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VANCOUVER— Eyebrows were certainly raised when the Montreal Canadiens seemingly went off the board and selected Russian defenceman Alexander Romanov with the 38th pick in this year’s draft.

After all, NHL Central Scouting had him ranked 115th amongst European skaters.

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“I was a little surprised,” Romanov told reporters in Dallas through a Russian translator.

“I thought that I was going to go towards the end of the second, maybe early third round, and so I was surprised.”

The fact that Romanov has failed to put up a single point in 28 games in the KHL this season only added fuel to the concern that the Canadiens might have been reaching with the pick. Then again, the fact that he’s even playing in the professional men’s league is a feat in itself.

Romanov, who is averaging only 10:07 minutes per game with CSKA Moscow, is three years younger than the next-youngest player on the team.

In other words, there is an argument to be made that with more responsibility Romanov might produce far more than he already has. It’s an argument that has been proven at this year’s world juniors, where he is already making a name for himself as someone who could develop into the next Andrei Markov.