Of Red Wings prospect-related note today:
In the KHL, the good news is that SKA St. Petersburg won 3-2 over Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, advancing to 6-and-0 (though they’re 5-0-0-and-1 thanks to the KHL’s rule that an overtime win is only 2 points).
The bad news if you’re a fan of Red Wings prospects as opposed to the KHL’s flagship franchise is that Dmitri Buchelnikov continues to be used very sparingly. After playing a staggeringly regular 13:19 in the previous game, he finished even in 4:41 of ice time on Thursday, over the course of 8 shifts.
He may play in SKA-1946’s MHL game (i.e. in the Russian under-20 league) on Friday before returning to SKA on Saturday, but playing yo-yo hockey isn’t great, and playing for five-to-eight minutes per game at the KHL level “because that’s how they break young players in” isn’t ideal, either.
Regrettably, it’s going to be one or the other for Buchelnikov, and he’s going to have to be patient and wait for his chance to impress.
