2026 NHL Draft Profile: Alan Shaikhlislamov

Random observation I made while writing all these profiles... I unintentionally wound up picking players to profile that predominantly have either a late or early birthday. Of the 21 players I am writing full profiles on, 13 are born in either the 3.5 months from Sept 16 to Dec 31, 2007 (McKenna, Stenberg, Reid, and Hoen) or were born in the 3.5 months from June 1 to Sept 15, 2008 (Malhotra, Gustafsson, Preston, Cali, Andersson, Shaikhlislamov, Gundmundsson, Murnieks and Ryabkykin).

Not really relevant to anything. I just once again didn't want to bullshit out a profound sounding intro.

THE BASICS: STATS AND CONTEXT

• Position: Left-shot winger
• League(s): MHL
• Height: 6'1"
• Weight: 187 lbs
• Birthdate: Sep 04, 2008

Here are his draft rankings, as of writing this:

• TSN NHL Scout Poll: Not ranked
• Cam Robinson NHL Scout Poll: Not ranked
• Corey Pronman: 111th
• Will Scouch: Honourable mention
• Elite Prospects: 52nd
• Scott Wheeler: 83rd
• McKeen's Hockey: Honourable mention
• Upside Hockey: Not ranked
• NHL Central Scouting: 25th (European skaters)

Shaikhlislamov's season was very up and down. He started off on fire – he scored a goal in five straight games to open the year, and had 6 goals and 9 points in his first 7 games. That earned him a call up to the KHL team, and he actually got into one game with real minutes. He played 11:22, but had no points and was a -3. He had another 2 points in his first game back and seemed like he was on a huge upwards trajectory, with potential to follow in Alexander Zharovsky's footsteps (relevant name for Toronto fans given recent trade rumours) in playing more for the Salavat Yulaev Ufa in the KHL late in the year.

Unfortunately for Shaikhlislamov, in his third game following that KHL game he was the victim of a blatant charging/boarding penalty and missed 22 games from October 13th to January 5th. When he returned, it took him a while to get back into the groove he found early in the season. He had one point (an assist) in the first six games, averaged half his usual shots per game rate for the rest of the season, and was a minus player in all six of those games (combined -9). I normally don't pay much attention to plus-minus, especially in solo games or a cherry picked period of games, but I did find that noteworthy when he had a season total of +15 and he only had three other games all season when he was a minus player.

But right after that six game period, it all seemed to come back and stayed back for the rest of the year. Shaikhlislamov's goals, points, shots and ice time all went up. After that rough stretch, he had a 10 game point streak where he had 9 goals and 11 assists. His ice time went up, his shot rate went up, and he was a combined +22.

You can get a good idea for Shaikhlislamov's season in his month by month breakdown. He started out hot, his shortened October and post-injury return in January were slower, but then his February and March were more in line with how he started, except with even higher shot and point rates. His ice time increased, he got bumped up from the second line at even strength and the top powerplay unit to the top line and top powerplay unit. By the time the playoffs rolled around, he started averaging 3 minutes more of ice time per game than his average in the regular season.

Taking Shaikhlislamov's season as a whole, including that middle period where he was struggling, his goal and point per game rate would be second in the league for U18 players. And a reminder, he is one of the younger players in the league with a September 4th birthday. He also had one of the highest shot rates, and for top line forwards one of the highest hits per game rates as well – which I am only mentioning to tease the strengths and weaknesses section.

THE GOOD: NHL-LEVEL SHOT, OFF PUCK OFFENSE, PHYSICAL PLAY, NET-FRONT SKILL

There are two main elements of Shaikhlislamov's game that I consider to be his biggest strengths: his shot and his off-puck play energy.

I've seen more than a couple of scouts call Shaikhlislamov's shot already NHL-level, both his wrist shot and his slap shot/one timer. With both types of shot his release is quick, he can put a ton of velocity on it, and he is accurate. He is able to beat goalies cleanly from distance with open looks, albeit in Russia's junior league. He will fire his wrist shot while he's skating at speed, he can use a curl and drag release for more deception and power, or just snap a quick shot to catch goalies off guard as they move square to his position.

