When the Maple Leafs made their first round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, many fans weren’t familiar with the name Rodion Amirov. If you pay attention to the celly he used last night, though, it’s pretty clear he’s quite familiar with the Maple Leafs.
The Leafs' 15th overall pick usually plays in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League for Yulaev Ufa where the 19-year-old currently has eight points in 23 games.
Amirov is currently playing for Russia’s World Junior squad in the Edmonton bubble, and last night, Russia and Sweden might have treated fans to the best game of the tournament so far. The contest ended in true OT thriller fashion when Russia’s Marat Khusnutdinov scored with just 5.6 seconds remaining in overtime to end Sweden’s 54 game win streak in the group round at the World Juniors.
Amirov already has four points in two games played, and when he scored a big goal last night, we couldn’t help but draw a comparison with *that* Auston Matthews celly.
Has the Leafs first-round pick been taking a page out of the Leafs’ star’s book? It sure looks that way.
