Saginaw Spirit @ Kitchener Rangers 11/7 Game Report

Players to Watch

Nikita Klepov #98 (SAG) Dangerous player, looked like the best player on his line in this game. Fantastic skater, great hands, and I like his vision and playmaking. A very complete offensive game. He also is good as a forechecking winger, winning puck battles on the boards and forcing turnovers in the neutral zone. Has a good frame for not the largest player out there, he’s definitely looking like one of the best forwards in the draft. Great motor and tenacity defensively, I also love to see him trying to put the team on his back to try and win. Klepov is an incredible skater, and he’ll get faster as he gets older and stronger, but he already is advanced as a skater, and he protects the puck well enough at this level, but will need to get better. His physicality in this game was also a nice surprise to see, he outmuscled a bigger player in the corner to shield the puck from him and won the battle. He’s just a competitive player, he wants to win and put the team on his back, and even though it didn’t work out tonight, I appreciated his effort for the full 60 minutes.

Levi Harper #4 (SAG) Bigger than I thought, he’s listed at 5’11” but he looks bigger than me. Elite skater, great offensive engine for Saginaw, and his defensive game is a lot better than he probably gets credit for, although he needs to grow more with his body positioning and physicality which should come with age. There is definitely still some growing to do with his overall game, but he is a special talent with his offensive talent and skating ability. His decision making needs to get a lot cleaner, but he’s also asked to do quite a lot for this Saginaw team. Guo and Harper were the only defensemen that stood out to me in this game in a positive way.

Dima Zhilkin #71 (SAG) Demon mode. I love watching this player. He’s so skilled as an offensive weapon, he’s a quadruple threat: skating, hands, shot, passing the kid can do it all. Not his best game to start out in the first period, but I liked how his line bounced back and created more pressure in the second period, and I think Saginaw is trying to get Zhilkin to drive his own line, instead of stacking the deck with Klepov and Barabanov on that 1st line. Strong on his skates, tough to knock off the puck despite the smaller size, but he’s built strong. Would love to see more engagement on the defensive end, he doesn’t go for board battles that often, but that’s because if you break the puck out to him at the blue line, there’s a very good chance he creates a scoring chance for you the other way

Egor Barabanov #14 (SAG) Egor Barabanov, oh how I wish you were a D+1 instead of a D+2… I really like Barabanov, he looks like a solid 3C to me in the NHL, like the puck protection skills in the offensive zone are really good. The skating is really strong, he has smooth strides, skates efficiently, makes sharp cuts and stops. The shot is quick and definitely a weapon, scoring his 8th of the season tonight off a nice play by Harper and Klepov. Barabanov likely goes to NCAA next season and I just don’t know if an NHL team will pick an 06 centre in this draft, even Barabanov. He’s older than Macklin Celebrini and wasn’t drafted, spending two years in the USHL with Sioux Falls and Madison and not finding a ton of success. I just really like the player here, and if he can advance as a defensive anchor I know that a team would find a place for a player like Barabanov to be the 3C of their future, because his faceoffs were really good in this game too, winning 8 of 13 draws.

Haeden Ellis #13 (KIT) Ellis plays hard and fast, he has some skill to him, but I like how he drives the net the most. He’s a hardnosed no nonsense winger, if he could become like a dependable penalty killer and can score a little bit, he reminds of someone like Ty Dellandrea this season. Just a solid player with speed and some skill, he’ll need to add more to round out his game, but with 12 points so far in 18 OHL games this season, he’s well on the way to proving that an NHL team should draft him in his D+1 season. He had a solid game, creating 7 or 8 good chances for Kitchener, but his performance didn’t land him on the scoresheet. He had 4 shots on goal, and I liked what I saw from Haeden Ellis in my first game watching him.

