Our first goalie on our 2024 Toronto Maple Leafs prospect rankings, Artur Akhtyamov is coming off a VHL Championship and playoff MVP with Neftyanik Almetievsk. Taken in the fourth round of the 2020 NHL Draft, Akhtyamov will make his North American pro debut next season.
The netminder has steadily climbed his way through the ranks of Russian hockey, moving from the MHL, to the VHL, and this year, getting his first real shot on KHL ice. He’s excelled everywhere he’s gone, and played the best hockey of his career in last season’s VHL playoffs.
Akhtyamov is a very entertaining goalie to watch. Bursting with athleticism, he plays a very aggressive and fast game, able to make miraculous side-to-side saves with strong pushes across his crease.
Let’s take a closer look at our 7th-ranked Toronto Maple Leafs prospect.
Strengths/weaknesses
As mentioned, Akhtyamov’s athleticism is his greatest strength. His quickness allows him to challenge shooters aggressively, go for ridiculous poke checks, and play a fairly risky game.
He’s only 6’1”, but makes up for it by standing far outside the blue paint. Akhtyamov isn’t scared of a cross-ice pass, knowing he has the ability to push hard across his crease and get into position quickly.
His game is almost arrogant, as he will attempt some wild poke checks and challenges, which works sometimes but can also burn him. It’s a high-risk, high-reward kind of play, but has worked for Akhtyamov for his whole career.
Even though he’s not the tallest, he is very good at fighting through traffic and finding the right position to make a save through a screen. This will be a challenge for Akhtyamov as he continues to climb the hockey ranks, but so far so good.
Adding to his aggressive tendencies, Akhtyamov also has no problem playing the puck, attempting passes his coaches probably get nervous about. He’s a very fun goalie to watch, there’s no doubt about that.
But Akhtyamov’s style is a double-edged sword. He can find himself out of position quite a bit after cross-ice passes because of over-challenging, and loses his net from time to time.
A goalie never wants to “swim”, flailing around the crease seemingly always behind the play, but Akhtyamov swims when things get too hectic. Again, as a result of being too far out of his crease or over-pushing on a slide across the blue paint.
He’ll need to find a better balance between his ultra-aggressive play now and a more calm, technical style, but it’s easier to tone a goalie down than make them more confident. Akhtyamov has all the confidence in the world, and has proven he can afford to be an aggressive netminder throughout his time in Russia.
Production
| Season | League | Team | GP | W-L-T | GAA | SV% | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018–19 | MHL | Irbis Kazan | 54 | 22-23-3 | 2.30 | .921 | 5 |
| 2019–20 | MHL | Irbis Kazan | 46 | 26-13-6 | 1.80 | .931 | 7 |
| 2020–21 | VHL | Bars Kazan | 14 | 5-4-4 | 1.90 | .927 | 1 |
| MHL | Irbis Kazan | 9 | 5-4-0 | 1.66 | .935 | 3 | |
| 2021–22 | VHL | Bars Kazan | 38 | 9-17-9 | 2.69 | .912 | 1 |
| 2022–23 | VHL | Neftyanik Almetievsk | 39 | 20-12-6 | 1.74 | .943 | 6 |
| 2023–24 | KHL | Ak Bars Kazan | 17 | 6-7-0 | 2.51 | .921 | 1 |
| VHL | Neftyanik Almetievsk | 19 | 10-5-4 | 2.00 | .927 | 3 |
Akhtyamov got his first real shot at KHL hockey last season, and played about as well as anyone could have hoped.
While not the highest-quality starting option for Ak Bars Kazan, Akhtyamov held his own in the highest Russian league and had some incredible performances during his 17-game stretch before moving back to the VHL.
And for the last two seasons, he’s proven to be above the VHL, sporting a ridiculous .943 SV% in 2022–23 and winning VHL Playoff MVP after going 16-5-0 with a .932 SV% in last season’s playoffs. Without a clear path to a full-time starting role in the KHL next season, he’ll be battling with Dennis Hildeby (who we’ll get to) on the Toronto Marlies next year.
Next steps
Akhtyamov’s next couple years will be crucial, as the Leafs have three young goalies who will all be battling for spots. Akhtyamov, Hildeby, and Joseph Woll all seem like future NHL starting quality goalies, and so Akhtyamov’s AHL performance next year, especially with Hildeby on the team as well, will be huge.
He’ll need to work on calming down in his net, as skaters will get faster and faster and may be able to expose Akhtyamov’s aggressive style. While he shouldn’t abandon his whole identity, finding a better way of using his elite athleticism will help Akhtyamov further develop.
Hildeby will be Akhtyamov’s direct competition in the AHL, with quite a bit more experience. Akhtyamov doesn’t need to outplay him, he just needs to solidify himself as a solid AHL goalie this season. He has plenty of time to develop, and with Woll and Anthony Stolarz as the NHL tandem for the next two years, Akhtyamov doesn’t need to be fully ready quite yet.
Projection
The Maple Leafs are in a fantastic situation when it comes to goaltending. Woll and Stolarz should be a very effective duo for the next couple years, and Hildeby and Akhtyamov both seem like they will develop into solid NHL options.
As for Akhtyamov, he is the furthest from being NHL-ready right now, and might not have the ceiling of Hildeby (simply because of Hildeby’s height), but his athleticism is already elite and he has the tools to be a Maple Leafs starter.
For the next two years, Akhtyamov should stay with the Marlies, focus on improvement, and hopefully, he will be a part of a solid Toronto goaltending tandem within a few years.
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