Grate n Colorful Oz
Pure Laine Hutson
The Plot Thickens
October is a special period of the year in Russia, to say the least. Memories of a time of great upheaval and societal instability. Tired of their incompetent leader, Tsar Romanov, the population revolted back in October 1917.
We've had our own little revolution in Habsland in November 2021, when our own incompetent leader was cannonballed into obscurity and irrelevance, with great fanfare:
Since then, a wave of unassailable hope swept the land, promising that the mistakes of the past wouldn't be repeated. No more bad drafting. No more middling. Despite bumps and bruises and a bit of unrest when the team passed on a controversial player at the draft last year, this past June saw the entrance of wonderboy Ivan Demidov slaying the 1st round failings and bad luck of the past, with its most recent iteration, the Matvei Michkov monster:
Fast-forward to the entrance of Demidov as a regular in the storied franchise of Saint-Petersburg's SKA of the KHL in early September. After a hot start despite limited minutes, including a 4 points game against Michkov's former team of Sotchi, a great mystery unfolded. Ivan's icetime suddenly melted like a Sunrise interior icerink in mid-June, barely appropriate for the situation at hand.
Enter SKA headcase, erg, headcoach, Roman Rotenberg, also now known by some as the Coach Nazi:
Theories on the reasons Demi's icetime got drastically reduced have abounded. Some have proposed that Rotenberg went to the Michel Therrien School of Prehistoric Coaching and found proof of such:
While others suggested gregarious partyman and bon vivant Evgeny Kuznetsov vouched for Ivan and was the only reason he was used on the 3rd line. Now that Kuznetsov is injured and out of the lineup, Ivan does not have anyone backing him. All that was needed was a single mistake for Rotenberg to have Demidov ride the pine. Others have rather proposed that SKA is blackmailing the Habs into a king's ransom to free Demidov from their clutches, as his icetime suddenly went down just after Habs newfound hero, mustachioed Laine McDonald, had a freak injury and was sidelined for at least two months. The most prevelant theory though is that Demidov was offered an extention and naturally did not sign on the dotted line, simply because he doesn't want to impede on his NHL dream.
After the theories on the why, came the theories on the how. To get him out of Russia. Some proposed simple activism, like an awareness ad campaign:
Others have proposed that it falls on Demidov to find a way out of there:
Others went further and were adamant Molson should give a briefcase full of cash to double agent and Russian turncoat Nick Bobrov, straight out of movie plot:
Despite all the fine proposals, many think nothing short of a new revolution would do the trick. With Ivan spearheading the whole thing:
He might need some funding though, and should ask someone to pull a Ludendorff (from his personal letters) and fund the revolution. It's so happens that there is a rich General who's very fond of Demidov:
So here we are my friends, with another SKA game at hand. Will his icetime barely budge? Will he get more by increments? Will he get even less?
The big question is, what friggin jersey color is he wearing today? There are so many, I'm still lost in the nomenclature.
Lineups will be added as soon as available.
Special thanks to @xX SEYF Xx for the Free Willy idea.
October is a special period of the year in Russia, to say the least. Memories of a time of great upheaval and societal instability. Tired of their incompetent leader, Tsar Romanov, the population revolted back in October 1917.
We've had our own little revolution in Habsland in November 2021, when our own incompetent leader was cannonballed into obscurity and irrelevance, with great fanfare:
Since then, a wave of unassailable hope swept the land, promising that the mistakes of the past wouldn't be repeated. No more bad drafting. No more middling. Despite bumps and bruises and a bit of unrest when the team passed on a controversial player at the draft last year, this past June saw the entrance of wonderboy Ivan Demidov slaying the 1st round failings and bad luck of the past, with its most recent iteration, the Matvei Michkov monster:
Fast-forward to the entrance of Demidov as a regular in the storied franchise of Saint-Petersburg's SKA of the KHL in early September. After a hot start despite limited minutes, including a 4 points game against Michkov's former team of Sotchi, a great mystery unfolded. Ivan's icetime suddenly melted like a Sunrise interior icerink in mid-June, barely appropriate for the situation at hand.
Enter SKA headcase, erg, headcoach, Roman Rotenberg, also now known by some as the Coach Nazi:
Theories on the reasons Demi's icetime got drastically reduced have abounded. Some have proposed that Rotenberg went to the Michel Therrien School of Prehistoric Coaching and found proof of such:
While others suggested gregarious partyman and bon vivant Evgeny Kuznetsov vouched for Ivan and was the only reason he was used on the 3rd line. Now that Kuznetsov is injured and out of the lineup, Ivan does not have anyone backing him. All that was needed was a single mistake for Rotenberg to have Demidov ride the pine. Others have rather proposed that SKA is blackmailing the Habs into a king's ransom to free Demidov from their clutches, as his icetime suddenly went down just after Habs newfound hero, mustachioed Laine McDonald, had a freak injury and was sidelined for at least two months. The most prevelant theory though is that Demidov was offered an extention and naturally did not sign on the dotted line, simply because he doesn't want to impede on his NHL dream.
After the theories on the why, came the theories on the how. To get him out of Russia. Some proposed simple activism, like an awareness ad campaign:
Others have proposed that it falls on Demidov to find a way out of there:
Others went further and were adamant Molson should give a briefcase full of cash to double agent and Russian turncoat Nick Bobrov, straight out of movie plot:
Despite all the fine proposals, many think nothing short of a new revolution would do the trick. With Ivan spearheading the whole thing:
He might need some funding though, and should ask someone to pull a Ludendorff (from his personal letters) and fund the revolution. It's so happens that there is a rich General who's very fond of Demidov:
So here we are my friends, with another SKA game at hand. Will his icetime barely budge? Will he get more by increments? Will he get even less?
The big question is, what friggin jersey color is he wearing today? There are so many, I'm still lost in the nomenclature.
Lineups will be added as soon as available.
Special thanks to @xX SEYF Xx for the Free Willy idea.
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