Alexander Bilecki #89 (KIT) Tall, smooth skater. I like his two way game. Very good in the offensive zone, I think there’s more potential to unlock there too. He’s shown really good stickhandling, defensively hasn’t been asked to do much in this game as the Rangers have dominated the puck possession, but I like the small samples I’ve seen from him. He’s tall and rangy, his stick positioning is good and he is good at gaining body position in front of his net at this level, needs to get stronger at 6’2” 180 lbs, but I see a really solid LHD prospect here. He should get drafted in the third or fourth rounds, based on what I’ve seen from him so far. I like him as CHL defenseman

Tanner Lam #37 (KIT) Really like what I’ve seen from this player in my first viewing. He’s a smart player, works hard on the forecheck, and he has some serious playmaking instincts. Most of his best plays came below the goal line in the first and second period as part of 5on5 cycle play ( there is plenty of tape to watch an efficient cycle for Kitchener in this game, shaking hands with terrible defensive breakdowns for Saginaw). Tanner Lam is a smaller guy, listed at 5’10” 160 lbs, but his motor and offensive instincts could see him carve out a bottom six role on an NHL team. This is definitely a professional hockey player somewhere in the world once Junior hockey is done though. Maybe a team drafts him and sticks him in the NCAA next season. He was definitely the player of the game, scoring the dagger empty net goal to make it a 3 point night.

TBD’s Thoughts

My first OHL game this year was a fun one. Saginaw Spirit are one of my favorite junior teams to watch because of the offensive flair and style that seems to be the team’s identity every season. Last year had Kristian Epperson, Michael Misa, Igor Chernyshov and Zayne Parekh leading the way for Saginaw and this year it’s NIkita Klepov, Egor Barabanov, Dima Zhilkin and Levi Harper. These players continue that same style and make Saginaw fun, but sometimes frustrating to watch. The number of defensive breakdowns that happened for the Spirit in this game was too many to count, but I have to give credit to Kitchener. They have a well coached team, I like how hard they skate as a team in the offensive zone, and I thought a lot of older players had really good games for the Rangers: Tanner Lam, Luca Romano, Christian Humphreys and Cameron Reid all looked really strong as the older core of the team. Kitchener has been one of the strongest teams this year in the OHL and lately have been playing well, with 4 wins in their last 5 games, and this year it looks like they have two really solid goalies in Christian Kirsch and Jason Schaubel. Kirsch played in this game and looked really good, making 20 saves on 22 shots, although he wasn’t very busy tonight with Kitchener dominating possession for most of this game. Stepan Shurygin had a fantastic game, making 35 saves on 40 shots, and he probably kept the score from being 10 or more goals in this game with the amount of breakaway saves and high danger saves he made in this game. I cannot overstate how terrible Saginaw was defensively as a team for most of this game.

Jacob Xu did not play tonight for Kitchener, which was a shame because he was on my watch list but Alexander Bilecki did wonders for me tonight. He’s a very talented player, a tall and rangy left-shot defenseman who’s not afraid to activate in the offensive zone and jump into the play at the right time. Even if he didn’t get any points tonight for the Rangers, I liked Bilecki’s stick positioning on transition defense, breaking up plays and doing a great job keeping the dangerous Saginaw rush attack to the outside. He’s ok with his physicality, I’d like to see more from a big guy like him, but his skating ability was very good, especially with his four-way mobility. I think he can unlock a new level offensively very soon, he created most of Kitchener’s best chances on the powerplay tonight, and another 3 or 4 really good activations on rush plays. There was one play where he nearly stickhandled past four Saginaw players driving down the middle of the ice with speed on a zone entry, but he fanned on the shot. That play was really interesting to me though, because he showed a skill level flash that I hadn’t seem much of before that point in the game. If he can show more skating and skill level, the points should start rolling in for Alexander Bilecki.

Klepov was the best skater tonight for Saginaw in my opinion. I loved to see how competitive and tenacious Nikita Klepov was in this game, shift to shift his intensity and motor were noticeable, his game is well-rounded as a two-way winger. He seems to want the puck more than everyone on the ice, and wins his 50/50 battles most of the time, and his skating is elite level, showing 10–2 and other advanced skating techniques. His stride is fluid and smooth, no real mechanical issues that I can see, and his top speed is really good. I think his skating will be one of his selling points in the NHL Draft in the top 10/15 range, along with his overall threat offensively. He makes defenders lose by leveraging his playmaking and passing ability and his wicked shot to freeze defenders and the goalie. The release on his shot is ridiculous and I definitely project him to be a top 6 winger in the NHL, he’s a very easy to project player right now for me, because of how well-rounded his game is already. His deception and variety of his playmaking is also very impressive to me, using head fakes, no looks, drop passes with precision.

