Looking at German Rubtsov’s 2017-18 Season

From the moment Ron Hextall and the Philadelphia Flyers selected him 22nd overall in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, German Rubtsov has been facing adversity. A big reason why the Russian forward dropped in the first round was due to a doping scandal that disqualified the Russian U-18 team from the 2016 World Junior Championship.

Following the fallout from that incident, Rubtsov had to handle moving from Russia to North America, as he joined the Chicoutimi Sagueneens of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League for 16 games last season. To go along with the cultural change, the forward had to deal with several injuries that knocked him out for a good chunk of the 2016-17 campaign: a foot injury in…