The University of Maine’s hockey team has landed its highest National Hockey League draft pick since 1999 in Russian defenseman Artyom Duda.
Duda, who has signed a National Letter of Intent to attend UMaine this fall and will be a scholarship player, was a second-round draft pick of the Arizona Coyotes last year and the 36th overall selection.
He is the highest draft pick since winger Barrett Heisten was selected in the first round by the Buffalo Sabres in 1999.
Heisten was the 20th overall pick.
UMaine was the only team in the 11-member Hockey East Association that didn’t have an NHL draft pick on its roster this past season.
Three other Black Bears have been second round picks from ’99 until now but were chosen later than Duda. Defenseman Doug Janik was chosen 55th by Buffalo in ’99, defenseman Simon Danis-Pepin was picked 61st in 2006 by Chicago and goalie Jimmy Howard was chosen 64th by Detroit in 2005.
The 6-foot-1, 187-pound Duda will be the first Russian-born player to play for the Black Bears in the history of the men’s program dating back to its inception in 1977.
He had five goals and 11 assists in 31 games in Russia this past season and, in the previous campaign, he racked up 15 goals and 38 assists in 72 regular season games and then added five goals and 12 assists in 18 playoff games for Krasnaya Armiya Moskva.
He appeared in six games for Russia in the World Junior Championships (Under-18s) during that 2020-21 season and had a goal.
“He is a really good skating offensive-minded defenseman,” said UMaine head coach Ben Barr. “He brings a lot to the table. He has a high ceiling. And he’s a great kid.”
He noted that Duda will have to adjust to hockey in North America and the culture.
The 19-year-old Duda will join a youthful defense corps that had a sophomore (David Breazeale) and four freshmen (Luke Antonacci, Brandon Holt, Grayson Arnott and Brandon Chabrier) seeing regular duty. All played in at least 29 of UMaine’s 36 games except Holt, who suffered a broken finger and missed the last 12 games of the season.
The defense corps was vastly improved this past season, helping the Bears reduce their goals-against to 2.6 per game from 3.4 in 2020-21.
UMaine finished sixth with a league record of 9-11-4 this past season to go with an overall record of 15-16-5 after finishing last two years ago (5-17-2, 7-22-4).
There have been several Russian players in Hockey East, including current University of Connecticut goalie Arsenii Seregeev, who was a freshman this past season, and former Huskies Yan Kuznetsov, a defenseman, and forward Vladislav Firstov.
Elite Prospects called Duda a “smooth skating two-way defender who brings a sneaky scoring touch by getting the net with his puckhandling. He is an accurate passer with a knack for finding primed teammates. He reacts quickly to opposition passes and steps up to disrupt them.”
He will be part of an impressive incoming class that will include a potential first-round draft pick later this month in center Bradly Nadeau, who was the Most Valuable Player and leading scorer in the British Columbia Junior Hockey League with 45 goals and 68 assists for 113 points in 54 games for the Penticton Vees.
His brother and teammate Josh, who is also coming to UMaine, was the league’s second-leading point-getter with 110 on 44 goals and 66 assists in 54 games.
The Nadeau brothers, who are from St. Francois-de-Madawaska, New Brunswick, were also outstanding in the playoffs as they led the Vees to their second straight Fred Page Cup championship.
Bradly Nadeau had 17 goals and 18 assists in 17 playoff games and was named the recipient of the inaugural Jeff Tambellini Award that goes to the playoff MVP.
Josh Nadeau had 17 goals and 16 assists in 17 playoff games and had at least one point in 14 straight games.
Penticton defenseman Ryan Hopkins, who is also coming to UMaine in the fall, had 10 goals and 39 assists in 48 regular season games and could also get drafted.
