Ivan Demidov’s usage is no different from that of the vast majority of players his age who have played in the KHL, assures a Russian player agent working for the firm that represents Demidov.
Alexander Tyjnych is the director of European scouting for Gold Star Hockey, led by Daniel Milstein and which represents many of Russia’s biggest stars playing in the NHL, including Nikita Kucherov, Andrei Vasilevskiy and Mikhail Sergachev.
In addition to taking care of recruitment for the agency, he himself manages the careers of certain Gold Star Hockey clients.
Reached by telephone on Wednesday, he did not want to elaborate on the information from colleague Nicolas Cloutier of TVA Sports, who, citing a source close to the Demidov clan, revealed that the SKA was currently punishing the young winger due to the fact that he reportedly turned down contract extension offers with the KHL organization three times.
“This is just speculation and I will not comment on speculation in the newspapers,” he told us.
No smoke without fire
Tyjnych is not the one who directly represents Demidov, and the one responsible for the file, big boss Milstein, did not want to answer our questions. In the current context, it would have been surprising if a representative of Demidov agreed to blame the KHL organization, adding fuel to the fire of an already complicated situation.
Let us remember, however, that at the last NHL evaluation camp, or Combine, in Buffalo, another source very close to the matter told us that the SKA had sent Demidov back to the Russian junior circuit, the MHL, due to his refusal to sign a contract extension.
So clearly there is no smoke without fire.
Tuesday evening, in an interview with RDS, the Canadiens’ vice-president of hockey operations, Jeff Gorton, did not hide his feeling of “frustration” with the situation.
“We’re seeing what you’re seeing, the decline in his ice time, and we’re in contact with the organization. They know how it feels. This is the number one reason why, when you have a player like that, you want to sign him straight away and bring him in to have control over his development. It’s out of our control and frustrating that he doesn’t play more. At the same time, we know that he is very talented and the team has 35 players in its lineup and they always operate like that.
Like this everywhere
For Tyjnych, however, this is “normal” handling of an 18-year-old player in the KHL.
“It’s like that everywhere! You don’t have to worry about ice time. Ivan works hard and finds himself in a good development program. He has the opportunity to play matches in the best league in the world. It’s the normal development of a player here,” he assures.
Basically, he is not wrong. The vast majority of 18-year-old players are barely used in the KHL. We showed you examples of this, moreover, last year, when Matvei Michkov was also nailed to the bench by the SKA.
That being said, what makes the situation difficult to understand for many fans is that Demidov had scored eight points in his first ten games and was named the KHL rookie of the month for September, before seeing his ice time drop drastically.
“Ivan is a very talented player, but he is only 18 years old,” Tyjnych recalled. I watched all his matches and he plays very well. On the other hand, the SKA thinks in terms of development. It’s like in the NHL. Why did some of the top prospects return to the minors? I represent Vsevolod Komarov, who was one of the best junior players in Canada last year. Why isn’t he playing in the NHL this year? It’s part of development. Is this frustrating for the players and for us? Yes. I am convinced that Montreal would like him to play more. Sometimes you have to be patient with young players.”
Related News :