[Jiri Hrdina]

The decision on who to draft #2 would be on the GM ultimately. And he would be weighing other factors, not just the talent of the player. In the case of Demidov the Russian factor would have been part of the decision.

Bob spoke at length about this in his final rankings:


It is, however, one thing for a scout to rank Demidov at No. 2 overall; it’s quite another for an NHL general manager to make the decision to actually take him there.

“I have no problem personally ranking Demidov at No. 2,” said a scout, “but I couldn’t assure you my team would take him there if we were picking second overall. There’s a lot more that goes into it now, especially that high.”

No NHL GM, or North American-based executives/scouts, have had live viewings of Demidov this season, who played for SKA’s junior team in the Russian MHL.

Because of the various sanctions against Russia due to its attack of Ukraine, the best young Russian players have not been able to play against their international peers in International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) events such as the World Junior Championship, Hlinka Gretzky Cup and U-18 World Championship.

Interestingly enough, Demidov is the only Russian prospect in this draft who has been live, or in-arena, scouted by NHL GMs and/or North American-based scouts.

Demidov, a late 2005 birthdate, was a double underager on Russia’s Hlinka-Gretzky Cup team in the summer of 2021. He had two goals and five points in five games that year. He did not make the Russian team that played in the 2021 U18 World Championships in Texas when a couple of kids named Bedard and (Matvei) Michkov went head to head.

Having to scout Russians almost exclusively from video doesn’t preclude them from being taken high in the draft — Arizona took defenceman Dmitri Simashev sixth overall last year and Philadelphia chose forward Matvei Michkov eighth overall — but it does give pause to consider, especially depending on the viability of other top prospects.

“If you’re going to take a Russian in the top five picks, your owner has to be on board,” one scout said. “It’s not just a hockey decision. Your GM has to have an idea of how soon that [Russian] player will or won’t be coming to North America. It’s not insurmountable, but there are added layers to taking a Russian really high in the draft.”

Another scout, however, believes the Russian Factor is overplayed.

“The good ones always come over,” the scout said. “Maybe you have to wait a year or two or three, but history tells us the good ones come and they’re often worth the wait.”

And sometimes the wait isn’t as long as anticipated. Look no further than the news Tuesday that Michkov is leaving SKA to sign with the Flyers only one year after being drafted when the initial expectation was it would be a three-year wait.

NHL teams welcomed the opportunity to see Demidov in the flesh last week in Florida at a camp run by agent Dan Milstein. Demidov didn’t go on the ice — he’s recovering from a minor injury — but teams were able to meet and interview him. NHL Central Scouting was there to measure him, and others. He checked in at 6 feet, 1/2 inch and 192 pounds – an inch or more taller than he was previously listed at.

NHL teams who made the trek to Milstein’s camp were told Demidov is contractually obligated to play next season in Russia, but he could come to the NHL as early as the fall of 2025.

“It was good to meet the player, talk to him, get a better idea of who he is and a sense of when he might come over,” said one scout. “My takeaway was that he very much wants to be an NHL player and there are no big issues on that front.”

If that’s the case, then the scouts can focus on more traditional prospect evaluations.

Demidov has elite passing and goal-scoring skills. His hockey sense and competitiveness are viewed as outstanding. Some scouts say his skating is only average. Whatever size concerns that existed when he was believed to be under 6-feet tall no longer apply.

“If he isn’t a No. 1 offensive winger in the NHL, he’ll be a No. 2,” said a scout. “He’s not an elite skater, like Kirill Kaprizov, but he has elite skills and competitiveness.”

But some scouts question the competition he played against in the MHL, suggesting his productivity was inflated because of it.

“Sure, we would have preferred to see him in the KHL or VHL, but if he was there playing only a few minutes a game we would be complaining about that,” said a scout, laughing.

Given all of the above, seeing which team, and at which point in the draft he’s chosen, is going to be one of the most intriguing storylines of draft day.

https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/bob-mckenzie-...rini-1.2139912