Prospect Info: [2024 - 5th] Ivan Motherbleeping Demidov (RW), SKA St. Petersburg (MHL)

[Lafleurs Guy]

I'm of the opinion that Cole Caufield started feeling a lot more confident with his shoulder towards the end of last season.
He was was engaging in physical contact not just absorbing it.
There is a huge difference.

Having said that I expect a return to normal in terms of his shooting regimen.
Players who rely on a certain weapon don't just assume it will remain elite they work on it.
How much was Cole able to work on his shot last season?
My guess is probably not nearly enough.

The reason you are worried is because you put him so high up on a pedestal and expect so much out of him.
If his numbers stay the same you have your reasoning worked out in advance.
Last season we were told it will take a full season to fully recover and that's why he couldn't find the back of the net.
Now we read that it may be as much as three years?

I'll stick to the bold text.

The reason I’m worried is because I’d like to see us win a cup in my lifetime. A 30 goalscorer is good. If he’s consistent around that level he’s a decent second liner. But that’s not what we need him to be.

Moreover, I completely disagree with your assessment that his style of play changed throughout the year. And the numbers don’t support you on this either. There may have been short stretches where that happened but by and large he consistently put up the same metrics at the beginning of the year as he did at the end. The only difference was finishing. Twice he caught fire separated by a twenty something game goalless streak.

So yeah, if you aren’t paying attention to what he’s actually doing you’ll say ‘hey he was better later on’ but the underlying numbers are pretty consistent throughout the year. He had tons of chances but couldn’t convert. But he still put up 300+ shots. Still had tons of chances from in close. That was consistent for almost the whole year.

The biggest difference was shooting from mid ice. That dropped by like 75-80 percent. Absolutely putrid.

If he stays like that… it’s a blow to us winning cups. If he goes back to close to what he was, then we can probably put together two lines that are number one quality. It’s a big differences.

I couldn’t care less about putting stock in a player or not. You revise as they develop that’s how it works. I saw CC as a legit potential superstar. Now I have to revise downward from his injury. And until he proves otherwise, I have to view him as a second liner. I’m hopeful he can recover and there’s reason to believe he can. But we have to wait and see. Right now, he’s not the blue chip player I see him as before. There’s risk that’s been introduced into the equation that wasn’t there before.

Adding Demidov helps to de-risk any issues with CC. if CC were to not improve Demidov can pick up that slack. But I’d much rather have two top scorers than one. If CC returns to form and Demidov pans out? I’d say we become contenders pretty quickly. It makes a huge difference.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

The real irony here is, they know they f***ed up by not drafting Michkov and taking Reinbacher... but if we draft Michkov last year they 100% go with a D this year and we don't get Demidov. The only reason we got Demidov is because a mistake was made last year.....

Cool beans
@OldCraig71 hasn't been this excited since we the signed Elmer Lach as a free agent on October 24, 1940.

I think they took position scarcity into consideration when they took RB. Not many stud right side blueliners out there. That was why they went in that direction - plus who knows how they felt about Michkov to boot?

Maybe Mich will blow the league away and Rb won’t deliver but I think it’s way too soon to call it a mistake. Esp since we wound up with Demidov.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, these things often take years before you really know the answer.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Still stoke, but here's a shitty thought: just imagine if Chicago would have succeed in getting the 4th OV and picked Demidov with it, how absolutely pissed we would be.

I think we’d have just taken Lindstrom.

Honestly, if it weren’t for the injury, I might’ve even preferred him. He would’ve given us a completely different dimension.

 

[Habs]

How do you know that?

I'm like the Will Hunting of hockey bro, Rain Man, drop some toothpicks and test me ..

 

[overlords]

I'm like the Will Hunting of hockey bro, Rain Man, drop some toothpicks and test me ..

it's not your fault

 

[WeThreeKings]

Hughes working the political angle to get Demidov in the KHL. Both Engels and Basu suggest that if SKA puts Demidov in the MHL again that they'd try to work something out like Philly did with Michkov to get him over.

