PAVEL TYUTNEV, C/RW – LOKO YAROSLAVL

Player Information courtesy of Elite Prospects

Pavel Tyutnev is a player who, on paper, would likely be thrown in the ‘undersized Russian group’, but there is a lot to unpack in his game. Offensively, he’s always a threat on the ice. He uses a mix of skating, strength, and speed to move the puck with ease, and creates danger with his shooting and passing. Think of any offensive tool, and Tyutnev has it.

Tyutnev (#13, red) has no issues getting into the dirty areas of the ice. His puck control while being pressured by defenders is something that always stands out when I see him play. His raw numbers don’t show the work that Tyutnev displays on the ice, putting up only 22 points in 36 MHL games this season. Despite this, all 22 of those points were primary, which really shows how involved he was when his team scored with him on the ice. Tyutnev performed very well for the Russian under-18s team, however, racking up 12 points in 15 games for the national team. He was shooting on a level higher than most players in the MHL, finishing the year with a 24.54 Sh% while averaging 1.47 S/GP while constantly moving up and down the line-up with limited powerplay time.

Along with his precise shooting, Tyutnev also shines in his ability to move the puck. I’ve already touched on this a bit, but his skating is truly on another level. In the clip above, Tyutnev looks back at Grigori Gryaznov (#80, white) before even touching the puck and already knew exactly how to beat him and then followed it up by faking out all four of the SKA-1946 players and moved the puck to a teammate to try to get the puck into the offensive zone. He has a fantastic shooting ability, but he thrives by driving into the very high danger areas to get the best possible shots off. This does cause issues, though, as he still is small, which makes it easy for bigger defensemen to knock him off the puck. When he has the puck protected and away from his body, he is still able to power off the average-sized opponents, like in the first clip. It also has to be taken into account that Tyutnev is one of the youngest draft eligible players, so he is in the same boat as Marat Khusnutdinov and Dmitri Ovchinnikov as players who still have time to grow and get stronger.

Pavel Tyutnev certainly isn’t a two-way dynamo by any means. His real only defensive asset is his pure speed, but even that doesn’t show at times. He doesn’t get too involved defensively, and acts more as an outlet to get the puck out of the zone when his team regains possession. This is something that really brings his all-around game, especially when comparing him to someone like Khusnutdinov. Where Khusnutdinov uses his speed to constantly bombard the puck-carrier and play along the boards, even with his small size, Tyutnev does almost the polar opposite. It’s apparent that he doesn’t fit a bottom-six role because of his lackluster ability to break up plays, but as a top-six, complementary player, his strengths get shown off much better. However, he does become a very valuable asset on the penalty kill. He only got a short amount of PK ice time this season, but he brings the energy that he lacks at even strength to get the puck and quickly get it out of the defensive zone.

Tyutnev played on a powerhouse Yaroslavl team this season and definitely didn’t get lost in the line-up. He was consistently a stand-out player in the bottom-nine and his numbers show that. He ranked 22nd in Even Strength Goals For Percentage for all MHL forwards this past season, which is one spot above projected top-20 pick, Rodion Amirov. Like I mentioned previously, his shooting percentage was through the roof, ranking 6th out of all forwards. Finally, even with his low raw point totals (T-171st in P/PG), his scoring rates were all over one standard deviation above the average MHL forward in the 2019-20 season. He finished the season with a G/60 of 1.51.

Through everything, Tyutnev is a high-risk, high-reward type of player. His game is still very raw and he has plenty of developing to do, but, like Will Scouch (@Scouching) suggests often, a sit-down with a coach to show him what he could be doing better in the defensive zone could make a huge difference in his development. Although his points are mostly made up by goals, I still see him projecting as a great puck-moving playmaker at the higher levels. His skating and passing are two of his most ironed out assets in his game. He will continue to build on these more and more as he starts playing against more difficult opponents and hopefully put on more muscle to really be able to take on bigger defenders. Tyutnev isn’t someone to jump on in the early stages of the draft, but around the 4th or 5th round, he would be a very valuable option if you’re willing to take the risk on him.