The season is quickly approaching, which means it’s time to look towards the future. We do that every year with the Five For Howling 25 Under 25, ranking the Coyotes’ best players under 25. For this year’s rankings, I am joined by James Reeve (@JamesRJReeve), Mike Gould (@miketgould), Haynes Evans (@HaynesPEvans), and Matthew Jacobson (@TheAZSportsGuy).
Dmitri Simashev
2022-23 League: MHL (Loko-76), MHL (Loko Yaroslavl) KHL (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl)
Games Played: 4, 29, 18
Goals: 0, 1, 0
Assists: 2, 9, 0
MHL Playoffs Games Played: 10
MHL Playoffs Goals: 2
MHL Playoffs Assists: 4
Highest Rating: 5
Lowest Rating: 16
After failing to move up at the lottery, the Arizona Coyotes had the sixth overall pick in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft. With that pick, the Coyotes went with Russian defenseman Dmitri Simashev.
The Simashev pick drew some complaints, mainly because some analysts thought the Coyotes should have drafted a player who didn’t want to play for them. But in Simashev, the Coyotes have an excellent defensive prospect, the best in their system.
After a relatively low offense regular season, Simashev came alive in the MHL playoffs. He went from ten points in 29 games to six points in ten, including doubling his goals from the regular season.
Simashev doesn’t show a lot of offense, but he is an excellent defenseman, already playing KHL games before being drafted. He can skate, and he already has size, and he is still growing into the physical aspects of the game.
Scouts who were paying attention had a lot of praise for Simashev. Brandon Holmes of NHLEntryDraft.com wrote, “[i]n Simashev, you find one of if not the best skaters in the entire class, with a smooth, fluid skating stride and nearly flawless skating posture, all while being a physical tower of power standing at 6-foot-4 and 201 pounds.”
Corey Pronman said similar things in an article that compared him to Adam Larsson. “Simashev is a legit top pairing talent, a player who was a top 10 player on talent, and many scouts considered him the best defenseman in the draft,” wrote Pronman. “He has the toolkit to be a top pair two-way defenseman.”
Simashev’s season has already started, with eight KHL games and one MHL game. He scored his first MHL goal in his premier but is pointless in the KHL.
Drafting Simashev filled a massive need for the Coyotes. Their defensive prospects did not look good going into the draft, and while he doesn’t provide much offensive upside, the Coyotes got an excellent defenseman. There is a chance that GMBA reached, but after the Montréal Canadiens drafted David Reinbacher fifth overall, I can appreciate them not wanting to risk someone else taking the player they wanted.