Daniil Prokhorov has shot up draft boards into the top 60 over the 2024-25 season. You want a giant shooting winger? Look no further.
As of this moment, the New Jersey Devils do not have a first round draft pick in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft. Fortunately for them, even if Tom Fitzgerald does not find himself trading into the first round, there are still plenty of players picked between 33 and 224. If the Devils end up making their two second round selections, they should be able to find intriguing prospects that project to make an impact within the next three or four years. On the 2024-25 Devils, there were 12 players selected 50th or later in their respective drafts, while six undrafted players appeared for the team. Combined, they outnumber the 16 Devils who were drafted between first and 50th.
Mainstay Devils from this past year who were selected around the end of the second round include Brian Dumoulin (51st in 2009), Jonas Siegenthaler (57th in 2015), and Tomas Tatar (60th in 2009). From the third round, Brett Pesce (66th in 2013), Johnny Kovacevic (74th in 2017), and Nico Daws (84th in 2020) have all put themselves in positions to be big-time contributors for the team in years to come. It would be nice to see more players drafted by the Devils in that mix, but Lenni Hameenaho (58th in 2023) should fit the bill next season. It’s not impossible to find good players beyond the first round, and I think Tom Fitzgerald did a good job of that in 2023 when the team did not have a first round pick.
So, welcome to All About the Jersey’s 2025 NHL Draft Prospect Profiles. I wish I was still writing about Devils playoff games, but it is time to look to the horizon. Today, we will be profiling Daniil Prokhorov, who really makes an impression at first glance.
Who is Daniil Prokhorov?
Daniil Prokhorov is a 6’6” right wing listed at 209 pounds hailing from Krasnodar, Russia. He is a left-shooting winger with a need to fire the puck on goal, and he had 20 goals in 43 games for MHK Dynamo St. Petersburg in the MHL. He has limited playmaking ability, though, and he only had seven assists. Still, the Devils need players who can shoot the puck and score goals, and Prokhorov looks to me like he has the tools to have both a high ceiling and a high floor. Having just turned 18 years old on April 27, Prokhorov is one of the younger (but not the youngest) players in the 2025 Draft, and he may find himself playing for Dynamo Mosvka within the next couple of years if he continues to grow as a power forward.
Elite Prospects
Since Prokhorov is a Russian prospect, he does not have the same sort of personal background information available that a Canadian, American, or more-western European youngster might have. So, judging him as a prospect will have to purely boil down to what he offers on the ice.
Where is Prokhorov ranked?
Prokhorov is ranked:
- 18th by NHL Central Scouting (EU Skaters)
- 43rd by Scouching
- 57th by Smaht Scouting
- 60th by McKeen’s Hockey (per EP)
- 66th by Elite Prospects
What Others Say About Prokhorov
With TSN’s resident scouts seemingly asleep at the wheel going into draft season (they next plan to update their draft lists in late June), we will have to look to non-mainstream hockey writers for scouting reports on the big Russian wing. Will Scouch gives a good image of a budding prospect with some skating difficulties (probably due to his size), marking him for a mid-second round selection.
Many of the numbers I’ve tracked so far are real, real good, with physicality, forechecking ability, huge transition involvement, and strong dual threat offense. He is a player that I believe is going to be a bit of a project though. He struggles to gain separation from opponents with his skating ability at the MHL level, and his skill level, while good in one on one confrontations, is a bit more questionable in transition on pass receptions. Finding targets to hit with passes is also a bit mixed, with questionable pass vision and quick decisions leading to turnovers.
For Smaht Scouting, Gray Matter focused more on Prokhorov’s physicality than Will Scouch, making this the focus of their criticism rather than Prokhorov’s passing. They write on Prokhorov:
Prokhorov is gigantic, really skilled and slick, with a quick and dangerous release on his shot, and he moves pretty well for a guy who’s listed at 6’5”. He has a really enticing and exciting toolbox to work with, but it’s not quite there yet. The passing, playmaking, and intensity need to come a ways, and he’s physical as you might expect, but I find he tends to use his physicality in unproductive ways too often…
Given the few articles out there on Prokhorov, I am encouraged that the eye test from most people who have watched him seem to match what I see on his stat line. The Neutral Zone wrote an article arguing that Prokhorov should find himself somewhere in the second-to-fourth round range. They actually argue against the poor playmaker narrative, noting elite scoring chance generation with his own shots and passes to his teammates in dangerous scoring areas. If you click on the linked article, you can see their tracking numbers. They write on him:
Daniil Prokhorov is a projectable power forward with rare size and natural scoring instincts, but one who will require time, structure, and dedicated development to round out his game. He’s physically ready but lacks polish in key areas — particularly finishing, decision-making, and puck management. His assist totals are misleadingly low, and his elite offensive zone metrics suggest there’s significantly more offense to unlock.
