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Fantasy Summary

Suniev is a winger with an array of plus-level tools and habits, if he can significantly improve his skating, he has upside as a versatile two-way goalscorer in a middle-six.


Observations

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June 2023 – Suniev was selected 80th overall by the Flames. Pat Quinn

 

April 2023 – While Bradly Nadeau has gotten the majority of the focus as a 2023 draft-eligible out of the historically dominant 2022-23 Penticton Vees team, his teammate, Aydar Suniev is equally intriguing as a prospect, if not more so. Suniev’s skating is… poor. It is in contention for the worst in the 2023 draft class (among top-100 talents) with Matthew Wood. His stride is extremely wide, choppy, and inefficient, and it presents by far the biggest hurdle in his development. That said, Suniev has developed an array of adaptive skills to compensate for his poor skating. He is tenacious all over the ice, which makes him a powerful puck carrier, pestering forechecker, and a defensively engaged winger. His off-puck habits are very strong. He’s a strong back checker, is consistently well-positioned, finds space offensively very well, and consistently attacks the slot and the middle lane offensively. He is an intelligent player who leverages his brain to create advantages. Just how translatable this will be as he makes a big jump in competition remains a bit of a question. If his development were up to me, I would glue him to a high-end skating coach and give him a few years. His foundation of awareness, sound habits and positioning, deadly release, excellent puck protection mechanics, and consistent work rate is a solid one to build on. He has an identity as a player and I can see what type of middle-six player he could become with significant skating improvement. Sebastian High

Attributes
Fantasy Upside 7.5
NHL Certainty 6.0
Country RUS
Position LW
Roster Type Draft Eligible
Shoot/Glove Left
Date of Birth November 16, 2004
Height 6‘2”
Weight 205 lbs
Drafted 2023 Round 3; Overall: 80

Stats

 Season Team League GP G A TP PIM      Playoffs GP G A TP PIM 
 2017-2018 CSKA Moskva Selects U14WSI U148 2 24 -|        
 2018-2019 Team Moskva U15Districts Cup U158 2 1113 2|        
  CSKA Moskva Selects U15WSI U158 4 610 6|        
 2019-2020 Yale Jr. Bulldogs 15U AAABEAST 15U8 2 24 0|Playoffs1 1 01
  Yale Jr. Bulldogs 15U AAA15U AAA18 22 1739 -|        
  The Hill Academy U16 PrepECEL 16U8 2 79 0|        
  The Hill Academy U18 PrepCSSHLE U182 3 14 0|        
 2020-2021 St. Andrew's College CISAA0 0 00 0|        
  CSKA Moskva U17Russia U172 0 11 0|        
  CSKA Moskva U18Russia Region U184 1 23 -|        
 2021-2022 St. Andrew's College CAHS11 13 1023 2|        
  Port Colborne SailorsGOJHL3 5 38 4|        
  Penticton VeesBCHL17 9 1120 2|Playoffs10 2 24
  St. Andrew's College PHC2 1 12 2|        
 2022-2023 Penticton VeesBCHL50 45 4590 44|Playoffs15 9 1423 16 
 2023-2024 Univ. of MassachusettsNCAA36 12 1325 25|        
 2024-2025 Univ. of MassachusettsNCAA1 3 03 0|        

Highlights