2026 T25U25: Yaroslav Fedoseyev is #20

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Yaroslav Fedoseyev was drafted this June in the sixth round. While it's not usual for someone not a goalie to get ranked right away in the T25 if they're taken that low, in some circles Fedoseyev is considered a draft steal so it shouldn't surprise. The Leafs seem to be in those circles. They took the Ottawa 2027 fifth-round pick that they had just got for trading the signing rights to goalie Samuel Ersson and traded it to Vancouver for their 2026 sixth-round pick in order to draft Fedoseyev.

That they set out to get him in this way, reminiscent of the draft of Ryan Tverberg a few years back, says they figured he was worth the extra effort. I wouldn't read too much into the "trade back" nature of the pick swap as I don't imagine many people in the current Leafs front office think those picks have different values.

I think it's more significant that the Leafs are remaking the defence all over the organization. They drafted four defenders, signed some more AHL-level players as free agents, and let a few go unqualified. The NHL roster has two new additions, even though there were a lot of defenders under contract for this year at or near the NHL level. This remodel is likely to continue as other contracts and rights expire, but the organizational opinion on defending is already becoming clear. Fedoseyev is fits the model the Leafs are building from on defence.

Yaroslav Fedoseyev	Vitals
Age as of July 1	18.65
Position	RD
Height	6'1"
Weight (lbs)	187
Shoots	R
Draft Year	2026
Draft Number	161

The Player

Fedoseyev is what the Leafs are interested in these days because he defends, first of all, which isn't a given in the points-mad hockey world. While John Chayka spent big on Darren Raddysh who is earning his money with his offence more than defence, he's not a glass cannon. Chayka's other acquisitions share some characteristics, and one of the problems confronting prospect evaluation today for me is that I agree with his take on defence. It's really easy to overrate a player who is of a type you like or you think is who the Leafs should be drafting to raise up into future NHLers.

This type is one where a defender needs to have defensive skills like in-zone defending to deny zone entries, to directly defend to prevent goals, but also must have puck skills and good enough skating to move the puck. That sounds reasonable, but it's not exactly easy to find because hockey gets divided up into defence and offence, and the thing in the middle, the puck-moving skills or transition skills are a mix of those, but not measurable by points or goals against. The activities that happen both with and away from the puck outside the defensive zone that lead to better goals against – the ultimate goal of defending – are similarly unmeasured.

A defender who only has puck skills is Timothy Liljegren, and that was who the Leafs used to draft. A defender who only has size and reach to defend at the net-front is the "large adult son" which was a bit of a slander on many defenders who happen to be tall, but aren't just tall. But that is indeed how the Leafs used to draft as well. Finding someone who first can defend, second can handle the puck, third can play in ways that make the team defend less, and fourth can make a decent pass in the offensive zone is not easy. Particularly not when you're starting with teenagers. But that's the job.

Fedoseyev is an average sized defender (by the skewed reality of the NHL), so he's not going to get knocked as "just big" but he is going to underwhelm with his points.

As you can see his career has been all in one place but also fractured over a host of teams. He is from Chelyabinsk, which is an industrial city in the east of Russia. The local hockey club, Traktor, dates to the 1940s, and they've been a playoff team lately at the KHL level. They lost in the first round last year after losing in the cup final the prior year. It is very much part of the mythos around Fedoseyev that he played in the KHL last year because he happened to score a goal. But it was nine regular season games and three games in the playoffs, not a regular role in all five they played. In the playoffs, he only actually saw the ice in two games, for a total of 18 minutes. This very gentle introduction to the big club where a player sits on the bench for entire games is standard practice in the KHL for their prospects. It's not an indication he's ready for the big show more that they hope he will get there in time.

To set your understanding of the team, Josh Leivo is their runaway star player followed by Mikhail Grigorenko, and a little further down the points list by Yegor Korshkov and Semyon Der-Arguchintsev. The KHL is now a little behind the AHL in general, and is a comfortable home to good AHLers who have run up against that league's veteran rule and are willing to relocate. Which means the VHL, the farm league of the KHL, is even further below that. The MHL is junior hockey. And Fedoseyev spent the bulk of his season swinging up and down between junior and the VHL (without ever leaving town).

Brian calculated this out in his comprehensive article on Fedoseyev.

His sequence of games looks like this, from the start of the year to the end:

11 games in the MHL
6 games in the VHL
6 games in the KHL
3 games in the VHL
3 games in the MHL
1 game in the VHL
3 games in the MHL
1 game in the VHL
7 games in the MHL
14 games in the VHL
8 games in the KHL (only 6 games with any ice time)
2 games in the VHL
2 games in the MHL

Fedoseyev was born in November, so he was actually 18 for most of that run, and he will be 19 this coming season, an age at which many European players have played well in the AHL. The meme about playing against men having great importance is very overstated, and it's not exactly unusual for any European player by his age.

