A recent Montreal Canadiens addition is already drawing attention in Europe, and Louis Robitaille is one of the people most convinced there’s real upside there.
Robitaille, who spent his first season coaching Omsk’s VHL affiliate in Russia, got several live looks at Gleb Pugachyov across different leagues and came away impressed. The former head coach of the Gatineau Olympiques and Victoriaville Tigres said he first noticed the forward almost by accident while attending a KHL game on the road between Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod and the Shanghai Dragons.
"Pugachyov stood out to me.
The young players wear full cages, so he was hard to miss," Robitaille said over the phone.
That first look left a mark.
"I remember thinking, 'Okay, there's something special about this kid,'" added Robitaille, who later saw him again during the MHL playoffs.
At 6-foot-3 and 224 pounds, Pugachyov has the size to jump off the page, but Robitaille believes the game is about more than just the frame. He described him as a responsible player who moves well and doesn’t simply roam around chasing the puck.
"I thought he was a responsible player. Beyond the fact that he was physical, it was the way he moved....
He's a big guy who knows how to play the game. He doesn't chase the play all over the ice," the coach noted.
The question, as Robitaille sees it, is how much the offense can come along. Pugachyov generated a lot of shots during the MHL playoffs at age 18, but the scoring didn’t come with any real consistency.
Still, Robitaille isn’t dismissing the offensive side of his game.
"Can that develop?
I believe so. His puck skills aren't bad. I don't think he's a one-dimensional player."
Torpedo still holds his rights for two more years and would like to keep him, but for Canadiens fans, Pugachyov is clearly a name worth tracking.
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