All of this screams second rounder to me. Prokhorov does not have blazing speed, but he is not trudging through molasses to get to the net. Considering that he was among the best players in his league at generating scoring chances, teams should be looking at him beyond the first round, but they should not expect him to be available forever. Back in 2020, Tom Fitzgerald appeared to “reach” on the Shakir Mukhamadullin selection, but the Russian defender looks well-positioned to be an impact player for the San Jose Sharks. Sometimes, physical tools are worth drafting for.
A Little Video
When I look at prospects, I do not love just watching a highlight package — I really enjoy seeing their full shifts from a game. Thankfully, Prospect Shifts (what a fitting name) has me covered.
Early in this video, Prokhorov gets a secondary assist on a power play goal, as he drew a hook on his very first shift and was perfect from the wing on the power play, going right at the dot and immediately moving the puck to the point. Over the next few minutes, Prokhorov displays all of the tell-tale signs of a power forward, hitting everyone he can, screening the goalie, and being difficult to get the puck from. I will say that I was surprised by Prokhorov’s speed, though he is skating against slower MHL players, and he may look more average in the VHL or KHL. I was pleased by seeing him in all situations, though I felt like he was drifting a bit too much defensively at even strength. Players are drafted for what they can become, though, and Prokhorov showed just what he offers at 7:55 in the video, when he comes from behind the net, backhanding two pucks at the net, scoring on the second.
To me, Prokhorov looks more advanced than his peers when it comes to the breakout. He seems to seek out soft, uncontested spaces when he does not have the puck, reducing the risk of a turnover if his teammates pass to him. He is very attack minded and succeeds at making the opposing defense react, sitting further back to avoid him having the puck on a rush chance. As Prokhorov gets older, he will have to deal with more defenders who can handle him at his size, who are more willing to defend him while skating backwards rather than trying to stand up at him. He does not seem to have to deal with that much in the MHL, which is to be expected of a juniors league.
At 12:52, Prokhorov shows that, when the time comes, he will be able to handle the physicality. He shrugs off an attempted check around the faceoff circle, slipping the puck off the boards to himself as he goes up on a two-on-two rush that develops into more of a three-on-two with some backcheckers close behind. Prokhorov cuts to the middle, sniping another goal! He made a move right through a defender, using the third man to create too much movement for the goalie to follow, and he picked the corner past the glove. So, as far as non-first round prospect shift videos go, I give him an easy A for what I saw, though it’s a bit of selection bias. He did not have games like this every night, but he showed how capable he is.
There are some other videos on Prokhorov, but one is a 30-minute observational video in French (which I might watch later for fun) from Simon Servant, while the other is from an episode of a podcast called The Puck Bunker, which I just learned of now. There’s also another long video from HockeyProspect, but pure highlight reels are hard to come by.
My Take on Prokhorov
The New Jersey Devils have not had many giant forwards over the past 10 years. Jaromir Jagr was traded away in 2015 for picks. Brian Boyle had a remarkable 2017-18 season before being traded away in 2019. There have been some other giants who have suited up at forward for the Devils in these years, but none of them have been productive starters. With Prokhorov, NHL teams might not only have the height, but the frame for a heavy forward who can score 20 or 30 goals while throwing a couple hundred hits. When Daniil Prokhorov hits an opponent, they end up on the ice.
For the sake of argument, let’s say that Prokhorov ends up a Devil and he ends up being closer to his floor than his ceiling. He is 6’6” and should end up between 220 and 230 pounds while still being lean enough to have NHL-level speed. His floor is being a fearful fourth liner who makes life hell for goaltenders, and he thankfully does not have a record of being a highly-penalized player. As long as he keeps his arms tucked (which he did in the video above), he should avoid becoming one of the league’s maligned goons, allowing him, I think, to be a productive fourth liner at worst.
He is first prospect I have profiled this year, so there will be more who I am looking at for that 50th overall selection. I will surely find myself believing other second or third round cases to be legitimate NHL prospects, and I will find myself thinking what’s keeping this guy out of the first round? about other players. But just as easily as a guy like Prokhorov could find himself in a position like Shakir Mukhamadullin, being picked early by a team who believes in his physical tools, he could find himself slipping. He’s not North American or western European. He has not even been acknowledged by institutional hockey media scouts.
I get it — people are scared of picking the big project. But for all of the complaints that the Devils are both offensively inept and not tough enough to play against, this is the player with the toolkit we are looking for. He has to work on finer details, mostly in the defensive zone, but I was really encouraged by his ability to find the puck around the net. That kind of attack mindset is what the Devils need, and I am putting Daniil Prokhorov into the category of players I would be happy to see picked by the Devils.
Your Thoughts
What do you think of Daniil Prokhorov? Do you think he is a second, third, or fourth round prospect? Do you think he would be liked by the fans here in New Jersey? Do you see more of a fourth liner or a serious threat of a scoring winger? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.