It has been a little quiet from the European side of the Edmonton Oilers pipeline. Some of that is due to the current lack of high-quality players overseas, but some of it is also because the prospects have been struggling to make an impact.

That doesn’t mean their play has been bad, however, for a player like Maxim Beryozkin, who has played in 13 games already, we start to get a sample size we can trust. Let’s dive into another update and cover the three main prospects overseas!

His pointless slump has ended with an assist against SKA Saint Petersburg, however, the goalless streak is still alive. Ever since having a three-game assist streak, the 2020 fifth-rounder has only managed to muster his most recent assist in the last seven games. Now I don’t believe Beryozkin is playing badly at all. He is still making smart tactical plays with his playmaking ability, though you can clearly tell the confidence in his scoring ability has dropped off a cliff.

The clip below illustrates that point as Beryozkin has a chance to drive the net but makes a bad decision to pass it across the net to the other circle.

It’s inexcusable. If the Russian winger has even two goals on the season he is putting his head down and driving it to the net like he showed early on in the season, but as I stated before hope is not lost with Beryozkin. The next clip below is a good sequence for the slumping Lokomotiv star as he makes a quick crisp pass to his teammate from the wall for a good chance on net, then the puck eventually goes to the point where he battles in front and is rewarded with the secondary assist.

Beryozkin is fighting it right now and the numbers reflect that. The usual shot happy forward went from averaging 2.75 shots per game in his first eight games to only 0.6 shots per game in his last five games. The ice time hasn’t changed and the linemates remain consistent, Beryozkin is just slumping and hopefully he gets the monkey off his back soon. Another thing to note is that Beryozkin does still put in a good effort defensively and on the forecheck. Lokomotiv is still the top team in their conference and second in the league, just because the points aren’t coming doesn’t mean he isn’t a little factor to the reason they hold that spot.

I’m having a lot of fun watching Albin Sundin play this year. The Swedish defenceman is a wildcard on the ice at times and that’s both good and bad for his team. Sundin scored his second goal of the season, the opening goal of Timra’s 5-3 loss to Orebo Thursday. The 2024 sixth-rounder is now sitting at two goals in ten games played. Timra IK is sitting in the middle of the SHL (Sweden’s top league) at seventh place out of 14 teams and Sundin has held down his spot on the right-side of the top pair still playing 18:56 per game. At the moment the offensive leaning defenceman isn’t a factor at all on the power play and that is a real bummer because Sundin could definitely provide some minutes in a minor role on the second power play unit. Although Sundin isn’t getting time on the power play he is on the penalty kill and it shows the coaches trust him out there defensively.

The reason why I have been impressed with Sundin this season is the continued flashes he shows of above average puck-moving ability that has real NHL translatable tendencies. Below is a clip from his October 2nd game against Brynas and it shows off a great retrieval, a burst of speed that beats F1 (the forechecker), and a little hand off that leads to a controlled zone entry.

Excellent ability to beat F1 shown above and it doesn’t stop there. The next clip below is from Sundin’s game against Lulea on October 4th, it shows the exciting defenceman beats F1 again and tries to beat F2 to no avail which results in a turnover. I love the confidence and the pass on the backhand side was there, it just takes execution next time, watch below.

Another positive of Sundin’s game that I’m noticing is his value in hitting his forwards with a pass rather than dumping the puck, below is a small mix of three passes that lead to positive results from his two games.

We want our players gaining the zone with control and it is extremely valuable when the defenceman doesn’t race to the redline to dump the puck in. Instead you can witness Sundin hitting his forwards in stride and all plays leading to zone entries or a penalty. As for why I said he is a “wildcard” is because sometimes the confident player can get a little too confident and make some bad turnovers as you will watch below.

Like I have been consistently saying, I love the confidence Sundin brings to the game, however that is a turnover that just can’t happen. Overall, I remain very impressed with the six-foot-two defenceman’s style of play to start the season. The defensive side of his game remains okay, as he is good in transition with his backwards mobility, but struggles to close out quick sometimes and isn’t the strongest along the boards. I’m excited to see if Albin can grow his game even more this season.

The sixth-round selection is still playing top minutes a night and remains the team leader at 21:43 per game. Through 13 games played Yevseyev has now generated one goal and four assists for five points on the year. After losing three straight, Amur bounced back this week with back-to-back wins against Neftekhimik, they still sit in eighth place out of eleven teams in their conference. I have been saying that I want to see the Russian defender activate more in transition and he was showing the ability to do that in both his games this week so far. Below is a quick mix of Yevseyev getting involved in transition.

Although Yevseyev has five points on the season none of them have really wowed me and I think I watched his best offensive zone sequence that you will see below. In it the 2022 selection makes two scene passes in the offensive zone after stealing a pass and keeping the puck in. Too many times I have watched him just rip useless point shots without taking a look and this was a great change to see.

Another good week of games for the young blueliner as he continues to play big minutes for a KHL (Russia’s top league) team. Coming into the year that is all I was working for and Amur has granted me my wish. Nikita Yevseyev is showing them that he is a trustworthy defenceman who will work hard in every zone and play in any situation you need.

Beryozkin needs to get that monkey off his back despite playing pretty well, Sundin continues to be a great watch, and our Yevseyev wishes have come true. I’d say it’s a quiet, but good week for the prospects over seas.

That’s all for the weekly European update.