'I THINK ABOUT ONE THING: WORK'

Satisfied?
Never.
If the mark of a great player is how he handles the present and plans for tomorrow's workday, Daniil Chechelev is on track to make noise.
Because average won't cut it.
Ordinary won't do.
Every skate, every save, is a chance to sharpen the sword, "become the best," and accomplish a lifelong dream that so many are chasing.

"I don't like to think too far ahead," Chechelev said from his home in Khabarovsk, Russia. "That doesn't help me.
"Every time I'm on the ice I think about one thing: Work.
"'How can I be better? What can I do to be better?'
"Even my season last year, I can look and say, 'Yeah, I did pretty (well). The numbers are good, but where can I improve?'
"That's all I've ever cared about."
The 19-year-old Chechelev was in his second year of draft eligibility before the Flames used their fourth-round pick - 96th overall - to snag the towering 'keeper in this year's raffle.
Chechelev is currently in his fourth season in Russia's MHL - a U-20 'feeder' league to the nation's top ranks, including the KHL. Last year, he appeared in 49 games and was one of the league's top goaltenders, posting a .922 save percentage, along with a 2.20 goals-against average.
In his first five games this year, the 6-foot-2, 183-lb. blockade has a sparkling .953 save percentage and a 1.33 goals-against average.
He knew he had the numbers to turn heads.
But as an over-ager in one of the deepest drafts in recent memory, he didn't know what to expect.
So, rather than house a big party at his place dive deep into the pressure-cooker, he took a more laid-back approach to draft day.
"I wasn't even watching," Chechelev laughed. "I was sitting here refreshing the Elite Prospects website over and over and seing all the names.
"Finally, I saw my mine. That was a pretty cool moment."
The Flames have now drafted a goaltender in back-to-back years after leaving that position off the board in 2017 and 2018. Last year, it was feel-good story Dustin Wolf, who was taken in the seventh round before tearing up the Canadian junior ranks and winning both the WHL and CHL Goaltender of the Year honours.
Perhaps, yet again, they've discovered another gem.
While tracking Chechelev's progress during the 2020-21 season will be a bit trickier for most fans, the Flames are convinced they've landed themselves a top-flight prospect.
Chechelev was barely on the radar for the other 30 teams for most of the season. But the Flames, identifying who they believed to be a dark horse, turned to goaltending coaches Jordan Sigalet and Thomas Speer (Stockton Heat) for their thoughts and expertise.
The pair pored over hours of video and came to the conclusion that Chechelev was the real deal and worthy of the pick before others could swoop in and steal him.
"We kind of found him by mistake," Sigalet laughed. "When the USHL draft happened, he was picked by Sioux City and the head coach there is Luke Strand, who I worked with back in the day with Abbotsford in the AHL. We were trying to go through every goalie possible in this draft, since we had so much time with the COVID situation disrupting things.
"We started watching video on all the USHL draft guys and he was one of them - a late pick. I contacted Robert Neuhauser, who's one of our amateur scouts in Europe and he must have gotten us 25-30 games on Chechelev. So, Thomas and I started to watch him. His consistency, the athleticism he has, his compete level ... He gave his team a chance to win every game and you rarely saw a bad goal, let alone a bad game.
"He's a guy that we were hoping to take late and grab him as a sleeper, but we started to hear teams were poking around on him, so we thought it would be a good idea to take him in the fourth round before he slipped away to anyone else."
Sigalet and general manager Brad Treliving saw the interest in Chechelev pick up around the midway point of the season - shortly after he made his lone appearance in Russia's second-highest pro league, the VHL, with HK Ryazan.
Naturally, he posted a shutout that night.
But based on what Sigalet saw in the video prior to that headline-grabbing goose-egg, this was a goalie with a ton of potential that the Flames were already high on.
One game wasn't about to change that.
Good or bad.
"Ultimately, you're watching for how well he reads the game, tracks the puck, and how strong he is on his feet," Sigalet said. "Skating, in particular, is so big in today's game because of how quick it is, so we want to make sure he's good on his edges.
"Beyond that: This kid never gives up on a puck.
"He checked a lot of the boxes for us.
"We're excited to have him and we can't wait to see what he can do."
The feeling is mutual.
When asked what, specifically, he wanted to improve for this upcoming campaign his answer was blunt: To move up and compete in a higher league.
And now, he's got the NHL within sight to help with tomorrow's planning.
"It's a dream of every kid who plays hockey to one day play in the NHL," Chechelev said. "Obviously, it was my dream, also.
"In the back of my mind, I've always been thinking about it.
"But now, I really have to work to make it happen for real."