Overagers typically get overlooked in the NHL Draft. However, Russian goaltender Ilya Konovalov is one worth looking at in the 2019 NHL Draft.
When it comes to the NHL Entry Draft, overagers typically see themselves fall to later rounds. This should not be the case with Russian goaltender Ilya Konovalov. Konovalov is one of the best goaltenders in the 2019 NHL Draft class and is clearly the most NHL ready.
At 20 years old, he is facing his last chance to be drafted in the NHL and it is safe to say that this time around someone will likely take the chance on him. Although he is signed in the KHL until 2020-2021, Konovalov is a highly skilled goaltender with tons of potential.
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His success in the KHL as a rookie has been outstanding, especially considering the fact that he is just 20-years old playing in arguably the second best hockey league in the world after the NHL. Konovalov has been spending time with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the KHL this season where he led his team to finish 4th overall in the league standings. In the playoffs, he helped lead his team to a conference finals berth where Lokomotiv Yaroslavl ultimately lost in the Conference Finals.
Throughout 45 games this season, Konovalov was one of the most impressive goaltenders in the entire KHL. He posted a stellar 1.89 goals against average and a .930 save percentage. His phenomenal play saw him earn 10 awards throughout the season.
He was named goaltender of the week twice, goaltender of the month once, rookie of the month twice, and rookie of the week five times. No top that off, Konovalov was named KHL Rookie Of The Year. Winning as many accolades as Ilya Konovalov has this year is not a typical feat. The last goaltender to win the KHL Rookie Of The Year Award was Tampa Bay Lightning star goaltender Andrei Vasilevski.
Regardless of age, those are tremendous stats, stats that certainly would attract some NHL interest. The fact that he is still draft eligible makes it all the better. Prospects sometimes take more time to develop, especially goaltender prospects.
It takes time for them to develop into stars and this can result in many goaltenders never getting their chance in the NHL due to their development at older ages. His stats as a 20-year old is comparable to that of some of the best Russian goaltenders such as Ilya Samsonov, Iya Sorokin, Sergei Bobrovsky, and many more.
What is surprising about Ilya Konovalov is that teams never took a chance on him in previous drafts. It seems that when it comes to the drafts, many high-end European players go undrafted, only to become highly sought after free agents years later.
There are multiple possible reasons as to why this is the case. Many of these young European prospects have no intentions of coming to North America any time soon so teams are reluctant to waste a draft pick on a player who would be unlikely to join the team.
Many teams would rather wait until these players are more developed and are not under contract in leagues in Europe to sign these players as free agents.
The interesting thing about Konovalov is that he has always been a great goaltender. Last season he split time playing in the MHL, VHL, and KHL. Through 11 games during the regular season in the MHL, Konovalov clearly was ready for the next level. He had a GAA of 1.79 and a SV% of 9.22.
In the MHL Playoffs, he took his game to a whole other level. Not only did he lead Loko Yaroslavl to win the MHL Championship, but he was named Playoff MVP. He earned MVP honors after his stellar 1.23 GAA and .945 SV% through 16 games. Konovalov spent time playing in the VHL and KHL as well during the 2017-2018 season where his success foreshadowed his latest triumphant season.
Teams looking for developed goaltenders with tons of potential must not look past Ilya Konovalov. In a draft with multiple highly skilled goaltenders available such as Spencer Knight, Dustin Wolf, Mads Soogard, Trent Miner, and so much more, prospects like Konovalov could very well fall lower in the draft but this should not stop teams from taking a chance on him. He could go on to be one of the steals of the draft as an overager.