2026 Canadiens Top 25 Under 25: #7 Alexander Zharovsky
Introduction
Every so often a prospect comes along whose stock climbs so fast you half-expect the scouts who passed on him to start updating their résumés. Alexander Zharovsky is that guy.
When the Montreal Canadiens traded up in the second round of the 2025 NHL Draft, sending picks 41 and 49 to the Carolina Hurricanes to grab pick 34, the move raised a few eyebrows. Trading up to take a Russian winger with a KHL contract through 2027 and a frame you could describe as “still under construction” isn’t exactly the safe play. But for Kent Hughes, it was a no-brainer.
Following the draft, Canadiens co-director of amateur scouting Martin Lapointe told reporters that, on paper, Zharovsky was a second-round pick, but on Montreal’s list he was a first-rounder, a top-six talent they had ranked around their traded first-round picks. A year later, those eyebrows have settled back down, and what looked like a gamble is starting to look like a pretty good investment.
In his first full KHL season with Salavat Yulaev Ufa, Zharovsky didn’t just hold his own against grown men, he put up 16 goals and 42 points in 59 games, setting a new KHL record for points by an under-19 player. He tied for third on his team in scoring, earned a spot in the KHL All-Star Game, and walked away with the Alexei Cherepanov Award as the league’s Rookie of the Year. For a teenager playing in one of the toughest professional leagues on the planet, he was clearly doing more than just getting by.
Before we declare all concerns officially dead and start measuring him for a Habs jersey and pencilling him onto the first power-play unit, remember that he’s still playing in Russia, still under contract, and still needs to add some weight before anyone confuses him for an NHL body. But the talent is real, and the trajectory is steep.
Voting
Zharovsky landed comfortably at number seven this year, with two panellists placing him as high as fourth and none dropping him outside the top 10.
The community vote, on the other hand, was less convinced, with some 47 voters placing outside the top 10, and a placement as low as 19.
Top 25 Under 25 History
Zharovsky made his Top 25 Under 25 debut last year coming in mid-countdown at number 14. A year later, after lighting up the KHL, he’s jumped up seven spots to chop that number in half.
History of #7
| Year | #7 |
|---|---|
| 2026 | Alexander Zharovsky |
| 2025 | Jacob Fowler |
| 2024 | David Reinbacher |
| 2023 | David Reinbacher |
| 2022 | Joshua Roy |
| 2021 | Cayden Primeau |
| 2020 | Victor Mete |
| 2019 | Cole Caufield |
| 2018 | Ryan Poehling |
| 2017 | Scherbak/Juulsen (T-7) |
| 2016 | Daniel Carr |
| 2015 | Zack Kassian |
| 2014 | Jacob de la Rose |
| 2013 | Jarred Tinordi |
| 2012 | Brendan Gallagher |
| 2011 | Danny Kristo |
| 2010 | Max Pacioretty |
Strengths
Zharovsky’s calling card is his puck skill in tight spaces. He’s been described by DobberProspects as a “magician” in traffic. He blends dynamic puck-handling with the sort of playmaking vision that makes you wonder if he has eyes in the back of his head.
He won’t beat you with raw speed, and he won’t blow the doors off anyone in a straight-line race, but he does have his own way of creating separation: deception. He’ll slow down a play, hold onto the puck a half-second longer than seems wise and wait for a defender to commit before slipping around him or finding a passing lane. For a young winger, the kind of patience that makes defenders react to him rather than simply reacting to them is a pretty valuable trick, and one that is hard to teach.
Weaknesses
Every report eventually arrives at the same “but,” when it comes to Zharovsky and it’s all around his skating. Explosiveness, to be exact, not the wheels as a whole. He doesn’t have a particularly quick first step, and he can bleed speed when he pivots or leans on his crossovers, which can be a problem for a player who loves to carry the puck through the neutral zone. His skating was identified as the biggest obstacle in his path at the draft, and it’s still the biggest question hanging over his NHL projection.
The good news is that it’s trending in the right direction. Evaluators watching him last season saw real improvement in his top-end speed and his ability to get moving in short bursts. But “improved” isn’t “fixed,” and the burst is still the thing standing between him and consistently creating the separation he’ll need at higher levels. His skating ability also ties into the frame conversation. A few more pounds of muscle wouldn’t just help him hold up physically; it should put more power behind that stride, too.
The other concern is what happens when he doesn’t have the puck. He is at his best when he’s creating, but he still needs to become more consistent in his defensive positioning, puck battles, and overall engagement away from the play. That’s not unusual for a young offensive winger, but it will matter more as he moves up the ladder. NHL coaches aren’t going to give him a free pass to spend his shifts waiting for the fun part.
Projection
Zharovsky projects as a potential top-six NHL winger, and the offensive skill is real enough that the projection doesn’t require much imagination. He isn’t going to overwhelm anyone physically or fly past them in a footrace, so his value will always be tied to his hands and his brain — his ability to slow a play down, find a lane, and make something out of a possession that looked like nothing. If that translates, there’s a scoring-line forward here who could also play an important role on the power play.
He is under contract with Salavat Yulaev through the 2026-27 season, so we’ll also have to tap into our own patience while we wait. Him spending the summer in Montreal is a strong indication that he’s eager to join the Another full season against professional competition, a little more muscle on his frame, and continued progress with his skating may not be the worst thing for him and it would give him a better chance of arriving in North America ready to compete for an NHL job.
If his development keeps trending the way it did this season, Montreal has a skilled, creative top-six winger on the way. The question, as with most prospects this far out, is less whether he has the talent and more how high he can climb once he gets here.
