Montreal Canadiens' prospect Ivan Demidov finally got an opportunity to skate on SKA St-Petersburg's first line yesterday and he made the most of it.
The Montreal Canadiens' first pick at the last draft Ivan Demidov has had a rollercoaster of a season in the KHL under SKA St-Petersburg head coach Roman Rotenberg. The talented winger has struggled to get ice time so far this season, but yesterday, in a game against HC Sochi, he was put on the first line.
The youngster seize his opportunity with both hands and gathered three points in nearly 19 minutes of ice time. Although the video shows his second assist might have been credited to him in error, he was still key in his team's win. With SKA trailing 4-2 and with less than eight minutes to play, he scored the game-tying goal which sparked his team to a 5-4 comeback win.
This was the fourth game in a row in which Demidov scored a goal, still after the game, Rotenberg, speaking to Match.ru refused to praise the young player. The coach said the team has worked a lot with him and he doesn't want to praise him and see him "wear the crown". Loosely translated, I suppose it means he doesn't want the kid to become big-headed. From what we've seen and heard from Demidov so far though, that turn of events appears to be highly unlikely.
In 38 games this season, Demidov has 27 points. While this is far away from the league leaders (Joshua Leivo has 38 points in 23 games and Maxim Shabanov has 37 in 39 games), it's important to remember the Habs prospect has gathered his points with reduced ice time. In some games, he was riding the pine for whole periods.
When Demidov contract's expires and he can finally come over, he'll be a huge boost to the organization's attack. Whether he makes the jump straight into the NHL or he's given some time to acclimate to the North American game in Laval, he'll be playing a big role for his team.
Canadiens fans will be hoping he can transition to the North American game as well as rival and Philadelphia Flyers prospect Matvei Michkov has. The young Russian currently leads the scoring race amongst rookies with 37 points, one ahead of San Jose Sharks' Maklin Celebrini and Canadiens' defenseman Lane Hutson.
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