Tanner Lam is the man. He was the best player tonight for Kitchener, scoring a goal and getting two fantastic primary assists, they were nearly identical passes too, from right behind the goal line with deception into the slot for Kaden Schneider and Cameron Reid to bury. His pace of play is fast, he thinks quickly and his skating stance is lower to the ground making him more difficult to knock off the puck as a smaller 5’10” forward. Tanner Lam is having a revenge tour against the NHL for not drafting him in last year’s draft, with 16 points in 17 games now after scoring 53 points scoring 13 goals in 67 games last season with Kitchener. If he can keep up the scoring pace, and ends up in the 80–90 point range, I think NHL teams will really like his energy and pace and scoring touch as a potential bottom 6 forward, ideally a pesky forechecking, scoring third line winger who does all the right things, like Logan Stankoven or Jackson Blake. I think Tanner Lam profiles more as a playmaker than a goalscorer, but if you want a guy who can give you strong playmaking in your top 9, NHL teams value that very highly and are searching for good well-rounded 3rd line guys who also can give you 40–45 points a season.

Dima Zhilkin had a very quiet game, he didn’t really get anything going with his line with Jacob Cloutier and Carson Harmer until the end of the second period and continued into the third period, but they were invisible for nearly two thirds of this game as a line. But the things I did like about Dima’s game tonight were the skating ability, and the offensive talent started to show itself more as the game went along. I would’ve liked to have seen more defensive engagement and growth on that side of the puck for Dima, because we know what he can do with the puck and how good he is skating off the puck in the offensive zone, but he needs to add more layers to his game on the defensive side. I’m hard on Dima because he’s one of my favorite junior hockey players to watch, and I know there’s more he can show than what he did tonight. Levi Harper also falls into a similar category for me tonight with a strong offensive showing, but I was left wanting more from him offensively and defensively he was better than expected, but still needs to get stronger in front of the net, with stick positioning and there’s almost no physicality to his game at this point, which is fine, but he needs to compensate for that with a different strategy. The thing is Levi and Dima are just both young players as 2027 Draft eligibles, but they are asked to do so much for this Saginaw team. So as a scout and viewer of the game, you are expecting more from these players when they are some of the youngest players in the entire game. I’ve seen better from Dima Zhilkin and Levi Harper, that’s all, that’s the point.

I liked Haeden Ellis at times tonight for Kitchener, I like his physicality and skating ability. He drives the net hard and forechecks hard and NHL teams love that, but he needs to add more to his game. Can he become an elite penalty killer? Like, I think Ellis is a good player, but NHL teams need to see something more there that they can project other than a good energy forechecker on the 4th line who has some offensive skill and playmaking. The tenacity and energy he brings to Kitchener’s forecheck is huge, and I thought he had a solid game tonight overall.

Okay, that’s enough rambling thoughts about players and the game. I’ll leave you with my game notes and call it a day. Thanks for reading if you’ve made it this far!

