He is one of few Russians in the upcoming 08 draft and some sites have him projected at 13, but that name does indeed speak to me, he may be the future

I think he'll go a lot sooner than #13. I've seen people say he's a lot like Alexei Cherepanov (last year's #16 pick), except Filatov works a lot harder. I'm betting he's top 10 for sure.

Filatov is ranked 2nd right now behind Stamkos. Has the Russian Hockey Federation agreed to any terms with the NHL yet. If they haven't Filatov could drop in the draft the same way Cherepanov did. Cherepanov should have gone in the top 5 but most teams didn't want to risk the chance that Russia would not let him come to the NHL.

I think it really depends on what team gets a higher pick. If a team like the Leafs end up getting a top 5 pick, I doubt they'd let money issues stop them from drafting a guy like Filatov. Thats kind of why the Rangers nabbed Cherepanov, because money isn't a problem for them.

I've heard good and bad about this guy. I think he is a risky pick for number 2 in the draft. There is an interesting mock draft here:

http://www.mynhldraft.com/

He falls under the "need to beef up" category if you ask me. 6' 0" 158lbs seems a bit scrawny to me.