Colorado Avalanche: Evaluating the Return for Matt Duchene

Position: Center
Height: 6’2″
Weight: 194 pounds
Age: 21
NHL Stats: 2 games, no points (127 AHL games, 36 goals, 52 assists)

This is sort of the Mikhail Grigorenko piece, only he has even less NHL experience at 21 years old. We may be looking at a career AHLer who will occasionally get the call-up — or who may simply flee back to the KHL.

In any case, Vladislav Kamenev is similar to Grigorenko in that he’s something of an underachiever. Hockey Forecaster advises that he “must work harder on the ice,” especially away from the puck in his own end. It’s also said he has a tendency to “check out mentally.”

The upside is that Kamenev has high-end talent — if he can translate it to the NHL. His size also makes him hard to knock off the puck.

Again, there is too much uncertainty about this player for me to call this a good piece of the return.