LONG-TERM SCOUTING JOB GETS SPITFIRES THEIR RUSSIAN
Sobolev ‘was our targeted player,’ GM says after picking him at No. 32 in import draft
Russian defenceman Daniil Sobolev was not just some player the Windsor Spitfires had learned about only recently.
The Spitfires have been keeping tabs on the 17-yearold Sobolev for two years and jumped at the chance to select him with the 32nd pick overall in the first round of Tuesday’s
Canadian Hockey League Import Draft.
“This was our targeted player and for him to be sitting there at 32, we couldn’t be happier,” Spitfires general manager Bill Bowler said.
Sobolev was a 15-year-old when the Spitfires first saw the right-shot defender playing for Russia’s under-17 team at the Four Nations Cup in Plymouth, Mich.
“He was an underage playing up a year, which obviously caught our eye,” Bowler said. “He was the only ’03 (-born player) in the ’02 class.
“He was just a good defender, sturdy and played with a physical side. For him to compete with that kind of poise made him a player we’ve been targeting.”
The six-foot, 198-pound Sobolev played for Spartak Moskva in the Russian junior league last season and had two goals and six points in 48 games, but he’s thrilled to have the chance to jump to the OHL and play for the Spitfires.
“I am very excited to have been picked by Windsor and I cannot wait to come to Windsor,” Sobolev said through an interpreter.
The last time the Spitfires made a Russian defencemen their top pick in the draft was in 2015, when the club took Mikhail Sergachev, now of the Tampa Bay Lightning, sixth overall.
There are no guarantees
Sobolev will become an NHL first-round pick like Sergachev, but International Scouting Services has him rated 15th on its list of European players for the 2021 NHL draft.
“He fills a need and we think he’s going to be an NHL pick,” Bowler said. “I can’t wait to see him here. I’m confident Daniil will be effective on both sides of the puck.”
Sobolev’s selection helps the Spitfires offset the loss of defenceman Ruben Rafkin, who was a first-team OHL all-rookie team selection as a 17-year-old this past season, but opted to return home to Finland to play pro hockey next season.
“On the one hand, it is important to be next to NHL scouts, but most importantly is development,” Sobolev said. “I am coming to Windsor to develop into an NHL player.
“I have watched (OHL) games and like the fast play and the defencemen getting into the play. I have heard that Windsor is a great organization.”