When Oilersnation published its top Oilers prospects last summer, a big, scoring right shot winger was ranked at #14. Given the Oilers need for scoring wingers, I got a lot of questions about why Maxim Beryozkin was ranked so low.

One reason: the Russian factor. Make no mistake Maxim Beryozkin is a legitimate NHL prospect. However, the KHL is a tricky place to navigate young prospects out of and the Oilers don’t have great success there overall. Nevertheless, I said if Beryozkin could build on his breakout 22/23 season, the Oilers should work hard to bring this player over. U

Unfortunately, for most of the season, Beryozkin trod water and, even in parts of the season, took a step back. That’s the thing with prospects as a whole, but especially those in the KHL. They don’t develop in a straight line. That was certainly the case for Beryozkin. The good news, however, is that the KHL playoffs allowed Beryozkin to start over, and man, did he ever come flying out of the blocks. More on the curious season of Maxim Beryozkin, Dylan Holloway the sniper, the new guy and all the news and notes in this week’s Edmonton Oiler Prospect Report.

Beryozkin finished the 21/22 season with 7-19—26 in 52 games. He also had 81 shots on goal and played a tidy 14:22 per game. Given his age, 21, this was a very strong year. In fact, for his age and younger, there were only 9 players with better scoring totals in the season. Unfortunately, the positive development from that season hit a wall in the 22/23 regular season. His numbers were not poor: 8-22-30 in 62 games with 110 shots on net. However, on a per game basis, he treaded water from the prior year. In addition, he started to get moved down the lineup.

So when the KHL playoffs started, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Typically, the coaches rely on their vets heavily and thought this might bode poorly for Beryozkin. However, what happened was just the opposite. With his team, Lokomotiv, on the verge of making the KHL finals, Beryozkin has been at the center of this impressive run. In 15 games played, he is 4-8-13 with an impressive 33 shots on net. His scoring totals are first on the team. He is also averaging 15:47 of time on ice per game which ranks fourth among forwards on the team.

Beryozkin is doing a little bit of everything in this strong playoff run. While he doesn’t look like a pure goal scorer to me given his release, he has scored a couple of guys where he finds the quiet space and blisters the puck after receiving it.

My favourite goal of his this playoff season is the one below. Beryozkin is listed at almost 6’5″, and, as you will see below, he uses his body very well to create offence. However, he also has very strong close-quarter puck skills. Watch this goal on the 2v1 where the defender attempts to take away the play by laying down. It leaves Beryozkin a good shot option and a risky pass option. Watch what Beryozkin does instead.

Instead of taking either, he slows his pace to allow the sliding defender to move past him and then gathers the puck in tight before releasing it all in one motion. This is a very strong move for a big man.

As much as the goals are encouraging, Beryozkin is more of a half-court playmaker. He has excellent vision in the offensive zone. Combine this with his size and puck skills and he is very hard to manage in a cycle game. Here are a couple of good examples of how he attacks opponents down in the zone. In the first one, Beryozkin is on the wall in the neutral zone. The clip is a little quick, but you can see the defender take a terrible angle on him and he’s instantly on the back side. Beryozkin simply rolls off and now he’s created a short 2v1. He makes a splendid little backhand saucer pass for the easy one-timer goal.

This next one is my favourite as it is very translatable to the NHL. He is such a big body that he is tough to move off the puck. Once a defender is on his backside, it is virtually impossible to get on the puck side of him. Watch the ease with which he makes this play look that leads to a goal.

Beryozkin’s team plays tomorrow to clinch a spot in the KHL finals. If they close out their semi-final series. Maxim Beryozkin will be one of the most important reasons.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about something that I thought Dylan Holloway needed to do more of. Trust his shot, by just releasing it as quick as possible. Instead of shuffling the puck and looking for a more perfect shot, let it rip. Since that post, it has become clear that Holloway and the Condors’ staff have been working on this exact habit. The high point in this development came last night in a critical game against the Calgary Wranglers. The Condors started slow, but Dylan Holloway and his linemates, Lane Pederson and Seth Griffith, took over the game and led their team to a 5-2 win.

Holloway, though, was the key. The night started with just a little hint of what was to come. Watch this clip where he rings it off the post from the deep slot. He’s got two defenders in close quarters to him. Normally, Holloway would shuffle the puck to try and create a better spot for himself with the puck. Instead, he catches and releases the puck in one motion and cleanly beats the goalie, just not the post.

Holloway had some of his patented play with a great wing drive that led to a pretty three-way passing play goal.

Then came the fireworks. The first goal was arguably the least exciting one overall, but for me, it was the one that screamed NHL skillset. Watch this goal.

No shuffle. No hesitation.

Just a great catch followed by a body turn and a release. All before any of the three attackers could get to him. More of this is what is needed from him night in a night out.

His second goal of the night was something I said a long time ago about Holloway. His willingness to play at pace on the inside of the ice surface is impressive. It can be dangerous, but that is where the best scoring chances will come from. Watch this 150-foot attack, where he splits the seam and beats everyone to the net. He finishes with a very pretty little backhand.

His last goal of the night was more about athleticism than anything else. He tracked a lobbed puck down, recovered it in a minor stick battle, and then raced to the net, where he made a quick back deke for the hat trick.

Holloway finished the night 3-1-4 with 6 shots on net. He was on the ice for three of the four 5v5 goals scored by the Condors and contributed to all of them. Could this be the development Oiler fans have been waiting for? Maybe, but repeatability is the key. The Condors play twice this week and how Holloway plays in those games will give us more information about where Holloway is and how far he is away from Edmonton.

Not to be outdone in the hat trick category by Dylan Holloway, James Stefan also tallied one this week. Since signing James Stefan has been on a tear for his Portland Winterhawks team. The Winterhawks swept the Victoria Royals in round one and Stefan was the deciding factor. He was 5-3-8 in the four game sweep and added 21 shots on net. His goals were a lot of this style of goal, which he scores a bunch of. He just seems to be in the right spot to receive a puck and then he uses his very accurate release to make the opponents pay. In this clip, I really like this goal because Stefan floats down into a great F3 position and because he does so, he ends up in the perfect spot to pick off an errant pass.

Stefan is also a very good playmaker. Again, he tends to find the spot on the ice where the puck always ends up. However, he also is an excellent scanner of the ice surface. He takes these quick micro looks before locking in on his option. Finally, he really is a very good passer of the puck.

Stefan is known for his shot totals and his scoring. However, at the next level, he will need to find other players in dangerous spots. This will allow him to create more space for himself in a league where the players are more experienced as wells as bigger and quicker.

Max Wanner was having another strong week. He scored a nice goal here, which should really get Oiler fans excited. He raced back on a 50/50 retrieval and won the battle. He then turned and headed up the nice to finish a great pass from Brad Malone in the low slot. That is a very encouraging shift.

Now, Wanner did miss last night’s game. He was in a very robust fight on Friday. While he finished the period after leaving the penalty box, he did not finish the game.

This week, Shane Lachance and his Boston University Terriers, play in the Frozen Four. Boston plays the University of Denver on Thursday night for the chance at the National Championships.

That’s it for this week. Send your feedback to me on the X to @bcurlock or right here below this article. See you next week.