Vegas Golden Knights can’t afford to mismanage Pavel Dorofeyev

The general consensus is that the Vegas Golden Knights got an absolute steal when they drafted Pavel Dorofeyev in the third round of the 2019 NHL Draft. This is only true if they haven’t burned their Russian bridges.

Pavel Dorofeyev was, almost completely across the board, considered a first-round talent prior to the 2019 NHL Draft kicking off. So, how then, did a player with this perceived talent level fall to the Vegas Golden Knights in the third round? He’s Russian and has perceived compete-level issues. Both of these are poor ways to evaluate high-talent players on draft day, but both are still a reality.

In his draft minus-1 year, Dorofeyev scored 39 points in 48 games in the MHL. In his draft year in the Russian junior league (second season in the MHL), he scored 31 points in 19 games, including 17 goals. You have everything you want on the surface with Dorofeyev.

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He’s a productive point producer that showed significant growth from his draft minus-1 year to his draft year. Dorofeyev possesses some of the best hand skills in the entire draft and uses that to move the puck seamlessly up the ice.

Players who don’t want to compete don’t produce numbers. Dorofeyev has proven himself a skillful player with results. The Russian factor plays a big part in why players get their work ethic judged, as it’s an annual statement that comes up with players from that area of the world.

Whenever this topic comes up with prospects it’s usually because the other arguments are weak. Such is the case here.

The Golden Knights were gifted a steal in the third round when Dorofeyev was still on the board. They made a very wise decision to select the highly skilled Russian. They’ll be rewarded for that decision if they can manage Dorofeyev better than Vadim Shipachyov and Nikita Gusev.

History cannot continue to repeat itself for the Golden Knights and Russian players. Vegas should be placing a lot of stock on Dorofeyev, as he (along with Peyton Krebs) headlines a very thin two-draft prospect pool.

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George McPhee had a lot of success in Washington with Russian-born players, but that hasn’t been repeated since he landed in Vegas. It will be up to Kelly McCrimmon to mend fences and ensure that the Golden Knights didn’t waste a third-round pick on a potential star who never suits up for the team.