains a strong force when defending the rush with above-average mobility and lengthy reach.
The hope is that he sticks around at the professional level and rarely features for the MHL club for the remainder of the season.
Honourable Mentions: Yelisei Ryabykin (2026 NHL Draft), Adel Kalimullin (2026 NHL Draft), Pavel Denisov (2026 NHL Draft), Yegor Borikov (Utah Mammoth)
Stock Steady ↔️
Stepan Gorbunov, C, Chelmet Chelyabinsk (Florida Panthers)
Stepan Gorbunov made his debut in the VHL last season to an astounding start, accruing 25 points in 48 games. To start this season, he was a wildcard for early KHL success, though his tenure ended up being short lived, playing 11 games of limited minutes with Traktor before returning to the VHL.
The 6-foot-5 centre still remains an intriguing prospect in the Panthers’ pool, though. He’s holding a point-per-game pace with Chelmet through this point in the year with five goals and six assists. An issue with his game as a draft-eligible prospect was getting shots off quicker and his game has improved in that regard. Same thing goes for his skating, though a below-average grade, it looks to be projectable to higher levels of hockey. Patience will be the name of the game, but look out for this player in a few years.
Stock Falling 📉
Viktor Fyodorov, C, Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod (2026 NHL Draft)
All things considered, this season hasn’t been that bad for Viktor Fyodorov. He started November with the Russian U18 squad at the Future Cup, centring the top line throughout the event with just one point at the end of it. Following the tournament, he re-joined Torpedo-Gorky in the VHL for a few games and is now bouncing between the MHL and KHL. He scored his first career KHL goal on November 20th against Spartak Moskva and followed it up with his first MHL goal of the season the next day against Kuznetskie Medvedi.
What puts him in this category is the lack of consistent offensive output and the impact of bouncing between levels. In the VHL, his off-puck game has been effective – he’s always the hardest worker on the ice – but there’s only glimpses of his playmaking coming few and far between. Moving forward, more regular minutes to get back to his top level in the MHL sounds ideal, though there’s no complaints about squeezing him into the big club when possible.
Daniil Prokhorov, RW, MHK Dynamo Moskva (New York Islanders)
Keeping to the theme of players who haven’t been bad, but are just in weird spots: Daniil Prokhorov. After being selected in the second-round by the Islanders, Prokhorov had his rights traded from Dynamo St. Petersburg to Dynamo Moskva, was picked in the CHL Import Draft by the Sarnia Sting, signed his entry-level contract with the Isles, and finally was loaned back to Russia, though missed preseason.
He started his season in the KHL where he “played” five games with Dynamo, averaging just over two-and-a-half minutes of ice time, including two games of exactly 1:00 of TOI. Since that run, he has not played in more than three games in a row at the same level. He has accumulated eight points across all competitions this year, including a four-point game against the worst team in the MHL this season, Krasnaya Mashina.
He still brings the same things that made him such a desirable prospect in last year’s draft. Incredible physicality, owns the area behind the net, and powers to the inside to force chances on goal. However, a lack of consistent playing time is certainly a concern for honing in on developing projectable offensive habits and progressing forward as a raw player.
Arseni Ilyin, RW/C, MHK Spartak Moskva (2026 NHL Draft)
Arseni Ilyin was given a B-grade for our preliminary 2026 NHL Draft Rankings as a potential second or third round prospect. Fast forward to now and he just snuck in as a watchlisted player.
Traded from SKA to Spartak last summer, Ilyin faced his former team in the season opener – a rematch of the Kharlamov Cup Final – and picked up an assist in a 7-3 victory. He followed that with a 10-game scoreless run while still primarily playing in the top-six on a powerful MHL roster. He’s been moved around, showing versatility to play the centre position, but with just five points through his first 27 games of the year, it’s hard to see him returning to the potential he showed in his first two MHL seasons.