Dmitri Kuzmin - RSD - Dinamo-Molodechno - Avg. Rnk - NR
46GP - 3G+9A - 2.56% G% 10.23% INV% - 6.16 NHLeScore
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Yeah, today we’re profiling the lacrosse goal scoring defenseman and Belarusian U18 standout Dmitri Kuzmin. Lacrosse goals aside, Dmitri Kuzmin is one of the most intriguing and frankly fun defenders I tracked this season, and him showing the world his talent at the U18 was a welcome and somewhat expected surprise for me. He caught my eye early in the year, noting his skating, lack of size and still earning a job in his top division playing well over 15 minutes at 5v5 a night, and what I found was fascinating.
Before we get started, it should be noted that the Belarusian pro league isn’t the most competitive, but it is no joke, especially perennial champions Yunost Minsk, against which four of seven games were tracked. This breaks a rule where I prefer to see the player against a variety of opponents, but in Kuzmin’s case, playing against a perennial champion in his league felt more prudent. The final tracked game was in the 3rd division against Yunost’s junior team however, and was laughably silly at times, but many of Kuzmin’s objectively great metrics lined up almost perfectly.
Kuzmin is a player marked by both passive, but strong defensive play, and aggressive, skilled offensive play. His defensive transition involvement was just 19.9%, but he blocked or retrieved under pressure 73% of those attempts. His offensive transition involvement of 30.3% puts him in a class of names like Luke Hughes, Brandt Clarke, and Corson Ceulemans, and just Hughes and Ceulemans surpassed him in that group in terms of maintaining offensive control. Of this group defenders, Kuzmin’s team took shot attempts 69% as often as the next highest player’s team, but Kuzmin was either taking, or creating 37% of those attempts, on par with Luke Hughes’ involvement in creating offense for his team.
Hockey in Belarus can be a bit of a mess, similar to a league like the VHL due to talent spread, and Kuzmin found himself locked in his defensive zone often, but when it came to breaking up cycles defensively (i.e., any breakup of opponent possession with two or more completed passes or shot attempt recoveries in the defensive zone), Kuzmin is one of five players tracked over 10 cycle breaks per 60, trailing two MHL players in Vsevolod Gaidamak and Dmitri Zugan, and beating names like Brent Johnson and Brandt Clarke. On the offensive side, Kuzmin shines on paper as well, being one of five tracked defensemen above eight dangerous pass attempts per game, and while he completely the second fewest on average, considering the rarity his team was in the offensive zone with extended zone possession, Kuzmin was clearly cooking at both ends of the ice and trying to do what he could to push his team in the right direction in multiple ways.
So, with Kuzmin, it’s probably best to start where things aren’t so great, because some issues are self-evident, and come with the territory being a small defender. Kuzmin is quite passive on defensive rushes, and his gap management suffers a bit as he doesn’t necessarily have the best backwards or lateral speed generation or mobility and can rely on play coming to him at pace. He’s also just not much of a legitimate physical threat in a multitude of ways, and right now, that comes with the territory of most undersized defenders. There are moments defensively outside of rush defense that are just plain misreads of rush lanes with far less agility or strength necessary to counter.
For all the positives there may be, Kuzmin is a longshot without working on his pure quickness and speed on his feet in open ice without the puck in retrieval situations. Under pressure in motion, he can also be far too easy to beat, and not follow up with legitimate defensive imposition, and even in the Belarusian 3rd division game, I’m not sure if he just knew he could get away with it, but he felt flat footed defensively and a bit too much of a non-factor in the DZ, relying on pucks coming to him for turnover generation.
In terms of his positional and spatial awareness as a defender, in the first game tracked, he completely lost sight of a forechecker in wider open space, leading to the only goal against tracked, but here’s where things turn for the better. For all the time it was apparent that Dinamo-Molodechno spent stuck in their own end, Kuzmin registered the 13th best DSATA/60 rate tracked, and with the 19th best DCZT% and these aforementioned issues, how was this possible? Kuzmin may not be the most fluid or fastest skater, but there is a difference between being “fast” and being “quick”, and Kuzmin is most definitely quick. He comes at you stick-first and comes at you hard. His sense of awareness and space in the NZ, while risky at times, allowed him to block almost 75% of offensive exits where he was involved.
He’s quick with his hands, able to control a shorter stick with precision and purpose, he’s a hard worker who closes gaps with effort, if not speed, and can separate pucks in transition, and he makes quick adjustments to pivot to forward motion, stopping transitions on sloppy passes and immediately turning play around. There’s a sense of awareness with rush defense where Kuzmin finds some way of getting in the way of a puck touch without having to close much of a gap, leading to large uncontrolled defensive transition generation.
The real magic though, is Kuzmin once he has the puck and some space to play with. Playing on his off-side, his natural puck stance in the offensive zone keeps the puck towards the middle of the ice, but his hands can pull pucks all over the place to protect possession and keep opponents guessing. There are moments of what I’d consider “potential” as a truly gamebreaking skilled offensive defenseman, challenging opponents one on one down the middle, trying to put pucks through them, but without further improvements to his speed and strength, it’s hard to see it projecting as it. When he keeps pucks along the boards, drops a shoulder, and attacks opponents wide, he finds more success as a perimeter playmaker, that feels much more projectable.