Ngl having Demidov in Laval would be beyond sick or if they developed him in the NHL like they did with Slaf. Marty and Demidov are gonna have a lot of fun with one another.

 

[SOLR]

The reason I’m worried is because I’d like to see us win a cup in my lifetime. A 30 goalscorer is good. If he’s consistent around that level he’s a decent second liner. But that’s not what we need him to be.

Moreover, I completely disagree with your assessment that his style of play changed throughout the year. And the numbers don’t support you on this either. There may have been short stretches where that happened but by and large he consistently put up the same metrics at the beginning of the year as he did at the end. The only difference was finishing. Twice he caught fire separated by a twenty something game goalless streak.

So yeah, if you aren’t paying attention to what he’s actually doing you’ll say ‘hey he was better later on’ but the underlying numbers are pretty consistent throughout the year. He had tons of chances but couldn’t convert. But he still put up 300+ shots. Still had tons of chances from in close. That was consistent for almost the whole year.

The biggest difference was shooting from mid ice. That dropped by like 75-80 percent. Absolutely putrid.

If he stays like that… it’s a blow to us winning cups. If he goes back to close to what he was, then we can probably put together two lines that are number one quality. It’s a big differences.

I couldn’t care less about putting stock in a player or not. You revise as they develop that’s how it works. I saw CC as a legit potential superstar. Now I have to revise downward from his injury. And until he proves otherwise, I have to view him as a second liner. I’m hopeful he can recover and there’s reason to believe he can. But we have to wait and see. Right now, he’s not the blue chip player I see him as before. There’s risk that’s been introduced into the equation that wasn’t there before.

Adding Demidov helps to de-risk any issues with CC. if CC were to not improve Demidov can pick up that slack. But I’d much rather have two top scorers than one. If CC returns to form and Demidov pans out? I’d say we become contenders pretty quickly. It makes a huge difference.

I've always seen him as a 2nd liner. One way or the other, he was going to get either controlled by the others teams, mitigated or injured. Little star here, he could be a 1st liner if paired with the perfect player for him. Suzuki is not that, Dach is not that. He needs a fast center who is a play maker. For this reason, as soon as it is clear that Dach has made it, I suspect CC will be traded for a bigger, more playoff compatible LW.

He has one more year with Suzuki to reach another level, hopefully things change.

 

[Jaynki]

You watched 10 full games of his? Yikes, no offense.

Shift by shift tho. Yeah. Pardon me

 

[Jaynki]

The real irony here is, they know they f***ed up by not drafting Michkov and taking Reinbacher... but if we draft Michkov last year they 100% go with a D this year and we don't get Demidov. The only reason we got Demidov is because a mistake was made last year.....

Cool beans
@OldCraig71 hasn't been this excited since we the signed Elmer Lach as a free agent on October 24, 1940.

No. You assume they f***ed up.

They still say they feel lucky to have Reinbacher.

Bobrov, who follow Russian player since they are young teenager, willingly passed on Michkov who is part of the SKA organisation. The same as Demidov and the same as he worked for and for whose Sergei Bobrov(Nick's father) actually works for as head scout.

The same guy who willingly passed on Michkov admitting behind the scene there were things they felt unconfortable with in Michkov case is saying that Demidov is the steal of the draft and that it is an understatement. He say his ceiling is as high as any superstar in the league, naming Kucherov.

Take from it what you want.

 

[Jaynki]

Still stoke, but here's a shitty thought: just imagine if Chicago would have succeed in getting the 4th OV and picked Demidov with it, how absolutely pissed we would be.

They had him on a silver plate at 2.

They had Bedard elite linemate for a decade. Will they be able to have access to another talent like Demidov ?

What a blunder.

 

[Jaynki]

He is more talented than celebrini. Everyone said it. But celebrini is a good old Canadian kid who will challenge for selkes and put up a PPG minimum which is basically like the ideal player objectively. But for what Habs needed, demidov is much more valuable for what the rebuild was missing. They also needed a winger way more than a C

They are both franchise talent player. I think you nailed it at the good old canadian kid.

