Daniil But is a big winger with an even bigger shot. This season, he made his KHL debut but mainly featured in the Junior league where he scored at a point-per-game pace.
Birthplace: Yaroslavl, Russia
Date of birth: February 15, 2005
Shoots: Right
Position: Left Winger
Height: 6’5”
Weight: 203 lbs.
Team: Loko Yaroslavl (MHL)
Wingers who are 6’5″ and can move as well as produce offence will always make many Scouting Directors and General Managers salivate.
He is the kind of player most teams would probably love to have as a complementary piece on a middle-six line. He can drive possession and with his shot add a fair bit of power-play value. In these respects, he is not unlike his compatriot and current Montreal Canadiens winger Denis Gurianov. They also happen to be of almost exactly the same stature.
Speaking of Gurianov, he also received the opportunity to dip his toenails in the KHL water at the mere age of 17. His regular time was in the MHL with Togliatti’s development squad, where he spent the majority of his draft season.
But could use some guidance in terms of using his large frame to his advantage, especially when you consider that he has a lot going for him already. There is the potential of having a real physical menace of a left-winger here, but during his games in the KHL he had yet to reach that ceiling.
While facing his teenage peers in the MHL, it has been considerably easier to demonstrate prowess in holding off defencemen and shielding the puck in battles along the boards, just as it should be when a potential NHL first-round draft pick plays Junior hockey.
Preliminary Rankings
Dobber Prospects: #52
Elite Prospects: #37
FCHockey: #47
Hockey Prospect: #9
Hadi Kalakeche: #52
McKeen’s: #19
Bob McKenzie (TSN): #25
NHL Central Scouting: #11 (European skaters)
Corey Pronman (The Athletic): #8
Scott Wheeler (The Athletic): #31
It is this range of draft rankings which is the most fun. It’s not often you can see a range spanning from 8 to the early 50s between different people who spend their days and nights analyzing draft-eligible prospects. Usually, they end up finding a collective middle-ground as we edge closer to the actual draft, so let’s just enjoy this while it lasts.
Corey Pronman of The Athletic has But as the eighth-best player of the class, comparing the large winger to the Buffalo Sabres’ Alex Tuch. You could, if you wish, say that Pronman likes big But and he cannot lie.
He does agree with other analysts that the young Russian lacks elite traits. However, maybe that does not matter when you have the ability to add a little bit of everything. But can shoot, pass, and drive play while not being a total sloth on two skates. And if you add those traits collectively to a 6’5″, 200-pound body, you get a player who “checks every box and projects to be a major part of an NHL lineup.” In all probability, most teams would be more than happy to return from the draft with a prospect like that as their first-round selection.
Naturally, in this case, it is not just the lack of elite traits that will hamper But’s ability to be selected by an NHL franchise. As with every other Russian prospect, the conflict in Ukraine and Russia’s forced withdrawal from the centre stage of almost every major global sporting scene, makes any selection of a Russian fostered player come with major question marks.
Will the player still choose to come over to North America as his KHL contract draws to a close? Will there be opportunity to formally scout and interview Russian players ahead of the draft? How will the relationship between the KHL and the NHL be affected by a North American support for the Ukrainian troops?
We may wish that we could stay away from politics in sports, but with sports being a major tool of propaganda for many a leader, it has become increasingly difficult to have one without also considering the other. Especially when there is tension between the countries with the two best hockey leagues in the world.
But currently sits on a contract with Yaroslavl until 2025. That means that whoever drafts him will have to go the same route as with Alexander Romanov and Vasili Podkolzin, among others, and wait two seasons before getting the player inserted into their system.
From a Canadiens perspective, it sure would be special to hear the announcers scream “C’est le but de But!” or “C’est But avec le but!” a couple of years down the line. Then again, you cannot make your draft choices based on which names make up the best journalistic puns.
His ultimate draft position will come down to his blend of size and skill versus the insecurity of selecting a Russian prospect in 2023. It is safe to say that it is difficult to project where he will end up being selected come draft night.
Jared Book
