Familiarity did not breed contempt for the Victoria Royals in the 2015 Canadian Hockey League import draft.
The Royals selected former Vancouver Giants winger and WHL sa国际传媒 Division rival Vladimir Bobylev with the 38th overall pick Tuesday. With the Giants selecting eighth overall, Bobylev became expendable. Vancouver dropped the Russian and chose winger Radovan Bondra from Slovakia with that eighth pick.
CHL teams are allowed to carry a maximum of two European imports. The Giants also still carry defenceman Dmitri Osipov, the No. 1 pick in the 2013 CHL import draft.
Victoria had a spot open up after defenceman Alexey Sleptsov notified the team of his intention to remain in Russia to play pro next season. That left another Russian blue-liner, Marsel Ibragimov, as the lone remaining import player on the Victoria roster. The Royals filled that spot with the six-foot-two, 206-pound Bobylev, a large forward they don鈥檛 believe reached his potential with only three goals and nine points, with 39 penalty minutes, as a 17-year-old rookie in 52 games last season for Vancouver.
The Giants had thought highly enough of Bobylev to make him their 21st selection overall in 2014. He has twice appeared in Russian colours, last year at the U-17 Five Nations Cup with two points in three games, and at the U-17 Four Nations Cup in 2014 with one goal in three games.
鈥淩ather than go with the unknown, we went with a guy we鈥檝e seen before,鈥� said Royals general-manager Cam Hope.
鈥淚 liked him when I saw him play for Vancouver against us. He showed flashes of what he can bring. He鈥檚 a big package who hasn鈥檛 shown yet what he is capable of in this league.鈥�
Bobylev鈥檚 underwhelming rookie season in the WHL doesn鈥檛 concern Hope, because the Victoria GM said there were reasons for it.
鈥淸Bobylev] was caught up in a situation and had a little trouble adapting and it took him awhile to get his footing in North America,鈥� said Hope. 鈥淗e was shuffled in and out of the lineup. And then Vancouver drafted early [in this year鈥檚 import draft] and he was the odd-man out.鈥�
Hope phoned Bobylev on Tuesday in his hometown of Lipetsk, which is located in the Don River basin about 450 kilometres south of Moscow.
鈥淗e is excited and motivated to make a go of it in Victoria and wants to hit the ground running in training camp,鈥� said Hope.
The 60 CHL teams, comprising the Western Hockey League, Ontario Hockey League and Quebec Major Junior League, alternated selections per league based on reverse order from last year鈥檚 season records.
The QMJHL picked first this year and that overall selection went to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan, who grabbed forward Vladimir Kuznetsov, who led Russia to the 2014 World U-17 Hockey Challenge championship in Sarnia, Ont. Next up were the Saskatoon Blades of the WHL, who took Czech blue-liner Libor Hajek second overall. The Sudbury Wolves of the OHL selected Russian forward Dmitry Sokolov with the third overall pick.
The top few picks can make an impact, as attested by the five first-round selections in the 2015 NHL draft last week who came to the CHL through the import draft. And Leon Draisaitl from Germany, who was a Royals killer last season as a member of the sa国际传媒 Division-rival Kelowna Rockets, went third overall to the Edmonton Oilers out of the Prince Albert Raiders in the 2014 NHL draft.
The Royals regular season begins Sept. 25 at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre against the Portland Winterhawks.
