Canadiens Prospect KHL Rookie of Year Favorite

The Montreal Canadiens' top prospect is the early favorite to capture the KHL's Rookie of the Year award.

Jun 28, 2024; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Ivan Demidov is selected with the 5th overall pick of the first round of the 2024 NHL Draft at The Sphere. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images / Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

The Montreal Canadiens have one of the strongest groups of prospects and young players in the entire NHL. It's the silver lining of having some not-so-stellar seasons over the past few years, but the future continues to look bright for the historic franchise.

While the Canadiens work through their struggles this season, optimism continues to grow surrounding their top prospect outside of North America. The team's most recent first-round selection, Russian winger Ivan Demidov, is currently playing in the top professional league in Europe, the KHL.

Not only is he standing out as a young player with SKA St. Petersburg, Demidov is making a strong case to be the league's rookie of the year. Through 25 games, he has six goals and 13 assists for 19 points.

What's even more impressive about Demidov's performance is that his production comes despite playing all throughout the lineup. There's been times when he plays with former NHL veteran Evgeny Kuznetsov and then there's other games, like the team's most recent contest, where he skates on a bottom-six line with players like Sergei Plotnikov and Mikhail Vorobyev, two players with less than 100 combined games of NHL experience.

Speaking to Sergey Demidov of RG.org, Demidov discussed his strong start and how the season has been faring for him. One of the comments that stuck out was when the young winger said that this type of production is exactly what he expected out of himself this year after the offseason he had. His comments scream of a player with an extreme winning mindset.

“Nothing has changed much," he said. "I was already preparing for this last year in the MHL to get my game to the level I would need to play in the KHL. I wouldn't say that the transition was very difficult for me."

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