Ivan Demidov's treatment in Russia should be a red flag for all general managers

It has always been a problem with drafting Russian prospects and keeping them in the KHL. The Russian league doesn't like it when their young players show interest in moving to North America to play in the superior professional hockey league, and they often take it out on them as a hindrance to their development. The teams over there believe that if the players aren't going to stay with them anyway, then there's no point in giving them ice-time and helping out their NHL club. Never has that been more prevalent than SKA St. Petersburg's treatment of Ivan Demidov.

Demidov is the leading scorer of SKA this season with 19 goals and 28 assists in 58 games. He has four more points than Sergei Plotnikov, making him the top offensive forward by a significant margin. Demidov has eight more games played than Plotnikov, but considering the ice-time Demidov has gotten in some of those games, he likely played less than his veteran teammate.

Demidov had eight points in seven games heading into SKA's matchup with Kunlun Red Star on February 22nd. He had no points in that game and was a +1, but then had no points and a -3 rating against Spartak Moskva. A decrease in ice-time would've been okay considering the circumstances, but no one could have expected what would happen against Dynamo Moskva on Thursday.

Demidov was the 13th-forward heading into the game, which was disappointing enough, but then Roman Rotenberg decided to sit him on the bench for the entire game and not give him one second of ice time. It was a direct shot at his best offensive forward, and the kicker for the entire ordeal was that the team was shut out 1-0. It feels like a player with 47 points in 58 games could've helped break through and at least send the game to overtime.

People will argue he hadn't been pulling his weight, but even with two scoreless games, you don't bench a prospect with eight points in seven games prior. One can only assume that he recently turned down another contract offer from SKA, but I have another theory.

Demidov may have turned down another offer, but it's ironic that he gets benched in the following game after Demidov is featured in an ad for 2025-26 season tickets. The Canadiens and RDS seem to believe the Russian will be in Montreal next season, and the early recognition of that may not have gone over well in his home country. There could be many different reasons for Demidov not getting a single second of ice-time in Thursday's game, but none of them are justifiable.