Habs Prospects
Habs Prospect Report: Ivan Demidov’s Limited Usage In The KHL
Montreal Canadiens fans are rightfully excited when it comes to the potential possessed by top prospect Ivan Demidov.
It’s a perfectly natural reaction to adding someone with his elite skill set to the mix, as it effectively ensured the Habs own one of the strongest prospect pools in the NHL. However, as we all know, development is not linear. Some prospects take longer than others to get going, especially when they’re dealing with a situation that is far from conducive to scoring.
Ivan Demidov In The KHL
If you base your analysis entirely on points, Demidov’s KHL start could seem quite underwhelming. He’s earned one assist in four games, including back-to-back matchups in which SKA Saint Petersburg was shutout. But as we all know, context is key. Demidov went from having one of the most impressive preseasons of any player on the team, to featuring on the fourth line as a winger.
There’s already concern in the air regarding his ice time, which has continued to dwindle. He was given a couple of shifts in the third period on Thursday, though they were definitely of the ‘garbage time’ variety, as SKA was trailing 3-0 in the dying minutes of the game. Demidov came close to scoring before being robbed by former Canadiens goaltending prospect Zachary Fucale, and he did generate a scoring chance in one of his rare shifts earlier in the period, but overall, you’d be hard-pressed to suggest he’s been given a legitimate chance to find his rhythm. He was also quite solid in his own zone, ensuring his penchant for playing in the offensive zone did not prevent him from playing a stalwart brand of defence.
Demiiidov! That was promising!
When speeding towards the Traktor net on the right flank, he lashes a threatening wrist shot wide of the mark! Ivan always makes things happen when on the ice (0:0) #hcSKA
— SKA Ice Hockey Club (@hcSKA_News) September 12, 2024
With that in mind, we have to guard against the bias that comes with cheering for a player rather than a team. SKA head coach Roman Rotenberg is paid to win games, not develop certain players. Unfortunately, he’s doing neither at the moment, but we do have to remember that improving the ice time for an 18-year-old player with little to no professional experience is rarely the avenue taken by coaches looking to spark their team.
If we want to pick some nits, we could say Demidov needs to improve the speed in which he releases his shot, and once in a while he holds onto the puck for a little long, but those types of issues tend to be ironed out with a certain level of professional hockey experience.
None of this justifies the decision-making process that led to a lack of ice time, but it does explain it to a certain extent.
Ivan Demidov Brass Tacks
Demidov doesn’t deserve more ice time because he’s a highly-touted Montreal Canadiens prospect. Demidov deserves more ice time because he’s one of the few SKA forwards who has shown an ability to generate scoring chances on a regular basis, even if he’s been robbed of any semblance of consistency in his usage, making his transition to professional hockey quite difficult to say the least.
We’re still at a very early stage in the season, and Ivan Demidov has hardly reached the starting point of his hockey career. This may end up being just a blip on the radar of his ascension to the NHL, which means a little more patience is in order. But if the situation continues to unfold as it did for top-rated Phialdelphia Flyers prospect Matvei Michkov in previous seasons, we will hit a point of diminishing returns very quickly when it comes to Demidov’s time in Russia, as he cannot be loaned to another KHL team, thus mitigating the options when it comes to finding him a healthy amount of ice time outside SKA’s roster.
From what I’ve seen of his games he creates much more than others. I get that Rotenberg is focussed on winning, but it truly does look like he would have a better chance of finding success if he played Demidov more. He should probably be in their top 6 and be given more pp time. Not because I want him to develop, but legitimately because it would give SKA a better chance to win…. Just like how the team shouldn’t give ice time to a kid just to develop them, they shouldn’t give ice time to a vet just cuz they have experience. Kuznetsov has been pretty brutal for who he is and the league he’s in, yet keeps getting better deployment than Demidov.
