Discussing Ivan Demidov’s Recent Ice Time In the NHL

Also in his rookie season, Kapanen is currently listed as the Habs’ 2nd-line centre. Despite being able to play a decent two-way game, head coach Martin St. Louis still doesn’t trust Kapanen enough to play his line in serious situations while being up a goal or two late in games and needing to protect their leads. Kapanen has shown that he can play on the penalty kill, but after a hot start to the season, the 22-year-old centre’s game has tailed off, which, as a result, has affected his linemates from getting more ice time, as it was Kapanen who was seen as the defensive presence between him and Demidov.

Now that surely knocks Demidov’s ice time average down a lot, as he gets fewer shifts late in games where the Habs are trying to protect a lead. The reality is that over the last few games, the Canadiens have either been completely out of the game towards the very end, or they have had a lead and wanted to play a defensive game. With that being said, that’s why Demidov’s ice time has been lower.

Add that to the fact that the Habs need to have Demidov’s line sheltered during Kapanen’s recent struggles, and this also means that there are situations where their line may not get on the ice due to a matchup preference. There have been multiple times where Kapanen has lost an important faceoff that has cost the team a goal against, which is why St. Louis tries to shelter them. If there were a better option for a 2nd line centre than a young Kapanen, who is probably more suited to be a 3rd line forward in the NHL in the long run, then maybe Demidov would be able to be sheltered less, but that’s not the case right now.

Situations like that are why Alex Newhook is so missed during his absence for the 3.5 months. Even though he’s not an ideal centre, he can take some pressure off Kapanen; now he doesn’t really have that with Demidov and Juraj Slafkovsky, who are both solely wingers.

Despite Kapanen and Demidov’s line being considered a 2nd line, they are often used more like a 3rd line in terms of minutes per night, given that the line that includes Jake Evans and Josh Anderson will get more ice time due to defensive assignments. Now, to those who may say, “Oh, the Habs can just play him with Evans to get his ice time,” unfortunately, those are defensive zone assignments that don’t really benefit Demidov’s game as an offensive player.

The only area where Demidov probably should get more ice time would be on the power play. He was recently demoted to the 2nd power play unit due to the top unit passing up too many shooting chances. Given his seniority on the team, he was the one who got sacrificed to add another shooter to the top power play in Zack Bolduc. Unfortunately, aside from Bolduc, there isn’t really anyone else that he can supplant off the top unit. There may be some that say he can take Slafkovsky’s spot, but the issue with that is that nobody can be a net-front presence like the big Slovak winger. Therefore, right now until the power play with Bolduc stops working and barring any injuries, Demidov is likely stuck on the 2nd power play unit sadly.

At the end of the day, it’s not that Demidov isn’t trusted to get more ice time; it’s more situational that over the last few games, his ice time has dropped. If the Canadiens are down a goal late, expect Demidov to get more ice time, like his career-high 18:52 against the Boston Bruins in a 3-2 loss a few weeks ago. There likely will be a game soon where Demidov gets in the 16-17 minute range again.