Tucson Roadrunners rookie forward Daniil But is showing himself to be a quick learner — and not just in hockey.
Not only does the Yaroslavl, Russia, native lead the Roadrunners in points (13) and goals (7) in his first 12 games playing professionally in North America, he’s also improving his English.
“It’s insane actually to think about a person that doesn’t speak English and now he’s using this line, ‘I got you, I got you, coach,’” said Tucson head coach Steve Potvin. “It’s great to see an elite mind.
Yaroslavl, Russia native Daniil But has been improving his game and his English with the Tucson Roadrunners.
“Obviously, on the ice, it’s great to see it, but you can see when the person is elite, they’re as elite off the ice.”
The Roadrunners (5-5-2-0) travel to face the Colorado Eagles (11-2-0-1) in a two-game series starting on Friday. Then, next week, Tucson hosts the Eagles, the AHL affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche.
The Arizona Coyotes selected But 12th overall in the 2023 draft. Last season, he had 28 points in 54 games for Yaroslavl Lokomotiv in the KHL.
But had a hat trick on Saturday night, including the game-winning goal in overtime as Tucson beat Coachella Valley 4-3. The AHL named him the top star of the night.
“He’s an amazing player, young kid, but makes plays, can score and you saw that (Saturday) night,” said right wing Ty Tullio. “He scored three and helped us get those two points (Saturday) night.”
In addition to the hat trick, the 20-year-old has a couple multi-goal games and three multi-point games.
“Booter’s an incredible player,” said Tucson center Ryan McGregor, who scored the game-tying goal Saturday. “Obviously, you can see the way he shoots the puck, his knack for scoring big goals for us and I mean, that shot in OT, if you give me 1,000 tries I wouldn’t be able to put that puck where he did, so it’s impressive and that’s why he’s so highly touted and he means so much to us.”
Daniil But leads the Tucson Roadrunners in points (13) and goals (7) in his first 12 games playing professionally in North America.
As of press time, But was 10th in the league in scoring and tied for first for points by a rookie. He’s alone at the top in goals for a rookie and tied for first in the league with three power-play goals.
But has often represented Russia in international competitions, including the 2021 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, where he had an assist in five games as Russia won the gold medal.
“Of course, the scoring is terrific, we love seeing our players be productive, but what we like the most about it for him is his willingness to learn and play the right way,” Potvin said. “His structure is really good and you give him some insight and he takes it. He wants to take the next step and clearly you can see that he can. It was not too long ago, we were talking about his balance or on contact and making sure he was able to get guys on his back because he would get off balance.
“He literally spent a week doing it and it seems like he’s kind of picked it up pretty well (laughs) and yeah, he’s starting to find chemistry with his linemates,” he added. “I think he’s evolving, He’s just continuing to evolve.”
Double dose of Colorado
Not only is Tucson’s next series against Colorado, so is the next home series.
The Roadrunners will host the Eagles for two games, meaning they will play them four games in a row.
“Well, it’s a unique opportunity to play against the first-place team to understand where the standard is at and how well we need to play,” Potvin said.
Colorado sits in first place in the division with 23 points, while Tucson is eighth with 12. The Eagles’ 23 points are also tops in the whole league.
“It’ll be a muck and grind four games,” Tullio said. “They’re a good team and so are we, so it’ll be a good test for us.”
Tucson Roadrunners right wing Ty Tullio (17) is looking forward to taking on Colorado in back-to-back series.
While the rest of the American teams in the division are in the Southwest or Northern California, Colorado is out on its own and plays at an elevation of 4,997 feet.
“We always do a nice job of getting there a little bit ahead of time so that we can try to get acclimated, but it’s such an interesting place to play,” Potvin said. “The fans are real excited there, they sell out, they’ve got a boisterous group and so they love playing at home. When you get to Colorado, you have to be ready to play.
“So, I think guys get on their toes and they enjoy playing in front of that type of team and crowd.”
They host Colorado again in late January and go up there again in April.
“It definitely can be hard for the first few shifts, but once you kind of get your legs under you, get the air in the lungs, everybody seems to kind of feel good afterwards,” Tullio said.
Tucson went 2-5-1-0 against Colorado last season and is 10-12-1-1 against the Eagles in the last five years.
“It’ll be good to see them four times in a row,” McGregor said. “I’m sure it’ll get a little chippy and it always does when you play a team a couple times in a row. Like I said, they’re a good team, we just got to stick to our game plan, play our game and hopefully come out of there with a couple wins.”
