Philadelphia Flyers‘ 1st round pick in the 2016 draft (#22 overall) Russian-born rookie center German Rubtsov(17) was recalled early from affiliate Lehigh Valley Phantoms and played his first 3 NHL games earlier in the month.
He played in mostly a fourth line role skating an average of 12 shifts for 7 minutes per game registering no points with 1 shot, 2 hits, 4 shot blocks, 1 giveaway, 1 takeaway, went roughly 50% on the face off dot and the team won 2 games and loss one in overtime.
The 6′ 190 lbs. forward appeared in 15 KHL games for Vityaz Podolsk and an equal amount of games in Russian junior hockey MHL before coming over to join Chicoutimi Saguneens of the QMJHL but ultimately next season ended up with Acadie-Bathurst Titan, where he won the 2018 President’s Cup and the Memorial Cup Championship.
He started his rookie season in the minors and got off to a quick start scoring 6 goals and 4 assists in 14 AHL games but suffered a season ending shoulder injury hit to railroad any of those further developments.
In 11 games in the current campaign he has a goal and 5 assists with a +2 rating.
The 21-year old still has one more year left on his entry level deal and we do see him getting more chances in the big league.