F Ivan Demidov - SKA St. Petersburg, KHL (2024, 5th, MTL) Part 2

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

You think he's ahead of Bedard?

He could absolutely be better than Bedard, his upside is elite. But despite his struggles, Bedard is still an elite offensive weapon with time and space. He and Demidov aren't too dissimilar stylistically, but Demidov's skating has really improved in the last year, while Bedard's has stagnated. Biggest risk with Demidov is his foot speed and quickness over short distances.

Among forwards in the NHL, I'd probably slot him between Fantilii and Smith.

Celebrini
Cooley
Carlsson
Michkov
Bedard
Fantilii
Demidov
Smith

 

[Just Linda]

He could absolutely be better than Bedard, his upside is elite. But despite his struggles, Bedard is still an elite offensive weapon with time and space. He and Demidov aren't too dissimilar stylistically, but Demidov's skating has really improved in the last year, while Bedard's has stagnated. Biggest risk with Demidov is his foot speed and quickness over short distances.

Among forwards in the NHL, I'd probably slot him between Fantilii and Smith.

Celebrini
Cooley
Carlsson
Michkov
Bedard
Fantilii
Demidov
Smith

I've been accused of being the biggest Bedard hater. Bedard has more points this year than anyone above him.

While I agree that Celebrini would be first on this list, this list is all over the place.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

I've been accused of being the biggest Bedard hater. Bedard has more points this year than anyone above him.

While I agree that Celebrini would be first on this list, this list is all over the place.

Yeah, but there's more to hockey than points. Bedard projects as an elite scoring winger at this point.

I really like what I've seen from Cooley this year, he's taken a big step. And I'm still extremely bullish on Carlsson. The rest of the list could really go a bunch of different ways, but I'm pretty locked into those top 3.

 

[Zalos]

He could absolutely be better than Bedard, his upside is elite. But despite his struggles, Bedard is still an elite offensive weapon with time and space. He and Demidov aren't too dissimilar stylistically, but Demidov's skating has really improved in the last year, while Bedard's has stagnated. Biggest risk with Demidov is his foot speed and quickness over short distances.

Among forwards in the NHL, I'd probably slot him between Fantilii and Smith.

Celebrini
Cooley
Carlsson
Michkov
Bedard
Fantilii
Demidov
Smith

Yea, definitely no certitude with this list. Any of them could turn out better than the rest. The only one that I'm not sure belongs there is Carlsson, but you probably know him more than I do.

 

[JotAlan]

Every time I watch Demidov I'm reminded of Makarov. Does anyone else have this feeling?

 

[Gustave]

Every time I watch Demidov I'm reminded of Makarov. Does anyone else have this feeling?

Young Makarov in Russia/ international play or old Makarov in Calgary?

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I've been accused of being the biggest Bedard hater. Bedard has more points this year than anyone above him.

Bedard only has 4 points more than Michkov in 1 more game, and doesn’t have to deal with being treated like a child by a petulant coach. He plays PP1 every single game, is 1C every single game, and is never benched for a few shifts or a period when he makes a mistake. Bedard is playing over 4 more minutes per game.

And then there’s also the fact that Bedard is in his second NHL season on the same continent he’s always played on and Michkov is in his first season in NA with a new language and new culture and new everything.

I’m not sure Bedard has the edge right now.

 

[JotAlan]

Young Makarov in Russia/ international play or old Makarov in Calgary?

Makarov in the 80s

 

[Gustave]

Makarov in the 80s

If he’s close to international play Makarov then we’ve just banked a treasure. He was part of an absolute unit of a line with Larionov.

 

[Kshahdoo]

Every time I watch Demidov I'm reminded of Makarov. Does anyone else have this feeling?

Yeah, there is similarities, but Makarov was shorter and faster.

 

[Just Linda]

Bedard only has 4 points more than Michkov in 1 more game, and doesn’t have to deal with being treated like a child by a petulant coach. He plays PP1 every single game, is 1C every single game, and is never benched for a few shifts or a period when he makes a mistake. Bedard is playing over 4 more minutes per game.

And then there’s also the fact that Bedard is in his second NHL season on the same continent he’s always played on and Michkov is in his first season in NA with a new language and new culture and new everything.

I’m not sure Bedard has the edge right now.

Always benched yet still averaging over 17 minutes a game with a 65% o/zone start percentage.

You can try to diminish what Bedard is doing to hype up Michkov but both are having great seasons for their ages, you can't make excuses for 1 without giving lots of context to the other.

Torts is great for Michkov right now, he's developing well under him.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Always benched yet still averaging over 17 minutes a game with a 65% o/zone start percentage.

You can try to diminish what Bedard is doing to hype up Michkov but both are having great seasons for their ages, you can't make excuses for 1 without giving lots of context to the other.

Torts is great for Michkov right now, he's developing well under him.

I'm not diminishing Bedard. I think he became so overrated (he was never close to generational) that he is now underrated (he's still doing pretty well, given he's a D+2 guy), but I think it's fair to say that he hasn't distanced himself from the rest of the 2023 draft. He might not even be the best player from the draft.