Zharovsky With A Beautiful Goal On Thursday

Zharovsky’s goal came off a beautiful rush and a better pass by his teammate to the slot so the Canadiens prospect could score with an absolute bomb of a one-timer right inside the right faceoff circle.

In terms of all his goals this season, there hasn’t been one where he displayed such a great one-timer. It shows that his shot could be one of his greatest assets when given a proper opportunity to use it. As a result, it seems that Zharovsky always finds a way to impress with what he can do at the KHL level.

The more he plays, the better he seems to get, and his production seems to be coming at a very consistent pace. Since he bounced back from a brief 5-game pointless streak with a very solid 1 goal and 1 assist back on November 23rd in a 3-1 Salavat UFA victory over Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk. Ever since then, Zharovsky has been on a roll, producing 3 goals and 9 points in 8 games, showing that he consistently puts up points.

Just the fact that he is the leading point getter on a middling KHL team at 18 years old is incredibly impressive, considering teenagers don’t usually get that much ice time. However, when you consider he missed the first 8 games of the season due to an injury, it makes it even better. Now, Ivan Demidov led SKA St. Petersburg last season in points, but it wasn’t without serious ice time issues early on that caused Demidov to only start producing more towards the end of the season. Right now, Zharovsky’s season is just a little more than half over, so there is plenty of time to improve on his numbers, and he will likely surpass Demidov’s 49 points as a rookie.

However, the points per game record is looking like it will still continue to belong to Kirill Kaprizov. Nonetheless, Zharovsky is up with the Demidovs, Kaprizovs, and Michkovs in terms of production in their KHL rookie season.

It’s hard to believe someone as talented as Zharovsky didn’t go in the first round of the 2025 NHL Entry Draft. Even with the Russian factor, skill is skill, and for those who still worry about that (it’s not that risky anymore), a late first-round pick on him would still make more sense than most guys that go in that range. The fact that the Habs were able to get their so-called 16th-best prospect on their list shows that they knew something that other teams in the league did not.

As great as Demidov is, this is already looking like Bobrov’s biggest steal. With each passing week, it seems the Zharovsky pick looks better and better. It will be fun to see him join his friend, Ivan Demidov, in a few years as the two Russians become a huge part of the Habs’ long-term future.

Are you surprised by what Alexander Zharovsky continues to do at the KHL level?