Demidov being in Russia and unavailable to live scouting and interviews for team picking 2-3-4 is our absolute luck.

I think Dan Milstein is right. If Demidov would be in North America, we would debate him and Celebrini for 1st overall

 

[Kiirin]

Slafkovsky Suzuki Demidov
(empty) Dach Caufield
Newhook Hage Roy
(empty) Beck RHP

(empty) Reinbacher
Hutson Guhle
Xhekaj Mailloux

Fowler
Montembeault

the missing keys are :

• 1D similar to Reinbacher who could log 25 minutes a night,
• legitimate second-line left winger who could complement Caufield and Dach
• 4th-line players who can put up around 20 points.
  
  With this squad, you can expect the Habs to win in 10 years around 3+ Stanley cups, multiple conference finals, and have seasons of 60 wins

 

[MeanMugging91]

Honestly I think picking Rienbacher and by some crazy way managing to get Demidov will make this team much better balanced going forwards. I still can't belive this worked out the way it did. Getting Slaf, Reinbacher and Demidov is am amazing haul for our 3 top pick years. Im so stoked right now. We finally have that game braker along with the depth we've built

 

[Vachon23]

They are both franchise talent player. I think you nailed it at the good old canadian kid.

Demidov being in Russia and unavailable to live scouting and interviews for team picking 2-3-4 is our absolute luck.

I think Dan Milstein is right. If Demidov would be in North America, we would debate him and Celebrini for 1st overall

Celebrini is a better prospect, way more complete and he plays center

 

[Kennerback]

Celebrini's numbers against 22 year olds in the NCAA for a 17 year old are just so impressive. Demidov is more spectacular and running circles around everyone but the MHL is clearly much weaker.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Celebrini is a better prospect, way more complete and he plays center

I think what he is saying is like, there's a world where it's Kane vs. Toews.

You can make an argument that Toews was more valuable being a center, the selke level defense and scoring at very good production. Yet Kane was a way bigger point producer and produced most of the clutch scoring moments.

But yes in terms of overall impact, Celebrini is clearly the better prospect and no one challenged him. But Demidov could produce above him in terms of pure point production.

 

[Jaynki]

Celebrini is a better prospect, way more complete and he plays center

Permet moi de te répondre en français Vachon23, j'aurai plus de facilitié a m'exprimer.

Premièrement, NousTroisRoi resume tres bien la situation en disant Kane VS Toews.

Ensuite, je ne cherche pas a argumenté que Demidov aurait du être choisie devant Celebrini, mais plutot que Demidov possède un talent digne d'un 1er choix au total.

On ne l'a pas vue jouer dans les compétitions internationales et je ne m'étais pas attardé a autre chose que ses impressionants faits saillants. En regardant des séquences complètes de présence-par-présence, j'en suis ressortis encore plus estomaqué. Demidov est aussi un joueur complet et impliqué. Son coup de patin dix-deux et son agilité lui confère un avantage et une dimension que j'ai rarement vue chez un joueur. Il remporte énormément de bataille le long des rampes grâce a ses agiles pivots et cela ouvre le jeu offensivement, mais rend son implication défensive tout aussi efficace et indispensable. Combiné avec ses mains élites et son arsenal de tirs, il est réellement un joueur complet et un talent unique.

Nous sommes incroyablement chanceux et personellement, à 32 ans, je suis prêt à parier qu'il sera le joueur le plus significatif pour cette concession depuis que j'ai la conscience de suivre le CH, soit l'ère Houle. Devant même les Subban, Price et Slafkovsky.

 

[admiralcadillac]

Slafkovsky Suzuki Demidov
(empty) Dach Caufield
Newhook Hage Roy
(empty) Beck RHP

(empty) Reinbacher
Hutson Guhle
Xhekaj Mailloux

Fowler
Montembeault

the missing keys are :

• 1D similar to Reinbacher who could log 25 minutes a night,
• legitimate second-line left winger who could complement Caufield and Dach
• 4th-line players who can put up around 20 points.
  
