They might not have made the play-offs but this season was still an excellent one for the Maine Timber players development as they made huge strides forward towards securing a play-off birth next season. With so many rookies on their roster, the Maine Timber were expected to have a few growing pains as they settled into their roles in the SMJHL. One of the rookies drafted this season was Adrik Baranov. 

Drafted 35th overall by the Timber, the puck rushing defenceman comes from a long line of SHL players. Nephew to the hall of fame member and former Captain of the Manhattan Rage, Roy Razin and former depth winger of the Manhattan Rage, Rurik Razin, Adrik spent most of his late childhood watching family members win Cups and accolades in the SHL. “I knew early on that I was destined to head to the SHL. Watching my Uncles win over the years with the Rage really made it easy to dedicate myself to hockey. Watching Uncle Roy shaped the kind of player I want to be… maybe without all of the shot blocking”

With his play style firmly focused on offense, Adrik borrows liberally from his uncles Roy’s play-style but more offensive flair. He generated over 100 shots this season while being unfortunately snake bitten for a majority of the season, only scoring four goals. His play making abilities were more on display as he generated 17 assists, enough to be in the top five for assists in the draft class. Overall points wise he was in the top 10 for rookies.  On the Timber, he ended the season in the top five of point producers, with the second most points on the power play. In the off season he continues to work on his game and in the extremely limited minutes he’s being given in the International Juniors tournament, he has already scored a goal and assist.

When questioned on why he had an astoundingly high 53 giveaways this season, Adrik would just shrug. “I play a risky game and have the puck on my stick a lot. It’s just how it is.” That shouldn’t deter prospective teams though as despite the high number of give aways, Adrik had an overall game rating of 62 and was trusted enough to be kept on the first pairing for a majority of the season, a post he’s expected to return to next season.  He might never a two way beast though as by his own admission he’s focused entirely on offense. “I don’t see myself changing how I play. I want to be out there scoring points and really, what better way is there to defend then to keep the puck in the other teams zone?” This is well reflected in his stats as  he only blocked 30 shots and only generated 26 hits.

It seems like the professional rankings don’t know what to do with a blue liner so focused on offense as pre-draft prospect rankings have Adrik all over the map with some giving him the rank of top prospect on the Maine with others not even having him ranked at all. Similarly, he’s expected to be drafted anywhere between 1st round to beyond the 2nd h in the upcoming draft. If he goes as late as some are projecting, someone will be getting a huge steal this draft.

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