Not his wheelhouse
He doesnt develop talent
SKA is the NYR of the KHL circa 1999-2019
They rely heavily on UFA signings of top tier talent
Kuznetsov signing ended any chance of Demidov playing top 6
He’d be better off on Kunlan Redstar under Alexi Kovalev’s special teams
He’d have a grueling travel schedule to get him used to the NHLs extended seasons
If he landed there he’d have a 50/50 shot at playoffs
Kunlan Redstars success is often built off strong defense and special teams
Adding Demidov fits and isnt a threat to SKA unless Demidov breaks out hard
Okay but just because he doesn’t develop talent doesn’t mean he shouldn’t play his better players. And let’s be real, it looks like Demidov this year (and probably Michkov last year) could’ve both helped SKA win games with proper ice time. So this really has nothing to do with development. It just seems so silly to not give ice time to one of the few people consistently generating chances for your team, regardless of age.
He can’t be loaned out in the last year of his contract so Red Star is out of the question, unless a trade takes place… but idk KHL trade rules etc.
Can anyone confirm the following: for demidov to come over, he needs to negotiate with SKA to release him on his own. The team can choose to negate the contract, or can charge Demidov for this contract dissolution and Demidov must pay out of his own pocket…. This is what I’ve heard is the process for breaking the hockey contract. Seems pretty standard, except the Habs can’t step in the same way a third party could for other contracts (though a bank or other lender may be able to).
Why would SKA keep him if they clearly don’t value him very much? He doesn’t want to re-sign, and that won’t change with this deployment. What good does it do them to have him there? It just signals to young stars to stay away (if possible, I know life is quite different in Russia) and not sign with them or else they’ll make young careers more difficult. The whole process with young players just seems so short sighted from SKA. Like it’s a power trip, but with very little to gain. Michkov and Demidov are the two most highly touted young prospects out of Russia in a while and yet SKA stopped both from playing with legitimate ice time on their team. What did they get for it? Michkov pushed to leave, and Demidov won’t re-sign…. I just don’t see the upside here for SKA
Its simple really
His agent would have to buy out his contract
Then arrange repayment same as Michkov
NHL teams cant buy out players directly.
Maybe one day now that Russia’s Version of Hockey Canada
Has Separated itself from the KHL as of this year.
Technically Celin Dion or anyone could pay for Demidov
As long as they arent employed by the NHL directly in any way
Pay to get him here
I was looking at the KHL scoring leaders from top to bottom and I noticed that there are 29 teenagers in the KHL and only 2 of these teenagers have scored more points than Demidov. These 2 teenagers have 2 points and there are a few others teenagers who have one point and many teenagers have zero points. So it seems like Demidov is not the only teenager who gets limited ice time.
there was 230 last year Junior eligible.
Half that was 20 year olds
VHL has promotions that will get called up
A lot of Junior players getting drafted out of the Russian AHL
Which is not common before the War because KHL had much more foreign depth
Now the SHL has absorbed a lot of that as well as the NLA but i digress
My point is its still early on
That said Rottenberg had 0/230 junior eligible players last year
He brought 2 up the final 14 games to rest his starters
But they saw no playoff time
That said they might have tapped out theri pipeline
The average age for a Junior player was barely 18 last year
Again very uncommon at the level that league usually opporates at
Called it
230 Junior players in the KHL last year
0 played for SKA as the loaned out Michkov
They also sent down Demidov
The Coach isnt Designed to build up Youth
He takes players 22-30 and gets a lot out of them
But his system is Next Man Up
Demidov doesnt fit as he’s not a bottom 6 guy
Which is bad cause Rottenberg wont use him top 6
At least not until he proves himself in the bottom 6
Demidov is better off being loaned like Michkov was
Granted he wont see playoffs if he is 9/10
But he will see top 6 usage and a ton of minutes.
That more important in my books
If he gets hot SKA can bring him back for the playoffs
But staying in SKA isnt wise
Demidov cant give him what Rottenberg wants and visca versa
Can’t get loaned out in the last year of his contract