The next film room for CHN will be focused on Mikhail Gulyayev, who the Avalanche selected in the first round of the 2023 NHL Draft. While he’s very much on the smaller side (which we’ll talk about), he’s one of the more mesmerizing skaters I’ve watched. Skating forward, backwards, in and out of transitions, he makes everything look completely effortless. If the Avalanche could get him over to the AHL, they might be able to fast track him to the NHL.

Doesn’t sound like he has much interest in that.

In a new interview on ResponsibleGambling.org, the 19 year old defenseman spoke about his plans to get to the best league in the world, and it doesn’t sound like that plan includes the AHL.

“My path to the NHL is to come and play right away,” Gulyayev told Sergey Demidov. “I’m following my dream and not interested in anything else. I’m not against the AHL; it’s a good league, but if I go to America and play, I will only play in the NHL.”

Gulyayev just completed his first full season in the KHL, which is pretty rare for an 18 year old defenseman. As the season went on, his role on the team grew and grew, which can only be looked at in a positive light. While the offense wasn’t necessarily there, he earned the trust of the coaching staff and by the end of the season, was seeing consistent time on the second defensive pair.

The Avalanche were very pleased with how his season went, as I asked Brian Willsie about him last month.

“That’s huge. That’s a tough league to play in as a young guy,” Willsie said. “We watched him closely. We obviously have scouts over there watching him, but with video now, we can watch all his games and his shifts. It’s not easy, and they don’t give opportunities out freely over there to young guys. That’s the way they do it. For him to get the minutes that he had and the opportunity was a great experience. Real good development year and we’ll watch him closely again.”

Before last season began, Gulyayev signed a one-year extension with Avangard of the KHL, so his contract doesn’t expire until 2025-26. It sounds like the Avalanche might be waiting a little bit for him to cross the pond.

To read the full interview, you can click here. The 19 year old talks about how often the Avalanche communicate him, meeting Joe Sakic, and his favorite player, Cale Makar.