Ivan Demidov, SKA St. Petersburg, KHL, Russia
While many Montreal fans, and media, have been harsh on SKA St. Peterburg’s coach Roman Rotenberg’s usage of Montreal’s top prospect Ivan Demidov, it is important to look at the seasonal usage and compare it to his season before the draft.
In the 68 games that Demidov has been part of SKA’s line up he has averaged 13:45 of play, that’s very good for a first year professional in the Russian system. Fans mention that KHL is ‘the second best league in the world’ (or at least outside the AHL) and then at the same time wonder how a first year professional doesn’t get more ice time. While I don’t consider KHL as the best league outside North America, I consider the jump from MHL to KHL as a very wide one, and with this in mind I don’t think that his usage has been as bad as many want to make it out as. Remember, in 2023-24 Demidov played 51 games, all but five in the junior league, and in 2022-23 the number was 56 games, again most at the junior level.
SKA goes into the playoffs as the seventh seed in the Western Conference and will face Dynamo Moscow, a team that wasn’t too far away in the standings when looking at points (89 to 82) and I do think there is a good chance for an upset. I predict SKA winning the series 4-2. However, there ends the fun for the St- Petersburg team as I have Lokomotiv Yaroslavl as favourites to win the Gagarin Cup this year, partly due to the fact that they have built an organization that is founded on a strong youth development but also because they have brought in one of the best defensive coaches in Russia, Igor Nikitin, and defence wins championships.
It would be a great achievement for everyone’s second favourite team to win the Gagarin 24 years after the tragic plane crash that took away the chance for one of the best KHL teams ever to win the title. Not an eye will be dry if this happens and they play a tribute in Arena 2000 at the end (which they undoubtedly would).
Bogdan Konyushkov, Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod, KHL
Konyushkov has had another good year in the KHL, less points in more games, but Konyuskov’s strength will be at the defensive end of the ice. However, mentioned above Torpedo came in as an eighth seed and will face the number one seed Lokomotiv in the first round, and no matter how good of a coach Igor Larionov is at the moment, Torpedo’s playoffs will end in a 4-1 series, possibly even a 4-0 series to the steam train from Yaroslavl.
Aatos Koivu, TPS Turku, Liiga, Finland
The season has been a strange one for Aatos Koivu, and I fully expected him to get a taste of Liiga but to play out the year in juniors after the first 18 games in order for Koivu to be able to get the Jarmo Wasama Memorial trophy (Liiga’s rookie of the year award). That is the path that Oliver Kapanen took in his first year after the draft. In the end this didn’t happen, and Koivu played a full year with TPS and finished with eight (1G-7A) points.
Looking at the stats, it’s points per game and the result of points/60 would probably be a completely different approach. What stands out though is that Koivu is in the same bracket as Oliver Kapanen and Joni Ikonen and one would think that Kapanen would be the ideal development path for Koivu as well. Remember Montreal has Koivu’s rights for four years, so there is no rush.
As this is written, TPS got into the playoffs as the 12th seed and faces the fifth seed SaiPa in the play-in series (the top four teams go straight to the quarter finals). The series is tied 2-2 (in best out of five) and Koivu has participated in two of the games, with limited ice time.
Oliver Kapenen, Timrå IK, SHL, Sweden
Timrå stole Game 1 against Frölunda in Gothenburg and Mrs. Zeb and myself were in the stands. After the game, Mrs. Zeb said that “Kapanen can go back home, he was way too good and too dirty” as Kapanen had a strong game with an added mean streak. Kapanen finished the game off by scoring the empty net insurance goal.
Timrå’s reliance on their first line with Dahlén-Kapanen-Hållander might be their undoing, and Frölunda managed to smother the line’s creativity in Game 2. While I think that Frölunda’s defence will take over in the end, I do foresee a six or seven game series where Frölunda goes through in the end.
This would open up a chance for Kapanen to join the Laval Rocket in early April. If Timrå goes on a run, much like Adam Engström’s Rögle did last year, I would expect Kapanen to not go over even if the season is done. The difference might be that this year the expectations with the Rocket are different and Kapanen’s skill would be a very welcome addition to a deep playoff run. With the Canadiens in a playoff run, there is another interesting thought that Kapanen could join the main team for a push and a bit of playoff experience when push comes to shove.
Vinzenz Rohrer, Zürich Lions, National League, Switzerland
The Lions are through to the semifinals already and Rohrer was a big part of that success against Kloten scoring four points in five games. The biggest scare was that Kloten’s Steve Kellenberger (David Reinbacher’s former defensive partner) pushed Rohrer into the post in the dying seconds of a game. While visibly hurt, Rohrer got up by his own and while he didn’t play the last minute of the game, he was on the ice for the next one.
Zürich is looking to repeat and having another two trophy season and it seems Lausanne is struggling as the top seed has been taken to a Game 7 against the eighth seed Langnau Tigers. Therefore it isn’t clear which team Zürich will face in the next round.
Rohrer himself also is looking forward to the Worlds with Austria.
Matt Drake and Patrik Bexell discuss the playoffs just beginning in KHL, and ongoing in Liiga, SHL and National League. There’s also talk about the playoffs for Rocket and maybe, just maybe, the Canadiens.