Game Notes

1st Period

• Wow Barabanov with a great drive to the net, it’s all Saginaw to start, but Kitchener takes the momentum back and are in control
• Shurygin in net for Saginaw looks really calm, and solid so far. He kicked a shot aside with good lines for rebound control
• Rangers with a good shift in the O zone, and Kaden Schneider with a snipe from the point gets Shurygin. Saginaw were caught puck watching a bit. 1–0 Kitchener. Luca Romano and Tanner Lam with assists.
• Great save by Shurygin, Saginaw needs to calm down and be better in their offensive zone right now
• Wow, Saginaw doesn’t win position on a single Ranger that shift and it’s a good save initially but it’s good enough in front of the net. Goal for Kitchener, Christian Humphreys! 2–0
• Very good save on the rush by Shurygin, he’s fighting out there despite the early goals allowed. He’s facing the pressure head on. It was a really good rush attack by Kitchener but he’s doing well
• Barabanov has good puck protection skills, but I don’t think he’s engaged enough skating back hard on the backcheck. He just allowed a bad 2 on 1 for Shurygin that rings off the post
• Interference call on Saginaw and it’s 2 minutes
• Kitchener PP. Humphreys is a really good, smooth skater and has great offensive instincts; he’s running the whole show on the PP. Bilecki and Ellis look really strong together on this powerplay as well. Saginaw escapes the pressure and it’s back to even strength.
• It’s been all Kitchener for the past 10 minutes. Shurygin is keeping Saginaw afloat right now with some lucky posts and some really strong saves. Just made another great glove save. 10 saves on 12 shots
• Kirsch has only faced 2 shots so far in this game for Kitchener
• FIGHT! It’s a tough hit by Dirracolo on Anstis, and Dirracolo comes over to Barch and they fight briefly! Junior hockey fight! Let’s goooooooooo
• Saginaw PP. And immediately a shorthanded breakaway and a good save by Shurygin. Saginaw scores immediately the other way, it’s Klepov and Barabanov scores! 2–1 Kitchener. Great rush play connection by Klepov, Zhilkin and Barabanov. Holy shit they are so good together. Assists for Harper and Klepov on that goal fo
• Humphreys with another breakaway attempt for Kitchener and Shurygin is playing amazing right now. His fifth big save of the period
• Shurygin is standing on his head and Saginaw are playing terribly on defense right now. He’s made like 6 of 8 grade A chance saves in this game, just ridiculous from Shurygin. He’s big and athtetic and he’s playing amazing right now. Keeping Saginaw in the game for sure
• The commentators are slandering the color teal right now on the broadcast, and that’s unacceptable as a Sharks fan.
• Another defensive breakdown and Shurygin can’t bail Saginaw out, great pass to the slot by Lam to Cameron Reid for the goal! 3–1 Kitchener
• Saginaw is once again a one line team, just like last season with Chernyshov, Epperson, and Misa. Every time Klepov, Barabanov, and Zhilkin come over the boards they win the puck and make chances. When they leave, Kitchener dominates the game.
• Levi Harper is so good, what a smart player. The offense I knew about, but the defense (while a work in progress) is much better than I expected
• Ellis driving the net with speed and can’t give his stick on the puck on a dangerous pass to the net by Kitchener, Shurygin with another good save
• So many easy slot passes are available for both teams, grade A chance for Saginaw and Kirsch makes the save look easy
• Barabanov and Bilecki are going after it after the horn sounds for the end of the period. Shots are 16–6 in favor of Kitchener, and the score is 3–1.

2nd Period

• Barabanov and Klepov are starting out with 4on4 with Harper, and it’s another penalty on Saginaw.
• Kitchener 4on3 PP. One shot on net and Shurygin makes the save to move the powerplay to 5on4. Bilecki makes a nice move stickhandling past two but can’t get the shot away, he’s a talented player. Chromiak with another nice chance and it’s another save for Stepan Shurygin.
• Good stick to break up the rush and keep it to the outside by Levi Harper, like I said last period he’s better defensively than I thought he would be
• Dima driving the net with elite skating and almost got the tip in
• Tanner Lam loves to make plays and pass to the slot from below the goal line, he does it so deceptively too. Another save by Shurygin though
• I like Klepov’s intensity and effort as F1 when he’s forechecking. He just is able to get his shot off so well, from different angles and hand positions too. It’s such a quick release and it gets off his stick fast. I think he has 3 or 4 of Saginaw’s 10 shots on goal, and I think Barabanov also has 3 or 4 shots on goal too. Shoot the puck more Saginaw! The problem is they are generally stuck in their own zone in this game and are struggling to break the puck out cleanly to open up the game with their run and gun rush offense.
• Zhilkin gets grabbed and there’s no call in the neutral zone as he’s fighting to create some offense for Saginaw
• Shots are now 24–9 in favor of Kitchener. I love to see Klepov show some physical play as well, he’s a pretty well rounded winger already. He tries difficult passes to connect play with Sima and Barabanov
• Goal for Kitchener! Hlacar with a very skilled backhand goal driving the net, great soft hands. 2nd goal of the season for Hlacar. Anstis and Dirracolo with the assists. 4–1 Kitchener. Hlacar has 60 penalty minutes this season already LOL
• Zhilkin made a no look pass toward the net, and Kirsch was ready for it and stops it from being a dangerous chance
• Humphreys with another breakaway and it’s another great save by Shurygin. Kitchener is dominating this game, Saginaw sucks defensively. Actually, worse defensively than last season
• These Kitchener homer announcers are trying to tell me that Nikita Klepov is having a quiet game. He’s been Saginaw’s best skater in my opinion AND has a point on the only goal so far for Saginaw. Also, Kitchener is just a better team than Saginaw at this point so it’s a weird comment from this Kitchener homer
• Cloutier and Zhilkin’s line is starting to get going now, but honestly, Saginaw should just switch Sima and Dima
• Breakaway Liam Storch and Kirsch made a great save for the Rangers. He hasn’t been asked to do much, but Christian Kirsch looks good. And another save!
• Better shift from Saginaw, and guess which line? Sima-Barabanov-Klepov. Klepov is a smart player, knowing when to not try and force the play and just play simple hockey when necessary. He has layers to his game at 17, which is rare to find in this draft with the forwards. Penalty on Kitchener.
• Saginaw PP. Dude, Klepov is so strong, he just shielded a puck in the corner against the bigger defender and completely outmuscled his man. Kitchener is stopping the zone entries from Saginaw this powerplay, no real chances created by Saginaw. They should just drop pass it to Zhilkin, Klepov or Barabanov and let them gain the zone and set up with Harper, but what do I know? Only one shot on that PP for Saginaw, not enough zone time to really get anything done
• James Guo has looked pretty solid as well this period for Saginaw. Just a solid, physical defenseman who isn’t going to do much, but he’s been paired with Levi Harper for most of this game and does his job really well
• End of the period. Shots were 11–9 Rangers in that period, and it’s 27–15 overall in favor of Kitchener. Shurygin has made 23 saves on 27 shots, and Kirsch has made 14 saves on 15 shots. The score is 4–1 for Kitchener.

