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One day before the USHL Futures Draft, Muskegon pulled off a huge coup when they announced that they had signed Russian forward Andrei Svechnikov to a tender for next season.
Though he's a 2000-born player, Svechnikov already has a massive profile. The 6'2" forward was arguably the top player at the recent Youth Olympic Games for 2000-born players, and participated on Russia's World U18 championship team. He's an early favorite to be one of the top picks in the 2018 NHL Draft.
Playing with Muskegon will allow Svechnikov to be close to his older brother Evgeny, a 2015 first round selection of the Detroit Red Wings, who is expected to play for their AHL affiliate in Grand Rapids much of next season.
The Lumberjacks forfeit their second round draft pick in Monday's Futures Draft in exchange for signing the tender, though that's a small price to play for acquiring one of the elite players in the world in that age group.