Bio
Stats
Scouting Report
Daniil Pylenkov is wearing a familiar shade of blue this season. Unfortunately, it’s in Russia and not Syracuse or Tampa Bay. The 22 year-old (soon to be 23) will be suiting up for Dynamo Moskova after a spring trade sent him to his third KHL team in the last calendar year. After spending the beginning of the 2022-23 season buried on the roster of SKA St. Petersburg (14:49 per game), he was traded to Severstal Cherepovets and was given more playing time (22:45 per game). The increased ice time led to 14 points (3 goals, 11 assists) in 22 games compared to the 7 points (1 goal, 6 assists) he put up with SKA St. Petersburg.
His improved play piqued the interest of Dynamo Moskova and they picked him up in the offseason and extended his contract through the 2024-25 season. In Moscow he’ll be skating with a couple of names familiar to Lightning fans in Cedric Paquette and Nikita Gusev. They expect him to pick up a lot of ice time as they fight for the Gagarin Cup this season.
For the 6’1″, 194 lb defenseman, 2023-24 will be a big season as well. Freed from the shackles of SKA St. Petersburg (who value experience over developing youth as a general rule) Pylenkov had a really solid season. Now he has to show that it wasn’t a fluke, but a natural progression of talent. He’s off to a decent start with a goal and an assist (see the highlights below) in the first five games of their season.
Pylenkov is a solid left-side defenseman who is responsible in his own zone, but also has a touch of offensive potential. His passing is good enough that he could run the point on a power play unit, and his shot, while not especially tricky or deceptive, is useful. He also believes in volume shooting as he’s averaging 2.3 shots per game this year after putting up 3.4 per game with Severastal last season.
In his own zone, he uses his size well to shut off plays. He’s not an overly physical player, but he doesn’t shy away from contact either, amassing 28 hits through 40 games last year and with a team-leading 5 already this season. His passing skills come into play in front of his netminder as well as he is pretty accurate with his breakout passes (who doesn’t love a good stretch pass?)
Based on his play last season Pylenkov is good enough to be playing in the AHL right now. The question now is, will he leave the KHL? As mentioned earlier, his contract runs through the 2024-25 season and with the seemingly acrimonious relationship with the KHL and NHL happening right now, it’s not likely he’ll be breaking that deal to come over. Even if he wants to, Dynamo Moskova may not let him go.
If he does play out his full KHL deal then he would be able to come over for the 2025-26 season when he’ll be 25 years old. The Lightning have had success with older defensive prospect recently (see Perbix, Nick and Raddysh, Darren) and another two seasons of play in the KHL would be beneficial for Pylenkov, possibly making his ascension to the NHL quick. Hopefully, it’s something the Lightning could figure out, because it appears Pylenkov has the type of game that could lead to a decent, if not spectacular, career as a second or third pairing defenseman.
As for the rankings, Geo was the most optimistic as he had him ranked 15th while the rest of the writers had him between 18 and 20. Chances are Pylenkov will be a really good player, but will it be in the NHL or the KHL?
Highlights
🚨 Daniil Pylenkov (#45 in blue) takes it in and fires it home for his 1st goal of the KHL season, AND the overtime winning goal for Dynamo!
— Future Bolts (@LightningProsp1) September 12, 2023
–@dynamo_ru#GoBolts pic.twitter.com/B9KaGHYXvG
