Prospect Info: Ivan Demidov (2024 5th OA): SKA St. Petersburg (KHL)

[the valiant effort]

I dunno man. There are few if any who have less respect for 99.9% of the 2021-2023 draft classes than me, but on puck-handling and distribution alone I think 24 year-old Michkov will be on a completely different tier of weapon than Caufield

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

I dunno man. There are few if any who have less respect for 99.9% of the 2021-2023 draft classes than me, but on puck-handling and distribution alone I think 24 year-old Michkov will be on a completely different tier of weapon than Caufield

But will he have the same finish? Those are two different things.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

The narrative has now shifted to “nobody ever doubted him” on the mains

Peoples heads are going to explode next year when he is lighting up the league, the cope is just unreal

 

[Skip Bayless]

The narrative has now shifted to “nobody ever doubted him” on the mains

Peoples heads are going to explode next year when he is lighting up the league, the cope is just unreal

November 2025 - "Yeah but his underlying data is not sustainable, he wont be able to keep this up for much longer."

January 2026 - "Once the Ds in the league will figure out that move he does all the time, he will get destroyed"

February 2026 - "49 goals is nice, but his shooting mechanics are easy to figure out, he will have a hard time next year"

December 2026 "It's easy to be 2.86 PPG when the refs hand you every call"

February 2027 "It's easy to get 189 pts in 57 games when your lineup is stacked"

 

[CHwest]

November 2025 - "Yeah but his underlying data is not sustainable, he wont be able to keep this up for much longer."

January 2026 - "Once the Ds in the league will figure out that move he does all the time, he will get destroyed"

February 2026 - "49 goals is nice, but his shooting mechanics are easy to figure out, he will have a hard time next year"

December 2026 "It's easy to be 2.86 PPG when the refs hand you every call"

February 2027 "It's easy to get 189 pts in 57 games when your lineup is stacked"

They sound like the people deriding the Chiefs.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

November 2025 - "Yeah but his underlying data is not sustainable, he wont be able to keep this up for much longer."

January 2026 - "Once the Ds in the league will figure out that move he does all the time, he will get destroyed"

February 2026 - "49 goals is nice, but his shooting mechanics are easy to figure out, he will have a hard time next year"

December 2026 "It's easy to be 2.86 PPG when the refs hand you every call"

February 2027 "It's easy to get 189 pts in 57 games when your lineup is stacked"

So what if he broke Gretzky’s record? He wasn’t even good

 

[Boyon90]

 

[SOLR]

He’s consistently scored at a 40 plus goal pace per 82 when healthy under MSL. That’s a fact.

He's not worth a 40-goal scorer until he scores 40 goals. I'm pretty sure Michkov is going to do this more often.

Caufield averaged 38 goals and 69 points under MSL, in 219 games (102 goals, 185 points). Calling him a 30 goal second line winger is just as ill-informed.

Don't bother responding.

Oh but I will. Lets talk about Savage and Higgins more, ok. I'm done.

 

[SannywithoutCompy]

Zero evidence outside of the inconvenient U18 MVP tournament where Michkov was the best player in the world, period.

Caufield never ever, showed tier-1 performance in best on best. Even with tier 1 Hughes playing with him.

Caufield at 24, in his f-ing prime, can't make the US team...think about that for a second.

I didn't guarantee anything. All I said is that Michkov's potential is much, much, higher than Caufield and their rookie seasons are already quite telling.

Michkov 20 years old, 0.66 pts per game.
Caufield 21 years old 0.64 pts per game.

So 1 year younger, Michkov is already trending to outperform Caufield in his rookie that happened when he was older.

Stop with the (mod) and false statements, there is gap of potential between these two, there always was one.

I mean Caufield put up 14 goals in 7 games at the U18s

 

[SOLR]

I mean Caufield put up 14 goals in 7 games at the U18s

I mean, playing with Jack Hughes at 17 years old.

Michkov 16 years old U 18
7 games, 12 goals, 4 assists.

Caufield 16 years old U 18
7 games 4 goals 2 assists.

I think this difference in potential will show itself back from the time Michkov will be 22-23.

Again I'm not against Caufield. He's a valuable asset, just not the kind of asset I would compare to Suzuki for example. Suzuki is 2-3x more valuable than Caufield. And I think Michkov can reach big offensive numbers Caufield can't, it's not a controversial take in any way.

 

[JIMVINNY]

He's not worth a 40-goal scorer until he scores 40 goals. I'm pretty sure Michkov is going to do this more often.

If not for bad faith arguments, you'd have no arguments.

Michkov might end up better than Caufield, but so far, hasn't proven anything. What you're "pretty sure" of means jack squat. Caufield has proven he's a top line winger, Michkov hasn't proven he's anything but a skilled cherry picker who doesn't play defense. I understand you're really broken up that Demidov looks to be a FAR better player than Michkov, but if all you're going to do is try to deflect the topic of conversation here, please go away.

 

[26Mats]

I mean, playing with Jack Hughes at 17 years old.

Michkov 16 years old U 18
7 games, 12 goals, 4 assists.

Caufield 16 years old U 18
7 games 4 goals 2 assists.

I think this difference in potential will show itself back from the time Michkov will be 22-23.

Again I'm not against Caufield. He's a valuable asset, just not the kind of asset I would compare to Suzuki for example. Suzuki is 2-3x more valuable than Caufield. And I think Michkov can reach big offensive numbers Caufield can't, it's not a controversial take in any way.

Would be great to have gotten Michkov and Demidov in the last two drafts.

But at least we have Caufield, Suzuki, Hutson, just got Demidov and Hage, and hopefully Salf, Dach, Laine, and Reinbacher will take their games to another level.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

He's not worth a 40-goal scorer until he scores 40 goals. I'm pretty sure Michkov is going to do this more often.

It doesn’t matter if he has a 40 goal season or not. It matters at what rate he scores per game. The only reason he hasn’t scored 40 in a season is health.

Will Michkov score at that rate? Maybe. Again though… not a sure thing.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Would be great to have gotten Michkov and Demidov in the last two drafts.

But at least we have Caufield, Suzuki, Hutson, just got Demidov and Hage, and hopefully Salf, Dach, Laine, and Reinbacher will take their games to another level.

Michkov Demidov and Caufield… we’d score a billion goals.

Honestly though, we desperately needed a big presence on the right D. I think we’ll be okay with that pick. And Demidov mitigates us not getting Michkkov. I think when all is said and done this will work out much better for us.