Ivan Demidov’s controversial coach would have benefited from giving him more ice time since the start of the season. At the current rate, if he had played on average as much as the KHL’s top scorer in 2024-2025, the Canadian’s hope would be on track to become the player having amassed the most points in a campaign… in the history of the circuit, with 92 in 68 matches.
• Also read: Demidov still in the spotlight in the KHL
• Also read: Ivan Demidov unstoppable
Thanks to his 31 points in 40 games this season, as of Tuesday, Demidov claims 23e ranking of KHL scorers. That’s not bad enough, you might say, in this league where it’s not so easy to black up the scoresheet.
A quick calculation, however, shows that the 19-year-old Russian would deserve more than the titles of rookie par excellence of the last week and best forward if he was on the ice as often as the top scorer on the circuit in 2024-2025, Canadian Josh Leivo.
Another magnificent goal from Ivan Demidov –
20 min 8 s versus… 11 min 31 s
The former Maple Leafs, Canucks, Flames, Hurricanes and Blues made the jump to the KHL last season. In 265 NHL games, the forward collected 93 points, including 42 goals.
In 36 games this season with Salavat Yulayev, Leivo, 31, has 42 points.
One thing, however, differentiates him from the fifth overall pick in the last draft: his playing time. The CH prospect amassed his 13 goals and 18 assists while playing an average of 11 min 31 s per game. Leivo has totaled 26 goals and 16 assists, but he is on the ice for an average of 20 min 8 s per game.
If he had also played an average of 20 min 8 sec per game, at the rate he is producing this year, Demidov would therefore have 54 points in 40 games. By reporting everything over 68 matches, we arrive at 92 points.
This has never been seen
We know: the coach of the SKA of Saint Petersburg, the oligarch Roman Rotenberg, has insisted on nailing his nugget to the bench on numerous occasions this year, undoubtedly for contractual reasons, as we explained to you ici.
A total of 92 points has never been seen in the very young history of the KHL, which began in 2008-2009. So far, the player with the most points in a campaign is Nikita Gusev, who compiled 89 last year.
A 105-point season
But since we are in the calculations and projections, we still have to add some nuances. In fact, no KHL player has had 92 points in a single season, but some were producing at a higher rate.
However, they have been hampered by injuries, shortened schedules or the fact that fewer games were played per season in the Russian league just a few years ago.
We can think of Vadim Schipachyov, who totaled 67 points in 48 games in 2021-2022. Over 68 games, he would have totaled 95. Or to Alexander Radulov, who collected 71 in 46 games in 2014-2015, which would have represented 105 points over a 68-game season.
Both Gusev, Schipachyov and Radulov, however, had one thing in common: they played on average… more than 19 minutes per game.
