Ivan Demidov impresses Nathan MacKinnon

“I saw his goal on Wednesday night. What a shot! He’s having quite a season and I think he’ll become a really special player.” – Nathan MacKinnon

It must warm Demidov’s heart to hear comments like these, especially when they come from the NHL’s top scorer.

MacKinnon’s comment on the Russian’s shot leads me to discuss something else: Demidov needs to shoot more.

As Anthony Martineau said earlier today, Demidov needs to be more selfish and take a cue from Lane Hutson, who’s shooting the net a lot more these days.

He’s a little too willing to look for the perfect play when that perfect play is often just a shot away. He’s got quite a shot and we’ve seen it. He can easily outwit opposing goalies with it.

Demidov’s early career has been quite impressive. It’s even more impressive when you compare his first 25 NHL games to the first 25 games of Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner.

The Canadiens Muse page, which publishes some interesting statistics, has made it clear that Demidov is currently off to a better start than Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews.

It’s not a huge difference, but he’s still ahead of two excellent NHL forwards.

Plus, we know that Demidov’s playing time is limited by his head coach. This isn’t necessarily because he doesn’t deserve it (far from it), but rather a question of taking it easy in his first full season in the big league.

The Canadiens Muse page has posted the playing time per game during the first 25 games of the careers of the three players in question, and there’s still a three-minute difference.

Demidov is definitely on his way to an excellent NHL career. Let’s see what the future holds for him.

Overtime

– Unbelievable.

– Love it.

– It doesn’t really make sense.

– That’s a great nickname.