Nabokov Was ‘Shocked’ When The Avalanche Drafted Him

Nobody really expected Ilya Nabokov to be the first goalie off the board at the NHL Draft over the summer, but that’s exactly what happened when the Colorado Avalanche took him 38th overall.

One guy who certainly didn’t expect to get taken that high was Nabokov himself.

In a new interview with VSEProSport, the 21 year old goaltender said more NHL teams started reaching out after the end of his KHL season, but he was still caught off guard when the Avalanche selected him. He couldn’t attend the draft because he didn’t have an American Visa, but even if he had, he didn’t expect to go so high.

“I was shocked that they chose me so early,” he said. “They immediately called me, congratulated me, said: ‘Welcome to the organization.'”

While he says he hasn’t heard from any players in the organization, he did get a call from Joe Sakic right after he was selected.

In the interview, he also discusses other things, such as training after a short summer. A KHL player recently said that Nabokov’s mental game is comparable to that of Ilya Sorokin. It wasn’t always like that for him, and he talked about that.

“I used to dig a lot into myself,” he said. “And now I understand that the season is long, the games go every other day, and there is no time to dig into myself. I played the match – I forgot. I worked with a psychologist in the playoffs, she taught me some of the chips that I use now. I do both breathing exercises and meditations. There are different exercises that help.”

One of the reasons why Nabokov was often overlooked in the draft is because he’s a smaller goalie, something he is well aware of. A few of the goalies he says he likes to watch are Juuse Saros and Igor Shesterkin, who are two of the smaller goalies in the NHL. Nabokov knows he’s on the smaller side, but said he tries to compensate for it “with my fast game, fast movements in the goal.”

Nabokov got his first win of the season on Thursday against Evgeni Kuznetsov and SKA, and held his team in the game early on with 19 saves in the first period. Here’s one of his better stops on the evening.

35 saves on 39 shots in Metallurg's 5-4 OT win today for Nabokov. pic.twitter.com/2MiDHRUESP

— Evan Rawal (@evanrawal) September 5, 2024