Ivan Demidov loves playing with Juraj Slafkovsky

Playing with such a talented young player (and a first overall draft pick) is certainly a pleasure.

Slafkovsky is a pretty well-rounded player. He uses his size very well to win battles along the boards and in front of the net. He also creates space for his teammates, he can feed them beautifully, and, as we’ve seen in Montreal and at the Olympics, he knows how to fill the net.

He’s a really interesting player to share the ice with.

What makes the Russian’s experience even more enjoyable, as Demidov mentioned, is that the Slovak is a very funny person.

That makes it a lot easier to adapt to North American hockey when you’ve played all your hockey in Russia.

Demidov also had good things to say about his captain. One of the Calder Trophy contenders said that Nick Suzuki does everything very well, that he’s a very good leader, and that if the rookie has any questions, he goes to Suzuki and gets answers.

Speaking of the Calder Trophy, the SKA Saint Petersburg product in the KHL mentioned in the interview that he wasn’t thinking about it.

For him, individual accomplishments are not important. He simply wants his club to be successful (and it’s fair to say that the habs are having a successful season).

For Habs fans, the club’s success is obviously important, but it’s always nice to see one of the players win a trophy. And to see a player from the club win the Calder Trophy two years in a row would certainly be incredible.

Overtime

–Well.

– Roman Rotenberg would put Ivan Demidov on Russia’s fourth line if they were able to participate in the Olympics.

– Let’s see if the Kings can add a third-line center before the trade deadline and make a real push for the playoffs (with Artemi Panarin).

– That’s prettycute.