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Ivan Demidov won’t leave the KHL before the end of his contract, if his coach is to be believed

 Jessica Williams
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Ivan Demidov won’t leave the KHL before the end of his contract, if his coach is to be believed
Credit: Getty Images

The most popular player in Montreal right now isn’t Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki or Juraj Slafkovsky.

His name is Ivan Demidov, even though he has yet to play a single game in front of his new fans at the Bell Centre.

It’s crazy, but it’s all the same.

There’s been a lot of talk about the Habs prospect in recent days, and it’s mostly because of his situation with SKA in St. Petersburg.

Everyone knows the drill on that one, by the way.

But it’s interesting to learn that SKA head coach Roman Rotenberg had a lengthy meeting via zoom with Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton (among others) about the player’s development.

And according to Rotenberg, the two sides didn’t even discuss the possibility of him leaving Russia before the end of his contract, because SKA already has a plan in place for the youngster:

The truth is that the Habs and I already have a plan for Demidov’s development. The goal is for him to have his best season in the KHL. – Roman Rotenberg

Rotenberg goes on to say that the talented players within the club will be able to help Demidov on the ice, and that the player will have the chance to gain “invaluable” experience by rubbing shoulders with talented older players in Russia:

We need to qualify here because these are just official words.

Roman Rotenberg wasn’t out to go spit on the kid and he wasn’t out to openly say he’s not interested in developing the player knowing he’s leaving at the end of the season.

Let’s wait and see how Demidov is used before coming to an official conclusion…

That said, things could also change over the next few months. If SKA feels it’s better off without Demidov for reason X at the start of the next campaign, and he’s not playing well enough for Kent Hughes, a decision could be made in due course.

But for now, the plan is clear.

Demidov – barring a surprise – won’t be leaving Russia to join the Habs for next season.

At least, if the words of his SKA coach are anything to go by, that’s not likely to happen.


Overtime

– Nice!

– They can afford it,

– Oh.

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