What adds to Shaikhlislamov's shot is his goal scoring instincts. He reminds me of another Leafs prospect in Russia, Alexander Plesovskikh, for his timing and off-puck routes to open areas of the ice. He has that uncanny knack for arriving in the right place at the right time to get a pass or pounce on a rebound in front of the net for a tap in goal. This is one of the reasons why Shaikhlislamov's shot rate got so high, as he got a lot better at getting his shots off in dangerous areas like that. I saw one scout mention that he's a great pass recipient and while it seems like a weird thing to say, I agree with it. There are players who are better at creating offensive chances, and others who are better at finishing them. Shaikhlislamov is definitely the latter.

The other part of Shaikhlislamov's off-puck strength is his motor and power forward-like tools. He's just a bit above average in size, listed as 6'1" and 187 lbs, but he plays even bigger than that. He acts like a wrecking ball on the ice, absolutely leveling dudes along the boards and in open ice, initiating contact in huge collisions and is usually the only guy left standing... or at least being the first guy back to his feet. He is good at protecting the puck when he has it, but this physical, power forward style of play is something he shows a lot more on the forecheck, parking himself in dangerous areas in front of the net, and battling in front for tips, rebounds, back door tap ins, jam plays, all that good stuff.

Some other elements to Shaikhlislamov's game that I think are strengths but have more conflicting opinions is his playmaking and his skating.

On the playmaking side, I do agree that he isn't exactly a consistently high-level and dynamic puck handler or passer. But I like what one scout said, which is that he has a high level of "practical execution". The way he described it is while he doesn't have blinding fast hands or elite control of the puck where it's on a string for him, he is very good at letting the puck do the work. He doesn't over handle it, he doesn't try to deke the defender out of his pants all the time and lose it as a result. He excels in his puck handling when he is playing a heavy, power style that involves puck protection and bullying defenders to clear space for himself.

But Shaikhlislamov definitely has flashes of some absurd hands and skill. Look at the first goal in the highlight clip above. Right off a faceoff, he gets a pass in the slot and – I'm still not sure if he did this on purpose or not – he chips the puck up in the air between two defenders and in front of the goalie, then as those defenders and the goalie raise their sticks and gloves to get the puck themselves, he knocks it down out of the air first to get past the goalie who is pushing out to get the puck, then knocks it in the empty net. It reminded me of Abbey Murphy's highlight reel assist in the NCAA where she did something similar for an assist.

The same "practical execution" is how I'd describe Shaikhlislamov's passing. He doesn't necessarily try high-level playmaking to slip passes through narrow passing lanes, or firing cross ice passes at every attempt. The passes he makes are direct and purposeful, and they do the job. He's at his best when he's along the boards during a cycle, winning battles to come away with the puck and making simple but quick and hard passes to the slot or the point. His playmaking is about helping keep possessions alive, keep the puck moving, facilitating the offense with his off puck play, and waiting for his chance to finish a play with his shot and net front scoring.

The one thing I'll say that I noticed more than a few times is Shaikhlislamov being clever with using the threat of his shot to create a dangerous pass. He had around 5 assists this season just from firing a hard looking shot, but it was really just wide to a teammate for a simple tap in or deflection that bypassed the goalie's pads. He tried it more than just those times too, and honestly it's a smart trick when goalies and defenders sell out to get in front of your shot, but you use it as a playmaking trick to freeze them and pass it instead. You can see a few of them in these highlights of his assists:

The final strength I'll talk about is Shaikhlislamov's skating. It's not elite in any specific way, but like his passing he is what I would say is a very good practical power skater. He has some shiftiness and good edges, with natural quickness and explosiveness from his strong athleticism. He doesn't always look pretty, and he can certainly look wild at times, but he is above all else very strong on his feet and has a relentless motor at times. As of right now, the strength of his mobility overall is more as a straight-line skater, keeping in line with the power-forward profile. While there are areas for improvement in his skating, which I'll get to below, I do think that his overall mobility right now projects as above average.

