Eight games into his rookie season, Montreal Canadiens winger Ivan Demidov ranks third in points on the team with six; the only players who have more than he does are captain Nick Suzuki with 11 and sniper Cole Caufield, who has eight. Meanwhile, the young Russian’s linemates Alex Newhook and Oliver Kapanen have five and four points, respectively. Is it time to put Demidov on the first line? I don’t think so.
Not that he doesn’t have the talent to play there, we’ve seen he can have some definite chemistry with Suzuki, but right now, he makes his own linemates better, and the Canadiens have two very effective lines on the attack, so why mess with that?
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Whichever way you look at it, Juraj Slafkovsky’s style of play, when he plays the way the team wants him to play, complements Suzuki and Caufield perfectly. When he plays a heavy game and fetches pucks in the corner for his linemates, they have the talent necessary to convert. If he did that with Newhook and Kapanen, would they be able to do the same? That’s far from certain. With all due respect to Demidov’s linemate, playing with him has been a game-changer for them.
Last season, Newhook scored 26 points in 82 games; he didn’t seem to be able to utilize his speed effectively. He was able to get the puck in the offensive zone, but he didn’t have the playmaking flair necessary to keep the play going, and more often than not, the opponent recovered the puck. This year, he’s on pace for 51 points with Demidov by his side. As for Kapanen, he had two points in 18 games last season and no goals. This year, he has four goals and is on pace for 41 points, thanks to Demidov setting him up so well.
As for the first line, it has been thriving for a few years now. Martin St-Louis has two lines that can produce offensively. For years, he has struggled with a single line getting all the attention and all the tough matchups. Now, he has a way to give Caufield and Suzuki some breathing room, and as long as it’s working, I see no reason to put Demidov on the first line.
Giving him more ice time would make sense, though, and the way to do that is to put him on the first power play unit. With the man-advantage and the additional space available on the power play, Slafkovsky’s physical presence is not needed. It would make sense to put the young Russian in the spot currently occupied by the Slovak. Demidov has the playmaking skills necessary to create magic from thin air, something Slafkovsky cannot do.
Demidov is so deceptive that he can send the puck from one side of the ice to the other without being intercepted. He’s done it time and time again with Patrik Laine and a few times already with Suzuki playing on the second unit; he scored once already. Caufield would definitely benefit from Demidov’s presence on the unit as well.
If Laine is out long-term, I see no point in leaving the young Russian on the second wave with reduced ice time. It made sense to leave him with the big Finn to try to jump-start his production.
So far, the Habs have a 19.2% success rate on the man-advantage, which isn’t great. It doesn’t really matter because they are winning, but they have the necessary tool to improve their power play; why not use it? Four teams have a power play success rate of 30% or more (the Vegas Golden Knights, the Minnesota Wild, the Winnipeg Jets, and the New Jersey Devils); this is what the Habs should be aiming for. It’s also worth noting that the Wild are using rookie blueliner Zeev Buium on the first wave of the power play, and it’s working for them.
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