Montreal Canadiens: Three Players Who Could Surprise at Training Camp

Vasili Demchenko

You have to like the confidence of a free agent goaltender who chooses to sign with the organization that has Carey Price firmly entrenched as their numbers one goaltender, and also have a star prospect in Cayden Primeau who is ready to take on the number one role with the American Hockey League affiliate.

Maybe he thought he would be able to win the backup job with the Canadiens, but the acquisition and contract extension given to Jake Allen makes that unlikely.

However, don’t be shocked if Vasili Demchenko is getting rave reviews from the Habs coaches at training camp.

Demchenko is a 26 year old goaltender who has played his entire career in his home country of Russia to this point in his career. Last season was not his best, but he was terrific in the KHL for several years before that.

Demchenko played the past five seasons in the KHL, putting up save percentages of .922, .933, .931, .932 and .908 in that time. Overall, in his KHL career, Demchenko had a .925 save percentage in 212 games. This is not because he was playing on a stacked team as Demchenko’s Traktor Chelyabinsk squad was middle of the pack at best. In those five years, though he had a terrific save percentage each year, Demchenko had a record of 81-86-25.

It is difficult to guess how well a player, especially a goaltender, will adjust from a European league to North America. Mikko Koskinen had save percentages of .937, .916 and .915 in his last three seasons with a much superior SKA St Petersburg team. He defiantly isn’t a Vezina contender at the NHL level but he posted decent numbers as the Edmonton Oilers starter last season.

That isn’t to say Demchenko is ready to be an NHL starter, but don’t be surprised if he looks really good in his first NHL training camp after posting excellent numbers in four of last five KHL seasons.