Scout's notebook: Looking at Ivan Demidov, Matvei Shuravin, and Igor Chernyshov's progress in Russia

With the season reaching its halfway point, it has become clear that outside of North America, Russia is the region with the most high-end talent in this year's draft.

There are four to five players with legitimate first-round aspirations, including two potential top-five picks in Ivan Demidov and Anton Silayev. Meanwhile, this could be the first year since 2010 to not see a Swede go in the first round, and while Finland could also churn out three to four first-round picks this year, they're still likely to lose the head-to-head matchup against Russia.

With that said, let's take a mid-point check into how some of the top Russian draft-eligibles have performed recently.