People seem to think he’s on the smaller side. I think he’s listed at 5 feet 10 inches, but I also heard an NHL scout say recently that he’s a little taller than Macklin Celebrini, coming in a little over six feet. Do you think his size may be an issue in the NHL?
No, that is wrong. I think he’s got to about 184 (centimeters or 6.04 feet) now, around that. He’s a little taller than me. I think he’ll grow further, too. People usually still grow until they’re 20. I think his father is about 185, something like that. I think he’ll grow.
What do you know about him off the ice and his work ethic?
What impresses me about him is his personality. He’s a great guy; everyone loves him. In the locker room, he’s a true leader. He’s a guy who wants to do everything to get success in hockey. His daily routine is like this: He comes to the rink and has a two-hour warmup, practices, then stays on the rink, maybe sleeps a bit, and then an hour in the gym. If they give it to him, he’ll spend additional time on the ice or he will go off ice and go to the shooting room. He’s very dedicated.
How good do you actually think he is?
I’ve watched a lot of Demidov, and I watched the World Juniors to watch Celebrini. And I thought, who’s better, Celebrini or Demidov? I think Demidov is better just in terms of his creativity, in terms of his skating, in terms of how he thinks the game. He’s a great skater. He’ll have one-minute shifts and never stop, always moving. His legs are always moving and he has great separation speed. He’s a team player first of all. His passes are just marvelous. He can give you a saucer between three sticks. His shot needs improvement, but he’s working on it.
I heard a player can’t be loaned out to another KHL team if he’s in the final year of his contract. Is that true?
Yes. If his contract was for two more years, he could be loaned out. He could be loaned out to Sochi and he would play there. He would gain a lot of minutes and all that. But he can’t now because he’s in the final year of his contract.
Do you understand NHL teams’ likely reluctance to draft Demidov?
Yeah, because if you don’t see a player in person, if you don’t go to the rink to see him playing, that could be a problem, for sure. Maybe you don’t trust whoever is telling you about him or you’re not sure how great a prospect he is because he’s playing an easy game or you don’t know how he behaves on the bench and stuff like that.
If you were advising the Blackhawks, would you recommend drafting Demidov?
Yeah, I think so. I’m familiar with (Artyom) Levshunov, too. Not as well as Demidov, but I know Levshunov was recruited by KHL teams, refused and went to the U.S. He’s a pretty good player. But I think Demidov has more talent. He’s a guy who can do it all. If his shot can improve a bit, he’ll be a 50-goal forward, for sure.
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