  With this squad, you can expect the Habs to win in 10 years around 3+ Stanley cups, multiple conference finals, and have seasons of 60 wins

Engstrom and Konyshyukov are both guys who may slot into a top pair/4 role. Also, there are basically no pairs of dmen in the league anymore where both log 25+ minutes…

I really wish people would stop putting all of our prospects on the nhl team - no way Mailloux will play as a 6d for us. He’ll be traded before that.

 

[Sam de Mtl]

I also envision Guhle and Reinbacher being a very good 1st pair. In that scenario, what we need is a really solid defensive guy to pair with Hutson. Maybe we already have that guy: Xhekaj, Mailloux, Engstrom, Struble or Konyushkov. Some of them are more offensively inclined, but who knows what kind of adjustments they can make playing with a very offensive minded partner. Some of them could complement him with their size and imposing frame limiting Hutson's weaknesses, while others could complement him with their strong skating and puck moving emphasizing his strengths. We will see what actually works out in the end.

Mailloux Xhekaj appears like a good option for a 3rd pairing. They have had a lot of success together in the AHL and they wouldn't be facing the top lines. I think this would be a way above average 3rd pair.

 

[OldCraig71]

I'm like the Will Hunting of hockey bro, Rain Man, drop some toothpicks and test me ..

I see you as more of a Forrest Gump/Al Bundy mix but you can be Rain Man if it takes you to a safe space. Elmer Lach held out with us back in 1940, he demanded 1 free beer a week but ownership wouldn't budge. He got a 6 pack for the year and a contract that paid him $100 a week.

That's me smiling over his right shoulder, it was a great time to be alive, the depression was behind us and life was good again. Thanks for the acknowledgement.

 

[salbutera]

He is more talented than celebrini. Everyone said it. But celebrini is a good old Canadian kid who will challenge for selkes and put up a PPG minimum which is basically like the ideal player objectively. But for what Habs needed, demidov is much more valuable for what the rebuild was missing. They also needed a winger way more than a C

Celebrini has way more pace to his game and he’s a C, that’s Demigod’s one flaw.. lack of high end pace - which will need to be worked on w Adam Nicholas and the dev team

 

[Kennerback]

The Demidov being a winger thing is not clear to me. Many games this season he played at Center. It's not a case of "he's played center in Midget" or "he's just taking face-offs". One way or another this played in the Habs favor because he didn't have the Center premium.

 

[Jaynki]

The Demidov being a winger thing is not clear to me. Many games this season he played at Center. It's not a case of "he's played center in Midget" or "he's just taking face-offs". One way or another this played in the Habs favor because he didn't have the Center premium.

I genuinely believe he can be the 1C megastar we crave

 

[HuGo Burner Acc]

I also envision Guhle and Reinbacher being a very good 1st pair. In that scenario, what we need is a really solid defensive guy to pair with Hutson. Maybe we already have that guy: Xhekaj, Mailloux, Engstrom, Struble or Konyushkov. Some of them are more offensively inclined, but who knows what kind of adjustments they can make playing with a very offensive minded partner. Some of them could complement him with their size and imposing frame limiting Hutson's weaknesses, while others could complement him with their strong skating and puck moving emphasizing his strengths. We will see what actually works out in the end.

Mailloux Xhekaj appears like a good option for a 3rd pairing. They have had a lot of success together in the AHL and they wouldn't be facing the top lines. I think this would be a way above average 3rd pair.

I kinda disagree with you. If we look at a team like the dynasty Blackhawks, Guhle would fill that Hjalmarsson role as the second pairing shutdown anchor. Hutson and Reinbacher already showed that they have some impressive chemistry. And you eluded to needing Hutson paired up with someone good defensively. There, problem solved. Im curious to see how good mailloux can be, whether he's a no.4 or a bottom pair guy. Xhekaj will probably be that third pairing anchor long term which is still very valuable.

 

[Kennerback]

The NHL CSS has him as a Winger in their listing but in their prospect liner notes they say he plays both position.