Evan Rawal
It had been over a decade since the Colorado Avalanche used a second round pick on a goaltender, and 23 years since their top pick was a netminder. That all changed on Saturday at the 2024 NHL Draft.
After trading out of the first round, Colorado used the 38th overall pick to select Ilya Nabokov, a 21 year old goaltender coming off a dynamite season in the KHL. Not only was he named the top rookie in the league for the regular season, but he was awarded the KHL Playoffs MVP after helping his team win the championship. Not bad as a 20 year old in a pro league.
Still, not many people had him going as high as 38. I’m far from a goaltending expert, so I reached out to Gregory Balloch, the head goalie scout for Elite Prospects, and asked for his opinion.
While his numbers are eye-popping, one thing stands out about Nabokov – he’s really not a big guy. He’s listed anywhere between 6′ and 6’1″, which might scare some teams off. One thing Balloch made sure to point out was his ability to move in net, which is something a smaller goalie has to have to be successful.
“Nabokov is a smaller goalie who is a strong/explosive skater,” he told me. “He has a lot of really strong details to his game, starting with his skating, which is good to see.”
My friends over at Hockey Prospect have told me that Nabokov is the fastest goalie in the draft at adjusting his position. If he didn’t have the ability to make adjustments quickly like that, he wouldn’t have much of a chance at succeeding. He also made significant changes to his goaltending stance, as he had left the top of the net wide open at a younger age, which could be why he had been passed over in a few drafts already. Balloch pointed out to me that both of those attributes are not to be unexpected from an older goalie who has had time to make adjustments, and made sure to mention that is one of the benefits of taking a goalie who is a little older. You know he’s been able to add to his game and thrive in pro hockey. With a younger goalie, you’re left hoping that he can develop those parts of his game, and that might never happen.
Balloch didn’t mention it, but I spoke to someone who watched Nabokov a lot in Russia, and one thing he pointed out was how strong a puck handler the goaltender is. Besides Pavel Francouz, I can’t remember the last time the Avalanche had a goalie who could be trusted playing the puck.
His KHL numbers really were incredible during the 2023-24 season, as he posted a .930 save percentage in the regular season, and then a .942 in the playoffs. Not everyone is completely sold on him, though. Elite Prospects had him rated as the 86th best prospect in the NHL Draft, ranking four other goalies above him, and Balloch shared with me his biggest concern.
“His game works well with the international ice, with more east-west movement, but I have worries about it transferring over to the NA game where players are more inclined to just ram it at the net,” he said.
There’s really only one way to find that out, and that’s to get Nabokov to North America. His agent told Colorado Hockey Now that he’ll be deciding soon on his future, as he has just one season remaining on his KHL contract.
For additional details on Nabokov and his game, I would highly recommend this watch. I’ve timestamped it for everyone, as Brad Allen from Hockey Prospect goes into great detail about what he sees in Nabokov for over 10 minutes.