The least we can say is that Montreal Canadiens prospect Ivan Demidov had a rather unusual season in the KHL.



He went from being in his team’s top-6, to the stands, to the role of 13th forward, to long games spent watching his team play while glued to the end of the bench for no reason.. it really couldn’t have been easy for him.

However, as the excellent Marc Dumont points out, there’s some good news in all of this.

Without meaning to, Roman Rotenberg may have given a great gift to young Demidov and the Canadiens by making him go through so much adversity.

It will go a long way in preparing him for what’s ahead in Montreal!

Good news for the young Ivan Demidov’s mental toughness, with everything he experienced in the KHL this year

Check out his piece.

“Yes, Ivan Demidov’s usage in the KHL was ridiculous and confusing.

But Habs fans shouldn’t worry.

By facing unreasonable adversity in the KHL now, Demidov will be better equipped to handle legitimate adversity once he’s in the NHL.”

– Marc Dumont

He makes a very good point!

 

I really love this kind of piece, where someone finds the positive in such a damaging and negative situation, and that’s exactly what Dumont does here.

In the end, despite the ridiculous usage and everything that happened, Demidov finished his KHL season with a historic 49 points in 65 games (in his 18-year-old season), finishing as the top scorer on one of the best teams in the league.

There’s a lot of positive to take away from Demidov’s season, despite everything! I love it.