Montreal Canadiens's prospect, Ivan Demidov, played in his first KHL playoff game on Thursday, and as expected, he was used sporadically as the 13th forward. The expectation came not from his performances in the regular season but rather from coach Roman Rotenberd's announcement that he would be used as such.
Demidov knew going in that he wouldn’t see much action. For a 19-year-old who has been the most productive player on his team during the season in less-than-ideal conditions, seeing reduced ice time regularly was undoubtedly disheartening
Not once during the season did he complain about his ice time, or anything else for that matter, but with the stakes being higher in the playoffs, the young man showed a crack in his armor.
A video of a rink-side interview before the first game is making the rounds on social media, and to say Demidov was a hard interview would be an understatement. You can judge for yourself here:
It’s natural for a player to be upset in his situation, but the reporter has a job to do and isn’t responsible for his hardship. I can imagine how she felt, but good for her for getting through it professionally.
As for Demidov, he’s learning to be a professional hockey player, and that’s part of it. A career rarely is smooth sailing all the way through; there will be ups and downs, and there will also be media scrutiny, especially in a market like Montreal. Hopefully, he will learn from the experience, and it’s not a bad thing that happened before he hit the NHL. There’s no doubt in my mind that the Canadiens’ communications department has seen the footage and that he will be trained accordingly.
From SKA St. Petersburg’s practice yesterday, it looked like the youngster will be starting today’s game on the top line alongside Evgeny Kuznetsov and Zakhar Bardakov. It will be his chance to prove he should have played more in game 1.