3rd Period

• Zhilkin to Cloutier putting the pressure on with a long range shot off the rush, Kirsch saves
• Bilecki looks composed, but maybe needs to make his decisions quicker. That’s something I think can be taught to a player, but he generally makes good decisions
• Barabanov and Klepov now trying to put the team on their back. Great diving effort to stop another breakaway chance for Kitchener by Nikita Klepov. He is a tenacious player who wants to win this hockey game. I love that play. This is after some beautiful 10–2 skating on the blue line
• Saginaw PP. Klepov is really good. Best player on the ice for Saginaw, Barabanov second on that list for me. Barabanov creates an amazing turnover, two shots for Klepov and Kirsch stands tall. Klepov shows real deception skills with headfakes and skating fakes. He’s really talented, wow I think he might be my favorite forward in this draft
• Goal for Saginaw! Carson Harmer jams it home off a good shot pass by James Guo. Harmer goal with assists for Guo and Sima. 4–2 Kitchener
• Saginaw is trying to mount a comeback now, do they have enough time with 13:20 left? Bilecki is a smart player with his stick, knocking the puck to a safe area past the forechecker
• Great activation by Bilecki and he almost scores it, but Shurygin with a great save. And Ellis is looking dangerous too, he had a shot saved by Shurygin right after
• Barch hits the post
• Anstis hits the post
• Wow. This game is wide open right now, which I think plays into Saginaw’s hands. Kitchener needs to stick to their game
• Ellis and Bilecki move the puck so well in the offensive zone, they create chances together when they are on the ice. Bilecki is really showing out to be a top 100 player, Ellis deserves consideration as well as an overager, he reminds me a lot of Epperson last year. Some skill and passing, a lot of speed, and I like his physicality as a smaller guy
• Ellinas just had a nasty shift, just randomly the most dominant player on the ice and he almost scored from his knees after skating the whole offensive zone
• Sima with a great hit in the defensive zone wins the puck back for Saginaw
• Zhilkin, Barabanov, Klepov now
• Great save by Shurygin on Dirracolo from the blue line
• Dima hits the post. Wow he’s strong for his age, so difficult to knock off the puck
• Kirsch is trying to secure the win here and covers the puck as there’s a big scramble in front of the net with the Spirit trying to smack one home. Dima was hunting for the puck and Kirsch got it first
• Dima’s puck protection is so elite for his age, and Klepov at the goal line with Barabanov in the slot just missed the connection. It’s an empty net now for Saginaw
• Tanner Lam empty net goal! Kitchener now leads 5–2! 3 points for Tanner Lam, assists for Arquette and Romano. Lam’s getting drafted as a D+1, I just know it
• Ellis with a great play and pass to his linemate in garbage time and Shurygin makes one last save for the road.
• Ok, make that ONE more last save for the road. End of the game. Kitchener Rangers win 5–2 over the Saginaw Spirit. Shots were 13–7 Kitchener in the third period, 40–22 overall. 35 saves on 40 shots for Stepan Shurygin and 20 saves on 22 shots for Christian Kirsch.