He uses his hands and decent open ice speed to carry and move pucks well with deception and vision. Walking the blueline with offensive zone possession also allows him to open up the ice, move opponents around and find linemates through dangerous areas. There’s a real playmaker’s instinct with Kuzmin, especially once he jumps into play along the boards, leading to driving plenty of potential for his team offensively. He’s small, but the results are promising, and how he generates the results is not only reliant on pretty strong fundamentals, but a ton of fun to watch at times.
The Best Part
For a defender, his skill with his hands is just awesome. He’s so skilled, so creative, and so aggressive. While it may not project as is, with enough time and experience, he should settle into a style of play that utilizes his best traits well, while raising the floor of his deficiencies. He can keep defenders guessing, try to take on opponents one on one, and open up passing lanes in the offensive zone, better than many defenders I’ve tracked.
The Good Part
There’s quickness to his game that goes a certain way towards covering for his lack of size. He’ll need to be better after his first step or two coming out of a change in direction to be more projectable, but his ability to make a quick pivot, and step into a lane for valuable fractions of a second led to a number of valuable turnovers. That quickness, along with his skill made him a threat along the boards in the offensive zone, and over time, his ability to manage and evade pressure should improve.
The Not-So Good Part
We know the drill. A small defender with strength deficiencies is not unique, but Kuzmin also shows a lack of fluidity and in turn, gap management defensively that takes him out of play often. For a defender, this is not what you’d like. His defensive cycle breaks come largely off of stick checks and blocking pass lanes with his stick or body rather than physical imposition or quickness, and down the road, he will probably have issues sustaining his strong defensive results if his aggressive NZ pinching and stick checking don’t work. I’m not concerned about the strength side, so long as the feet and stick can do a lot of the work, like it does for a Jiri Tichacek, but if it does over the next few years, there’s more offensive flair on display with Kuzmin than Tichacek, and it could lead to a much more dynamic and projectable offensive player.
Final Thoughts
Kuzmin is a fascinating case study to say the least. He’s an aggressive defender, willing to recognize space to attack, and pressures opponents with intensity and quickness to stop opponents in their tracks. This instinct also factors into his offensive game as well, able to jump into a rush and participate in quarterbacking an offense with solid puck reception and adaptive pivoting ability. He’s remarkably skilled and quick with his hands. All of these things blend together to make an impressive package of talents that create a unique brand of defender that could have huge value potential in the draft if you can live with his clear shortcomings that he displays.
While he’s playing against men in a league that I wouldn’t consider great hockey, they certainly still play hard, physical hockey like many other pro leagues, and Kuzmin got plenty of practice to learn how to utilize his strengths and navigate the difficulties presented to him. The U18s have been a great breath of fresh air, seeing him against junior competition, allowing him to play more of a prominent role on special teams, and with his offensive skill on display more than it was on his poor offensive team in Belarus. I love watching this kid play, and he should have a creative and patient NHL team be excited to work with him and see what comes of his career.
He’s fun, creative, and aggressive. On paper, he’s better defensively than you might expect, at least when it comes to aggressively pinching off breakouts and attacking opponents stick-first leading with his quickness and first step power generation. Strength will be an issue, but a bigger issue will be continuing to build on his speed generation in multiple areas and honing his decision making to pick spots better and utilize teammates more reliably. He can move up the ice decently well, but there isn’t much of an escape gear like there was in a guy like Jiri Tichacek. He’s got great hands and can manipulate his view of the ice very well with his feet, but his pass selection can be needlessly aggressive. Sometimes, you just wonder what he’s thinking, sending passes directly into coverage too often. If he works on his solid fundamentals, settles into a more dependable rush offense role without biting off more than he can chew, he could be an excellent puck moving defender through transition passing and offensive zone play.
His U18 has been impressive, but it’ll be very interesting to see how NHL teams view a 5’8” skilled defender with notable defensive mobility and strength issues as a legitimate prospect. In my world, I believe an NHL tactical system could use players like Dmitri Kuzmin with responsible forwards able to step in and cover for him, and a defensive partner with mobility, strength and reach that could occupy valuable space that Kuzmin may never match. If he’s a player available in the mid to late rounds, you could probably do much worse, and his teammate Alexander Suvorov ain’t bad either, considering he was third in team scoring as a first time draft eligible. For the record, Kuzmin was second in team scoring. I also just like fun, and part of sports is the entertainment aspect, and hockey should be more fun. Well, Dmitri Kuzmin is fun, and has the skill and excitement to potentially put fans in the arena, and get them out of their seats once in a while.
Final Ratings: Think - 2D Move - 2B Get - 2F Pass - 2C Shoot - 2B Overall - 2C
NOTES
Data tracked includes controlled and uncontrolled zone entries and exits the player is involved in, as well as shot attempts, their location, the player's pass attempts, and the percentage of those pass attempts that are directed to high or medium danger areas. The grades referred to in the video are assigned with a number and a letter grade. The number from one through four indicates the general tier of talent, with one being highest, and the letter indicating the consistency around that tier of talent.