THE FLAWS: SHOT SELECTION, INCONSISTENT SKILL, SEPARATION SPEED

Actually, I feel like I already touched on most of the flaws Shaikhlislamov needs to work on, but it's worth elaborating on them a bit more.

I think the biggest area for Shaikhlislamov to work on is his decision making with the puck. Like I said above, he's at his best when he's playing that heavy, power-forward style that supports the offense to keep it moving while hunting around the home plate area of the ice for a chance to use his shot and scoring ability to finish a scoring chance.

While Shaikhlislamov does show occasional flashes of higher level skill in terms of his shooting, puck handling and passing, there are times when he tries to do that kind of thing too much and gets away from that 'practical execution' style that works very well. His shot selection in particular can get wild, and he'll try shooting it from anywhere and everywhere. He's so young, and he already showed a lot of improvement in this area over the season that I'm not extremely concerned about it, but it's that kind of "junior hockey" mindset that I hope he learns to get rid of, especially if and when he gets more time at the pro level.

Other than that, there's the aforementioned limitations Shaikhlislamov has as a puck handler and a play driver. The mechanics in his puck handling, in part caused by his skating mechanics, makes him too stiff and not flexible and responsive enough to pull off some of the dekes that he tries. Fixing those would help, but similar to his shot selection, what will help him most is improving his overall decision making as far as when he can or should try things like that and when he should stick to the practical execution thing. The same kind of issue exists with his passing, but I don't think it's as bad with that. He works best without the puck as a physical supporting winger to create space and draw defenders to himself.

Honestly, all of Shaikhlislamov's flaws can be summarized by saying he needs to improve his mechanics so he can be more successful at the things he tries, but also refine his decision making so he makes wiser choices for when to try and be more dynamic and when to be more simple but efficient.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

From watching Shaikhlislamov's games this season, as far as how much better he looked in specific ways at the end compared to the start of the season, what stands out the most to me is his commitment and effectiveness in playing without the puck. Defensively, he showed a major improvement in his effort and his habits. He started scanning the ice more, he skated better (his skating did also just get better overall) on the backcheck, he was positioning himself better and more proactively, little things like that.

Then there was the evolution of Shaikhlislamov's power game. That element of "practical execution" really took off later in the year from his commitment and confidence in playing like a wrecking ball. He simplified his puck handling and playmaking, and there was much greater consistency in his motor and work ethic in winning inside body positioning in puck battles, initiating contact on his terms to establish and maintain leverage, take hits to make plays, and so on. Weirdly, he also got better at disengaging from the play to escape the defense's notice and time his route to soft areas in coverage for scoring chances. His skating mechanics looked to get cleaner, and his mobility overall certainly looked better to me by the end of the season.

All of this gives me the impression that Shaikhlislamov would make for an excellent long term project. He already has a solid foundation of skills that, if built upon further with NHL level development coaches, would make him a viable bottom six forward who can support the play, be physical, be reliable defensively, and score some goals. In one of the few times I saw a comparable for a prospect that I think could actually be pretty accurate if he develops along that path, I saw someone draw a line to Blake Coleman. Wouldn't that be nice to find in the third or fourth round?

Thanks for reading!

I put a lot of work into my prospect articles here, both for the draft and Toronto's prospects. I do it as a fun hobby for me, and I'd probably do it in some capacity even if PPP completely ceased to exist. But if you like reading my work, some support would go a long way! I pay for a few streaming services (CHL, NCAA, USHL, the occasional TSN options for international tournaments that are broadcast) to be able to reliably watch these prospects in good quality streams. I also pay for some prospect-specific resources, such as tracking data and scouting reports from outlets like Elite Prospects, Future Considerations, McKeen's Hockey, The Athletic, and more.

Being able to get paid for this helps me dedicate more time and resources to it, rather than to second/third jobs. And whatever money I make here, a lot of I reinvest back into my prospect work through in those streaming and scouting services. Like I said, I'd be doing whatever I can afford for this anyway, so any financial help I get through this is greatly appreciated!