Arseni Gritsyuk made it from the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship to the Olympic Winter Games.
photo: Andrea Cardin / HHOF-IIHF Images
He doesn’t celebrate his 21st birthday until next month, but Arseni Gritsyuk has already packed plenty into his career to date. The Avangard Omsk forward broke into Bob Hartley’s team in time to play a small part in the club’s Gagarin Cup run last season. Now he’s cemented his place in the KHL and, with 28 (16+12) points in 39 games this season, Gritsyuk is poised to make his Olympic debut here in Beijing. With progress like that, he could turn out to have a big upside for the New Jersey Devils, who picked him in the fifth round of the 2019 draft and have seen him grow in stature ever since.
It's tempting to hark back four years when another 20-year-old from Siberia, Kirill Kaprizov, made an explosive introduction onto the world stage. Yet there are big differences. Kaprizov had been identified as a future star even as a teenager on a struggling Metallurg Novokuznetsk team in the KHL. By the time he got to PyeongChang, he was a regular name in Russian international rosters and had solid league experience with Salavat Yulaev. By contrast, Gritsyuk is still a raw prospect. Effectively, this is his rookie KHL season and to date he has played just three senior international games at December’s Channel 1 Cup.
Yet this sleeper talent is showing signs of learning fast, adjusting well to top-level adult hockey and now taking what he can from some of his country’s most experienced forwards in Beijing.
“I’m learning a lot from [Nikita] Gusev and [Vadim] Shipachyov,” he told journalists at Team ROC’s practice on Saturday. “Vadik [Shipachyov] has such a clear head. I’m always looking at how he reads the game, watching the positions he takes up on the ice. With Nikita, I talk a lot. He explains to me what I need to do to keep moving forward. I always listen to his advice. [Mikhail] Grigorenko and [Anton] Slepyshev also make suggestions, everyone gets along well.”
The mental aspect of international hockey is possibly more of a challenge than the physical side of the game at this level. Although Gritsyuk admits that the play is little faster here, his own game draws heavily on the pace he can generate down the left wing with his small but nimble frame. Learning to expect the unexpected can take longer.
“When you go out on the ice with Shipachyov or Gusev, you have to anticipate that they can play differently, pull off a pass from behind the back. There are little differences, but after a couple of days you get used to it.
“I’m already familiar with the coaching staff, we played under them at the Channel 1 Cup.”
Indeed, Gritsyuk’s relationship with Team ROC GM Ilya Kovalchuk goes back to last season, when Kovi joined Avangard in December and helped the team to win the cup. Making a good impression at that time arguably helped the youngster secure his place in the Olympic party, but head coach Alexei Zhamnov is waiting for the Krasnoyarsk native to grow into a full role on the team.
“To be honest, I’d still like to see him take the initiative more, take more shots, go to the net more,” Zhamnov said. “He is still a little bit ‘shy’, he’s looking to play in his partners because they are more famous than him.
“But the bottom line is he’s a talented player. Our coaching staff are working to give him the confidence to show that fully at the Olympics. And so far, we are very pleased with his progress.”
If that progress sees Gritsyuk announce himself on the international stage this month, it won't just be Zhamnov and his colleagues who are very pleased.
It's tempting to hark back four years when another 20-year-old from Siberia, Kirill Kaprizov, made an explosive introduction onto the world stage. Yet there are big differences. Kaprizov had been identified as a future star even as a teenager on a struggling Metallurg Novokuznetsk team in the KHL. By the time he got to PyeongChang, he was a regular name in Russian international rosters and had solid league experience with Salavat Yulaev. By contrast, Gritsyuk is still a raw prospect. Effectively, this is his rookie KHL season and to date he has played just three senior international games at December’s Channel 1 Cup.
Yet this sleeper talent is showing signs of learning fast, adjusting well to top-level adult hockey and now taking what he can from some of his country’s most experienced forwards in Beijing.
“I’m learning a lot from [Nikita] Gusev and [Vadim] Shipachyov,” he told journalists at Team ROC’s practice on Saturday. “Vadik [Shipachyov] has such a clear head. I’m always looking at how he reads the game, watching the positions he takes up on the ice. With Nikita, I talk a lot. He explains to me what I need to do to keep moving forward. I always listen to his advice. [Mikhail] Grigorenko and [Anton] Slepyshev also make suggestions, everyone gets along well.”
The mental aspect of international hockey is possibly more of a challenge than the physical side of the game at this level. Although Gritsyuk admits that the play is little faster here, his own game draws heavily on the pace he can generate down the left wing with his small but nimble frame. Learning to expect the unexpected can take longer.
“When you go out on the ice with Shipachyov or Gusev, you have to anticipate that they can play differently, pull off a pass from behind the back. There are little differences, but after a couple of days you get used to it.
“I’m already familiar with the coaching staff, we played under them at the Channel 1 Cup.”
Indeed, Gritsyuk’s relationship with Team ROC GM Ilya Kovalchuk goes back to last season, when Kovi joined Avangard in December and helped the team to win the cup. Making a good impression at that time arguably helped the youngster secure his place in the Olympic party, but head coach Alexei Zhamnov is waiting for the Krasnoyarsk native to grow into a full role on the team.
“To be honest, I’d still like to see him take the initiative more, take more shots, go to the net more,” Zhamnov said. “He is still a little bit ‘shy’, he’s looking to play in his partners because they are more famous than him.
“But the bottom line is he’s a talented player. Our coaching staff are working to give him the confidence to show that fully at the Olympics. And so far, we are very pleased with his progress.”
If that progress sees Gritsyuk announce himself on the international stage this month, it won't just be Zhamnov and his colleagues who are very pleased.