Montreal Canadiens prospect Ivan Demidov sits third in the KHL U23 players ranking for October 2024 according to expert Anton Vasyatin.
Montreal Canadiens' prospect Ivan Demidov has had highs and lows so far this season in the KHL, with most of the lows being about the ice time he gets from SKA St. Petersburg's coach Roman Rotenberg. In his team's last game, the right winger only skated for eight and a half minutes and spent the entire final frame sitting on the bench as his team desperately tried to score a winner in a 2-1 overtime defeat.
Still, if Rotenberg doesn't necessarily deploy Demidov as he should for a player with that potential, Russian expert Anton Vasyatin is fully aware of just how talented the Canadiens' fifth overall pick at the last draft is. In his top 10 players under 23 for October ranking on the KHL website, Vasyatin has him in third place behind a pair of goaltenders.
The journalist calls the youngster one of the top contenders for the Rookie of the Year title and adds he is dominant in nearly every shift. For Vasyatin, playing alongside veterans Evgeny Kuznetsov and Sergei Plotnikov serves the rookie well.
While Demidov must feel like he is riding a roller-coaster ice time-wise, if he is finding it hard, he's not letting it show at all. The youngster clearly has his eye set on making the NHL, and he's not taking it off the prize, which is understandable. All he has to do is bide his time this season, and his contract with SKA will expire, allowing him to take the next step.
There has been speculation that his ice time is a direct result of his refusal to ink a contract extension, a rumour that his coach denies. For Rotenberg, it's all about internal competition, and he maintains he's doing what's best for the young man's development.
For now, Canadiens fans will have to bide their time, just like Demidov himself, but at least there's always the highlights on X. SKA will be back in action on Thursday when it takes on HC Sochi at 11:30 AM ET.
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