Egor Surin may not be in Nashville yet, but the Predators’ 2024 first-round pick is making plenty of noise in Russia.
The 20-year-old forward is in the final season of his contract with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl in the Kontinental Hockey League, and he’s wasting no time showing why the Predators are so high on him. Through five games this season, Surin has piled up seven points - four goals and three assists - while posting a plus-3 rating. He’s also chipped in four blocked shots and nine hits, a reminder that the physical edge Nashville liked at development camp is very much part of his game.
That start has included goals in each of his first four games, capped by an overtime winner on Sept. 10. On that play, Surin carried the puck the length of the ice before slipping a backhand past Severstal goalie Vsevolod Skotnikov.
“Goals in all four games of the season! Yegor Surin is unstoppable! pic.twitter.com/e2BIf39qmB
- KHL (@khl_eng) September 13, 2026”
Surin’s production is building on a breakout stretch with Lokomotiv, where he helped the club win back-to-back Gagarin Cups in 2024-25 and 2025-26. His numbers have already taken a big leap once, from 14 points in 41 games two years ago to 37 points in 57 games last season. If this opening burst holds, he could blow past those marks.
Nashville general manager Chris MacFarland has made no secret of how he views Surin’s upside in North America. MacFarland pointed to Surin, along with forward prospects Brady Martin and Cole O’Hara, as part of the reason he felt comfortable moving Luke Evangelista to the New Jersey Devils for a pair of draft picks earlier this month.
MacFarland was especially impressed with Surin at development camp.
“Surin’s got that high energy,” MacFarland said on July 1. “He’s a strong kid.
He looks like an ox out there. You put that package together with how he moves and his hands.
He seems to enjoy playing the game of hockey, which is what you want to see.”
For now, though, Surin remains tied to Lokomotiv. His contract runs through May 31, 2027, and unless Nashville is playing deep enough into next spring or Lokomotiv agrees to cut the deal short, a late-season arrival looks like a long shot.
That delay could still work in the Predators’ favor. Surin gets another year to keep growing, and he sounds eager to use it.
“I think I’m ready,” he told Main Street Nashville at development camp in July. “But I signed a contract with Lokomotiv Yaroslav, and I have one more year. I think if not for this contact, I could play in the NHL.”
He added: “One more year for me - I think it’s a good thing,” he said. “I can be better, and I will be stronger and faster.
I play against big men. I think a lot of guys (my age) haven’t played against older (players).”
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