Ivan Demidov’s situation in Russia is far from ideal.ư
The Canadian’s prospect didn’t even have the opportunity to prove himself in yesterday’s game because Roman Rotenberg decided not to use him.
And this, despite the fact that Demidov is ranked 1st among the SKA St. Petersburg’s scorers.
Evidently, there are “political” reasons why Demidov didn’t play yesterday.
It’s easy to think that he refused another contract offer from the SKA… which would like to keep him in their court in Russia. But we know that Demidov is eager to play for the Canadiens…
Georges Laraque talked about this story today on BPM Sports and what he said is really interesting.
According to what he heard, the SKA will do everything to offer him a new contract… with the goal of seeing the Canadiens buy out the contract, as the Flyers did with Matvei Michkov.
The SKA St. Petersburg management doesn’t want to lose him for free:
I was told that it’s impossible for the team to let him go for free. – Georges Laraque
This is so ridiculous.
To fool around with a talented prospect like him, it shouldn’t have a place in professional sports… especially when we know he has the tools to become a great player.
But that’s KHL for you, we get it.
The reputation of this league is no longer to be made because there are countless deplorable stories that we hear. It’s often that we see young players receive inadequate treatment and that’s what’s sad about all this.
Especially since the NHL teams that draft these players have no control over the decisions of the KHL clubs.
It’s not like the Canadiens have the power to change things… even if they visited the SKA in December and “everything went well”.
Anyway. Can’t wait for his arrival in North America as soon as possible…
