Alexander Ivanov has the trust of his coaches in Russia, as he plays within the top 4 on defense of his team against men. Here\u2019s a scouting report on a left-shot defenseman who is gaining crucial experience in the VHL.<\/p>\n
2026 NHL Draft Scouting Report: Alexander Ivanov<\/p>\n
At the start of hockey seasons, I like to look for prospects playing in professional leagues in Europe, such as Alexander Ivanov this year. Whether it\u2019s the SHL, the Liiga, the KHL, or their respective second divisions, the experience gained in these leagues by a 17- or 18-year-old prospect is quite unique. It\u2019s true that in many cases, coaches don\u2019t give these young players much ice time. Nevertheless, especially for defensemen, you sometimes notice exceptions who reach respectable minutes.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the case with Alexander Ivanov, who plays in the VHL with Bars Kazan. His average ice time per game so far is just over 17 minutes in 7 games. It\u2019s true his stat line doesn\u2019t look great, with no points recorded so far, but he is trusted defensively, as indicated by his role on the top penalty-killing unit.<\/p>\n
His main strengths are defensive. Ivanov has good size at 6-foot-2 and 181 pounds. In addition, the left-hander, who plays both sides, skates well enough to cover opposing rushes. He isn\u2019t a player who gets beaten easily (winning 61% of his battles; 6th best on the team), and his stick is very active in breaking up plays.<\/p>\n
I find him particularly good at anticipating the passing lanes of players within his reach. It\u2019s true that he pinches, but his success rate is excellent and he has a good sense of timing in knowing when to step up. A bit like a soccer player preventing an offside.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know if he\u2019s going to get drafted, if he\u2019ll go early or late. It\u2019s too early to rank a prospect who\u2019s almost strictly defensive, but he\u2019s still interesting to follow because his ability to defend against men really stands out in a positive way\u2026\u201d \u2014 Excerpt about Alexander Ivanov from the \u201cSous le Radar\u201d segment of the TSLH Podcast.<\/a><\/p>\n Along the boards and in front of the net, Alexander Ivanov is just as effective, as he doesn\u2019t give up and disrupts opponents\u2019 actions significantly. He can block shots (11 so far; 3rd best on the team), tie up sticks, or play physically (6 registered hits). The only glaring mistakes I\u2019ve seen from him so far are mostly random events\u2014falling due to a stick or a bad bounce taking him out of the play. His turnover differential is excellent: he has regained possession of the puck 53 times (best on the team) compared to 33 turnovers.<\/p>\n Offensive Growing Pains<\/p>\n Where things get tricky right now is offensively or more precisely, when he has to control the puck. In transition, the Russian plays in a Mike Komisarek style when the puck touches his stick. By that I mean the prospect gets rid of it as quickly as possible with a lob into the neutral zone or along the boards, without necessarily scanning for nearby options.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a major lack of information-gathering around him when under pressure, which may explain his low completion rate on passes (81%). He sometimes tries to carry the puck out of the zone, but this often ends in a turnover, a giveaway, or a play that dies because he held onto it too long.<\/p>\n Ivanov is also capable of supporting the attack as the second wave. He does it quite often, but his teammates almost never use him. Perhaps he\u2019s not fully trusted offensively yet. His shot isn\u2019t the most accurate (4 shots on goal out of 13 attempts), nor are his passes, and perhaps teammates believe going for the net themselves has a better chance of success than passing to him. In short, the prospect is still very young and the season has only just begun. He isn\u2019t being used in a way that would allow his offense to flourish. We\u2019ll see later in the season if there\u2019s progression in that area.<\/p>\n Alexander Ivanov\u2019s 2026 NHL Draft Projection<\/p>\n I don\u2019t know if this defenseman will be an option in the 2026 NHL Draft for teams. Personally, I\u2019d take a chance around the 4th round for now. Depending on how his development trends, his stock could shift slightly. Maybe the offense will come along, although even last year in the MHL it wasn\u2019t really his strength.<\/p>\n To access content on prospects, including Montreal Canadiens prospects pool, and everything surrounding the NHL Draft, you can visit the\u00a0TSLH Prospects section<\/a>, subscribing to our\u00a0various audio platforms<\/a>, checking our\u00a0YouTube channel<\/a>, using the search bar at the top of the page, and exploring our\u00a0TSLH Espoirs : Le Guide<\/a>\u00a0for free. Don\u2019t forget\u00a0Patreon\u00a0<\/a>as well!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alexander Ivanov has the trust of his coaches in Russia, as he plays within the top 4 on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":170557,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-170556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}