Igor Larionov, the coach, made it very evident that the defense prospect would experience greater things in the future.
2024 Montreal Canadiens Top 25 Under 25: #21 Bogdan Konyushkov
Posted on August 9, 2024 by Patrik Bexell
During the 2023 off-season, after Bogdan Konyushkov had been drafted by the Montreal Canadiens, Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod designated the young blue-liner its captain, a clear statement from coach Igor Larionov that bigger things were to come for the defence prospect. Having played a bit more than 20 minutes a game during the 2022-23 season, Konyushkov finished the most recent one with more than 23 minutes per game, increasing that to over 26 minutes in the playoffs.
The added responsibility didn’t affect the defenceman as he ended the season with a similar point total: 28 (6G, 22A) versus the previous season’s 25 (2G, 23A), finishing 11th in points for defencemen in the league. The one thing that really increased compared to his previous season other than the overall bump in time on ice was his penalty-kill usage, to almost three minutes per game from about two.
Elite Prospects
The contract with Torpedo lasts over the next two seasons, and there is no rush to get Konyushkov to North America. He still has a few things to work on, and getting to do that under one of the world’s smartest hockey professors while playing heavy minutes in all situations should only benefit the Canadiens long term. It also gives some leeway with developing and evaluating the cupboard that is stacked with other defencemen.
Voting
Only two panellists had Konyushkov outside the Top 25, and the community had him at 25th. In the end, he sits alone at 21st in the list, almost two points ahead of Sean Farrell behind him, and three points behind the player above him.
In general, the community votes came in with a peak between 21-24. However the trailing tail of votes all the way to 54 moved his average to 25.
Top 25 Under 25 History
Konyushkov made his debut last year at 35th, but at that time it was predicted that “he has the highest likelihood of a rise in 2024, and it could be a significant one.” The 14 places that Konyushkov has risen are third only to Florian Xhekaj (22) and Filip Eriksson (17) this year.
History of #21
Year #21
2023 Emil Heineman
2022 Arber Xhekaj
2021 Gianni Fairbrother
2020 Sean Farrell
2019 Joni Ikonen / Jayden Struble
2018 Jacob Olofsson
2017 Martin Réway
2016 Simon Bourque
2015 Lukas Vejdemo
2014 Michael McCarron
2013 Greg Pateryn
2012 Darren Dietz
2011 Gabriel Dumont
2010 Mac Bennett
Strengths
With hockey IQ in spades, Konyushkov is one of the smartest defencemen in the Canadiens’ system. He plays chess while some of the others play checkers. He rarely shoots the puck hard and chooses to place the puck smartly for tip-ins or shots off the goalie’s pads (or even the boards) to generate high-danger chances for his teammates. That led to one assist about every three games in the KHL.
He uses his reads to generate zone exits and has been used to quarterback the power play, more often than not on Torpedo’s second power-play unit. He can transport the puck up the ice, but relies more on finding good outlet passes, leaning more on others to do the actual transportation.
Leadership must be included as a strength as well. It seems that Konyushkov leads by example in a more understated way. The fact that he uses books and theatre as inspiration for his hockey development on his Instagram posts points to a player who has his head in the game and is looking at how all things can benefit his development long term.
Usually he uses his hockey sense in the defensive zone to cover passing lanes and get into the right area before the puck gets there. The fact that he reads the game so well allows him to cover for his major weakness: his skating.
Weaknesses
It feels a bit wrong to say that skating is the problem for a player who comes from a country that is famous for its skating development. One has to wonder if his intelligence has kept him in the right spots so he never really had to skate hard to find success. He has been able to get into proper position in time at lower levels, but with the faster pace in the KHL he has been somewhat exposed at times.
He doesn’t generate enough acceleration skating either forward or backward. His mechanics are not clear and precise, and the power isn’t transferred into the ice. The effect is that he seems to get tired during his shifts more quickly than others, sometimes making him look like he is treading water. In one-on-one battles his lateral movement has been exposed; if you can get Konyushkov going one way, he has trouble keeping up if you can change direction again. This would be something that Larionov as a coach would want to correct as soon as possible, and is probably already working on.
Projection
The main thing to focus on when following Konyushkov in the KHL this year is to see which roles he is given. Does he get first-power-play usage? How does he fit into the penalty kill? Focus should not be on increasing the point production, or even ice time. It is more about getting those high-quality minutes, learning from the mistakes, and improving on that skating. There is no doubt that he can handle hockey at a higher speed. He is too smart to not still make an impact. The skating issues are what limit the role he could get on an NHL team.
At the moment, Konyushkov projects as a bottom-pairing defenceman who can play in all situations. A lot of new opportunities would open up to him if his skating gets better. Artturi Lehkonen spent time with a skating coach in Frölunda over 18 months while he was developing, and it changed his skating completely. One would think that Torpedo would do something similar with Konyushkov. It is in their best interest to make him a better defenceman as his contract runs for another year after this.
