Fantasy Summary

A skilled, hard-working and smooth-skating defenceman who struggles with consistent decision-making.

Observations

August 2025 – One trend that the Hurricanes have loved over the past year has been big defenseman that have skating as their best attribute out of the draft. Limatov fits that trend perfectly, as the 6-4 lefty was regarded as one of the best skaters in this class. His four way mobility is impressive, both as someone of his size as well as his age. He has a good understanding of how to chip in offensively, mainly being able to help transitional offense. Combine that with a solid defensive game and you have a defenseman that probably should have been taken higher than where he was, something which most scouts predicted. Nick Bass

June 2025 – Selected 67th overall, Kurban Limatov is now a member of the Carolina Hurricanes. Mark Henry

Final Rankings – Kurban Limatov’s skating is remarkably fluid for his frame, allowing him to lead transitions and activate off the blue line with surprising ease. However, he’s more of a puck distributor than a true offensive threat at this stage.

While his decision-making improved throughout the season, Limatov still makes puzzling plays in his zone. He takes inefficient routes on retrievals and fails to consistently leverage his size and skating to angle off opponents, often defaulting to stick checks instead. The Russian blueliner’s work ethic and raw tools indicate top-four potential, but reaching that ceiling will require sharper defensive habits and more consistent use of his physical advantages. Kareem Ramadan

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