Montreal Canadiens' rookie Ivan Demidov is have a good season, but it would be even better if he could be just a little bit more selfish.
Ivan Demidov is meeting expectations so far this season. He has 26 points in 30 games, which projects to 71 points for an 82-game season. However, only six of those 24 points are goals.
There’s no denying that the rookie is a fantastic playmaker, but he needs to lead to take the opportunities he has. Much like Lane Hutson in his rookie season, the young Russian seems to have an aversion to shooting.
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In 30 games, he has 38 shots, which is the 10th highest total on the team. Cole Caufield leads all Montreal Canadiens players with 85 shots, Nick Suzuki has 65, and Juraj Slafkovsky has 60. Demidov’s linemate, Oliver Kapanen, leads all players who have taken part in all 30 games in shooting percentage with 20.8% (10 goals on just 48 shots), followed by Caufield with 20% and by Demidov with 15.8%.
Given the fact that Kapanen is the second goal scorer on the team, trailing Caufield by seven goals, it’s understandable that Demidov wants to give him the puck. Still, he needs to be able to recognize when he’s the one who’s in the best position to take the shot.
Against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday, the rookie didn’t have a single shot even though he had some grade-A opportunities, including one on the power play when he was wide open, but elected to send the puck cross-zone instead. It’s not rare for talented playmakers to seek the perfect play, but at the end of the day, a goal won’t have more value because it came from a beautiful buildup.
Demidov has an elite computer, as coach Martin St-Louis would say, but he still has to make the reads on the ice and pounce on the opportunities given to him. If he doesn’t, other teams will stop considering him as a shooting threat, and they’ll be able to focus more on his linemates, which won’t make their lives any easier.
As things stand, Demidov is second in the rookie scoring race, two points behind the Anaheim Ducks’ Beckett Sennecke, who has 26 points, including 10 goals, which makes him the leader in that category as well. However, he shares the lead with the above-mentioned Kapanen.
With the shot he has and his shooting percentage, if Demidov took more shots, he would be even more productive and right now, that’s the key that would allow him to take the lead in the rookie scoring race. If the Canadiens are to have a second Calder Trophy winner in as many years, Demidov will have to step up his production and put some distance between himself and the other contenders.
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