Ottawa Senators: Egor Sokolov Continues to Produce in Belleville

Senators fan favourite and 2nd round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, Egor Sokolov has continued to be a top-flight producer in the AHL

Egor Sokolov enjoyed a great rookie season with Belleville last season, leading the team in points as a 20-year-old with 25 points in 35 games, regression was a fair expectation for the Russian forward, but he’s shown no signs of slowing down this season. Sokolov has appeared in 23 games this season for Belleville, scoring 6 goals and 18 points in just 23 games, trailing only veteran forward Jake Lucchini, who has 3 more points in 4 more games. The towering, 6’4″ forward was also able to suit up in 4 NHL games where he didn’t look out of place despite being held pointless.

The native of Yekaterinburg, Russia was tremendous in the BSens last game, finding the back of the net twice in Belleville’s 7-5 triumph over the Springfield Thunderbirds. Sokolov’s first of the night was a nice display of patience to bury it past the goaltender:

Sokolov’s 68 shots lead all Belleville skaters, and there’s no doubt that the future Senators winger plays with a “shoot first” mentality, he is easily the team’s biggest threat in the offensive zone. Fellow Belleville Senator, and another second round pick from the 2020 Draft, Roby Jarventie has formed a nice duo alongside Sokolov, the 19-year-old Jarventie is third on the team in points with 15 in 25 games as another talented young core of Senators players pushes closer to the NHL.

There’s no way to tell if Sokolov will become a full-time, impact NHLer, it’s simply impossible to predict that, but with the 21-year-old’s heart, work ethic and dedication to hockey it seems like he has as good a chance as any. He’s impressed Senators coaching staff since the day he was drafted:

“Since Day 1 when he got here, he’s wanted to play so badly,” Donovan said. “He would call Jesse after every skate in camp last year and ask how he was doing. This summer, he got after it and you can see it. He dropped some weight, and he’s built himself into a real good body.

There’s not a lot of players that take their craft this seriously, Sokolov is relentless when it comes to hockey, his training regimen and his overall mindset makes him such an intriguing prospect.

Sokolov also plays right-wing, the forward position where the Senators house the least amount of depth at. When the Senators are ready to compete for the playoffs and eventually the Stanley Cup, there will likely be a hole at second-line right-wing that would ideally be Sokolov’s spot in the coming years if he continues to trend upwards. If he develops into that spot, it will be a humongous win for the Senators organization, and will likely enter another face of the franchise, Egor Sokolov.