That KHL playoffs business is part of the hype on this player, and it should be mentioned, he's a Dan Milstein client, so he has an enthusiastic, upbeat and relentless PR machine behind him. It's not a surprise the in-crowd knew his name and had made of him a bit of an it-boy. It's deserved, though. And it's backed up by some tracking stats from various sources you can find outlined in the link above.

These are tricky things to interpret as they are very much "thing you did" vs "thing you are no matter the context." It's an attempt to measure those seemingly unmeasurable aspects of defence, but it is absolutely in no way similar to isolation models or anything like what NHL teams produce on their own players. However, it's fair to say that at levels of hockey at times above the level of your average Canadian junior team, Fedoseyev was succeeding at very important elements of defending. He can skate well, handle the puck well and engages physically well, but not as his raison d'être. And yet, at the same time, he still plays like a teenager.

All of that is why he was drafted and why he was drafted by the Leafs now at this time, but it's not going to really tell us where he's going in the future. I trust these measures enough to buy in completely that it was a surprise he was still available when the Leafs made the pick trade to take him. He is a steal. The Leafs did well with this pick. But then, the Tverberg pick was a good one too.

Fedoseyev attended the Leafs development camp and played on a pairing with fellow Milstein client Alexander Bilecki. From Brian again:

He and Bilecki were just such a joy to watch, with Fedoseyev being more consistent defensively. What captured my attention, though, was his decisions with the puck. He was just automatic on breakouts, showing excellent mobility and elusiveness with the puck, and vision to find the best teammate to make his pass to and then nail it tape to tape. He made quick decisions under pressure and pinched effectively along the blueline to keep offensive possessions alive. Defensively, he stopped a one-on-one chance by Pepoy and broke up a dangerous two-on-one rush.

There were some technical problems with this broadcast, but from what I saw, these two were playing an accomplished and serious game, not trying too hard to impress but just engaging with the game in front of them. That kind of maturity can make you look better than your peers, but it's also a necessary skill to play the game at a higher level.

I was reminded of Noah Chadwick when he was invited to the WJSS where he was placed with a glass cannon partner and had the smarts and tenacity to mold his game to the better offensive partner and play outside his best skillset well enough to keep up. I didn't mistake that for good defence, but the maturity stuck in my mind. In this case, Fedoseyev was put in a position to just use his skills to their best effect, so the context is very different but his approach was similar. He wasn't trying to do too much.

That's a long and winding story to say it's very hard for me to rate exactly where his defensive skill are at beyond very, very good in junior.

The Votes

As you can see Brian is high on him as are some other voters. Ranking him 17th for me is still putting him in the likely to fall off the list in two-to-three years tier, but at the high end.

Voter	Vote
Cathy	17
Species	NA
Hound Line	22
Shinson93	22
Cameron	21
Sclodiggity	18
Brian S	13
Svalbard38	NA
Zone Entry	12
Hardev	NA
Adam	NA
Weighted Average	20.82
Highest Vote	12
Lowest Vote	22

The Opinions

Shinson93: I love the idea of a gritty, physical defender that can also move the puck. While I’ve now seen some glimpses of that in highlights and in rookie camp, after watching a couple of his games from last year, it seems somewhat inconsistent. After moving around a lot last year between leagues, I’m hoping that this year he gets a chance to settle in and work on his development within a consistent environment.

Brigstew: Of all the later picks I analyzed after the draft was over, the one that surprised me the most with how much I liked them was Fedoseyev. He is on the older side for prospects taken in this year’s draft—he’s only a couple of months younger than Harry Nansi who was drafted the year before. Again, I won’t rehash what I’ve already written in full, but I’ll state that I ranked him 13th because I think he has had more time to physically mature, develop and refine his skills, gain better consistency, and adjust to the higher level of play in the VHL and KHL from last year. I’m expecting him to split this year between the two again, with much fewer (if any) games in the MHL this year. I expect him to be a minutes leader when in the VHL, and compete for minutes in the KHL if and when he gets called up there. He may be more of a project but I am pretty hyped about his all around impacts.

Sclodiggity: A right-shooting D that has played KHL games before their draft. And nine games is nothing to sneeze at (plus playoffs!). Hopefully his MHL days are done and a full season in the VHL with another call up or two would be great to see. He has an exciting mix of age, experience, size, and handedness. The skills come with time but he’s already decent at moving the puck and covering the crease.

Hound Line: Good size, good mobility. Uses his frame to box out his man, not just net front but also in puck support situations. Effectively reads and disrupts passing lanes with his reach. Makes good and decisive reads defensively on an MHL team that runs an extremely active D-zone system (puck pursuit and switches). He makes simple high percentage plays with the puck. I don’t see a huge upside but, he’s got decent physical tools and good hockey IQ. He could be a really solid 3rd pair Dman in a few years.

Zone Entry: Each year I allow myself one pick to be unreasonably hopeful for, just chug some hopeium, and this year it’s Fedoseyev. Much of that is based on Brigstew’s writeups but there’s also just a… vibe, I guess? I feel like it’s not crazy to think we may have something here.

That's the darling of the in-crowd described as best we can. What do you think of this draft steal?

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