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European Canadiens Prospect Report: Rasmus Bergqvist is beating expectations in the SHL

The defenceman is hanging around in Sweden’s top league, while Ivan Demidov continues to get points despite his low ice time.

Credit: Patrik Bexell / EOTP

Ivan Demidov

SKA Saint Petersburg, KHL, Russia

Two games for Demidov this week, and though he was held to a combined 16 minutes over the two games, he produced an assist.

Demidov has 20 points (6G, 14A) in 30 games, with an average ice time of 11 minutes.

SKA is scoring at a ridiculous pace, with 111 goals this season. The second-best team in the KHL has 98 (a tie between Spartak and Torpedo). However, SKA has let in 80 and only three of the teams that are in playoff spots have let in more, pointing to where SKA’s problem has been all year. Zavrakin has stabilized the flow a bit, but it hasn’t been stopped completely.

SKA will go on a short trip to the Far East, playing the Easternmost team, Admiral Vladivostok, on Thursday, and then Amur Khabarovsk on Saturday before a homestand the week after.

Bogdan Konyushkov

Torpedo Nihzny Novgorod, KHL, Russia

Konyushkov continues his stable play with a team that still produces a lot of goals, but they are also a team that lets in a lot of goals. That’s the context required to view his +1 rating. While Torpedo doesn’t score a ton of goals at five-on-five with him on the ice, neither does the opposition.

Torpedo is currently in the eighth and last spot of the Western Conference in the KHL.

Makar Khanin

Dynamo Moscow, KHL / Dynamo Saint Petersburg, VHL / MHK Dynamo Moskva, MHL

No games for Khanin last week.

Yevgeni Volokhin

HC Sochi, KHL

No games in the either of the leagues last week for Volokhin.


Aatos Koivu

TPS Turku, Liiga/ TPS U20, Finland

With scouts and staff from different teams in attendance in Ängelhom on Thursday night, especially scouts that had come back from Finland just the day before, the consensus was that Koivu was a good pick in the third round for Montreal. The process will be long, similar to Oliver Kapanen and Artturi Lehkonen, but in the end there might be an NHL player there.

Koivu didn’t play any games this week for TPS, TPS U20, or TPS U18.

Oliver Kapanen

Timrå IK, SHL, Sweden

I spent some time watching Kapanen last week, and he looks good even if the line lost a bit of chemistry with Kapanen having stayed in Montreal for some time and Jonathan Dahlén having been out injured. The good thing is that Kapanen is earning his keep on the first line, getting shifts in all situations and playing heavy minutes.

One thing that has stood out is his uneven faceoff success. Against Rögle he was at 44% and then the next game against Malmö he was at 59%. The fact is he is getting used against other teams’ top lines, and the two assists that he recorded last week both came after defensive-zone faceoff wins with the opposing team having pulled their goalie.

I am still not convinced he can be an NHL centre; he might project better as a winger. His strength is being close to the goal and he is getting better in the faceoff circle (compared to Liiga). On the other hand, I am not sure he has enough playmaking capability to really lead a line. I think that’s the main thing that can be evaluated once he completes this season in the SHL.

Filip Eriksson

Växjö Lakers, SHL, Sweden

The struggles continue for Eriksson, and to be honest I wouldn’t be against another loan spell in order to generate some confidence. On the other hand, he needs to prove that he can succeed at a higher level than HockeyAllsvenskan. Bear in mind that Otto Stenberg, a high 2023 NHL draft pick, also struggled last year in the SHL and this is Eriksson’s first season.

He did score in Champions Hockey League play this week against a strong Fribourg team:

In the end, Växjö got through and will face Sparta Prague in the quarter-finals starting in Prague on December 3, with a second game in Växjö on the 10th.

Rasmus Bergqvist

Skellefteå AIK, SHL, Sweden

The Axel Sandin-Pellikka – Bergqvist pairing is for real, and one has to assume that Bergqvist is close to the Swedish team for the World Junior Championship. Magnus Hävelid, Sweden’s U20 coach, says it will be “tough competition” to earn a roster spot, and “the important thing is that Bergqvist gets to play.”
One thing is for sure: Bergqvist is logging minutes in the SHL and not even the Canadiens’ amateur scouts could have expected a development curve like this.

Skellefteå is struggling. It lost by a combined score of 10-1 to the Bremerhaven Penguins in CHL action, and has lost more often than not in the SHL the last month. It is too early to see a coaching effect after the team fired Robert Ohlsson, and there is no need to panic in regard to a potential relegation series.

Vinzenz Rohrer

Zürich Lions, National League, Switzerland

Rohrer logged a little bit less ice time last week, but played almost 15 minutes in both of Zürich’s games.
The Lions are third in the table, three points up to Davos, with two games in hand.

Zürich will face Berlin in their quarter-final of the Champions Hockey League after having won a lopsided contest against the Straubing Tigers from Germany.


Catch up with the interviews from earlier articles with Oliver Kapanen and his head coach Olli Jokinen in the latest podcast

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