Ivan Demidov : In-Depth Scouting Report
Ivan Demidov is one of the most exciting raw talents we have seen in recent seasons. Having supplanted Matvei Michkov for a spot with the St. Petersburg SKA at the start of the season and having produced at an historic rate in the MHL, Demidov can accumulate highlights like no other player in this draft can.
What draws attention to him from the outset is his fantastic puck handling. Demidov has one of the best pairs of hands we’ve seen from a prospect in recent years. His puck control when defenders try to take it away from him is very impressive. He manages to maintain dexterity and fine control even when he has to move the puck in slightly more precarious places. He manages to adapt quickly if access is closed to him, because his ease with the puck on his stick is simply unmatched. As a result, he manages to create scoring opportunities out of nothing.
He manages to benefit his teammates since he very well incorporates his offensive creativity with his playmaking talents. He has very good vision and sees passing lanes that do not seem open at first glance. He excels at cross-ice passes through the defensive box. He can also keep his opponents on their heels while the aspect of unpredictability due to his puck handling is always present. To add to this, Demidov began to increasingly incorporate shooting threats to draw attention to himself, before handing it off to a teammate whenever a passing lane opens up.
On the other hand, the most prevalent aspect of Demidov’s playmaking is that he uses a lot of ‘Against the grain’ passes. As he cuts into the center ice on his forehand, he will make passes towards where he is coming from. Once again, the dexterity of his hands is on point as he manages to reach his target as he passes while bringing his arms towards the inside of his body, rather than passing by moving his hands away from the body.
When it comes to his finishing skills, Demidov is not the most proficient goal-scorer. We will have the opportunity to talk about it later, but in terms of the qualities he brings to this facet of the game, his puck placement on his shots is judicious. He seeks to make the goalkeepers work while he prioritizes shots just between the glove and the pad.
I also like the fact that he manages to take good one-timer even if the pass seems too far in front of him.
It is especially when he has enough space one-on-one facing the opposing goalkeeper that he will be able to place the puck in the back of the net. I will not dwell on the dangle that he can pull off, because his hands have already been mentioned, however, he advocates a fairly unique play in front of the goalkeepers where, by attacking the net from the left side, he manages to considerably widens his skate base at the very last second and brings the puck to his backhand. His range with the puck increases drastically in the blink of an eye and the goalies simply doesn’t have an answer for that.
Just watch how wide he opens his feet.
This rather unique demonstration leads me to tell you about his skating.
On a technical level, it is, like the rest of his game, very spectacular.
Demidov tackles the famous ’10-2′ with abundance. He uses it at a frequency I’ve never seen in other players.
Although elegant, this technique is rarely used wisely. I have seen time and again prospects use that maneuver without any real purpose behind it.
This is where Demidov stands out from the crowd. He brings a considerable amount of substance to this technique while, rather than using it with his back to the boards as we often see, Demidov uses this style to gain the center of the offensive zone. In addition, this helps him keep the puck further out of the reach of his opponents and he also manages to push their stick away with his front leg.
He also uses this technique in unusual places as he makes zone entries in the center of the ice using the ’10-2′ to gain an aspect of unpredictability.
Demidov also demonstrates remarkable agility. He can pivot in tight spaces at a very high level. What’s most fascinating about him is that he executes such pivots just as skillfully with his outside edges as he does with his inside edges Such pivots with the inside of the blades (also giving the opportunity to work with the forehand rather than being forced to go to the backhand) are very rare.
Since we’re talking about what’s substantial, Demidov’s board play offers a few interesting qualities. His puck control coupled with his sudden pivots in tight spaces make him a difficult player for his opponents to contain.
On the other hand, what I appreciated most of him in this facet is his willingness to arrive first on the puck.
Although it may seem trivial, Demidov regularly performs this play where, near the boards, an opponent comes to hit him, and rather than dumping the puck deep, he quickly ducks down and passes between his opponent (under him) and the board. When I was young, Evgeni Malkin was possibly my favorite player and it was a play he made regularly. I particularly like the determination that emerges from this type of sequence where the desire to make a difference offensively outweighs the fear of getting hit.
Something I liked about Demidov’s play this season is that, following his demotion to a lower league, his level of involvement on the ice remained the same. He showed a good attitude. Although not the most impactful, Demidov finishes a good number of his checks.
Without the puck, there is no reluctance on Demdiov to backcheck defensively. He even works hard to steal the disc from his opponents, which he manages to do with some successful ‘Stick-Lifts’.
Now, as for the weaknesses in Demidov’s game, at the top of the list is an excess of fantasy in his play with the puck. He too often goes for the highlight-reel plays, even if it means having the puck taken away from him. In these situations, you must always know how to correctly weigh the rate of puck losses with the rate of successful plays. In Demidov’s case, even though there are a good number of failures in his attempt to make highlights plays, I believe that the scoring chances made out of nothing compensate enough. In fact, I would go so far as to say that it is even something ‘normal.’ When a player has this level of individual skill, he can take risks that others cannot since there is always a chance that something will come of it. Just take a look at the 7 players who committed the most turnovers last year; David Patrnak, Evgeni Malkin, Leon Draisaitl, Artemi Panarin, Erik Karlsson, Nikita Kucherov, Mitch Marner. And this wasn’t an outlier data. It’s going to be like this every season.
This is something that, in the past, I judged more harshly. Perhaps too harshly even. I have Logan Cooley in mind here. What makes me worry less about the young Russian is that during his time (although the sample is rather thin) in the KHL, he managed to temper his eccentricity with the puck and sported a style of much more mature game.
What worries me the most about him is that at the moment he noticeably lacks physical strength. This carries over into three different aspects within his game;
First, this penalizes him in physical confrontations, having difficulty gaining the upper hand over his opponent along the boards or in the corners.
Second, this lack of strength is also observed in his shot. I briefly touched the subject earlier on, but Demidov’s shot is not strong enough at the moment to threaten the goalkeepers. This could significantly limit his ‘Ceiling’ in terms of point production at the next level.
And finally, most importantly to me, Demidov lacks what we call separation speed. He is not a player who generates a lot of power with each stride and this means that he presents some difficulty getting away from his coverer by creating distance with his acceleration. He is forced to be a one-speed player. (His skating mechanics need a little work too since he skates while being too hunched over.)
In the end, Demidov has the talent to electrify the crowd of the team that will draft him night after night. Although some concerns remain about his physical strength, he has demonstrated an astonishing level of will and desire even while being demoted to a lower caliber. His commitment will never have to be called into question.
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