No Room For Ivan Demidov
Ivan Demidov - Photo credit: SKA St. Petersburg Ice Hockey club X accountRoman Rotenberg has spoken, when SKA St. Petersburg starts its playoff series against the Dynamo Moscow, there won’t be room for Montreal Canadiens prospect Ivan Demidov in his top 12. The right winger will be dressed as the 13th forward but will play according to his coach:
Demidov will play. He’ll start as the 13th forward, and then we’ll see.
A puzzling choice considering he was the team’s top scorer in the regular season even though he wasn’t exactly given an abundance of ice time. With 49 points in 65 games, Demidov finished 27th in the league in scoring, but he also set a new record for most points in the KHL by a 20-year-old or younger.
As reported previously, Demidov doesn’t have a glowing record against Moscow, being limited to three points in six games. Still, he has improved since then, and being given a reasonable amount of ice time would probably have increased his production.
Considering he’ll be starting the series as the 13th forward, he’s unlikely to see that much ice. Perhaps Rotenberg wants to diminish his importance to the team and the impact he can have on the games, so there isn’t too much of an uproar from the fans when he leaves for North America.
Whatever the reason, it seems like a counterproductive strategy. The aim of the game is and should always be to win. How are his teammates, who will still be there next year, supposed to feel seeing a player who could help them fight for the championship not being allowed to shine?
Still, Rotenberg has said he will play, so he shouldn’t ride the pine all game as has happened a few times this season, but it will be interesting to see if he’s only given crumbs of ice time and who he’s sent on the ice with.
While the SKA-Dynamo series will only start on Thursday, four will kick off on Wednesday in the KHL. Metallurg Magnitogorst, featuring Nail Yakupov and coach Guy Boucher, will take on Avangard Omsk. Avtomobilist Ekaterinburg will face Ak Bars Kazan. Spartak Moscow will try to get the better of Severstal Cherepovets, and Dinamo Minsk (featuring former Hab Xavier Ouellet) will cross paths with CSKA Moscow.
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