The KHL is starting to come easy for Ivan Demidov

It was never a question of whether Ivan Demidov would find his footing in the KHL and start contributing more to SKA St. Petersburg. The only questions were how long it would take him to do it and whether Roman Rotenberg would figure it out soon enough for Demidov to lead the team to a league championship.

The stats were beginning to come already, as Demidov entered Friday's game with four goals, two assists, and an average ice time of over 16 minutes per game over his past four games. Demidov was beginning to look like a star, but his performance against CSKA Moskva on Friday was astonishing.

It took Demidov a little over three minutes to score one of the nicest goals of the year in the KHL and possibly one of the nicest goals in professional hockey this season. It didn't end there for Demidov, as he added another goal, an assist, six shots on goal, and 18:30 of ice time.

I'll save you the trouble before you flock to the KHL standings to see whether Demidov is producing against inferior competition. CSKA Moskva is second in the Tarasov Division. He has three goals and two assists against them in two of his past three games. Moskva is a team that SKA could see on their road to the championship, and Demidov looks prepared for that battle.

The KHL is the second Russian league that Demidov figured out after he had 60 points in 30 games in the MHL last season. There's a good chance that Demidov will be seen as the best player in the league by the end of the year if he continues on this trajectory, which will surprise some people. We aren't trying to get ahead of ourselves, but if that happens, Demidov can easily be the best NHL prospect entering 2025-26 since Connor McDavid.

Everyone watched Demidov early in the year and complained about his usage, and the haters were quick to say he could be a bust. We're here to tell you that it could be time to tune back in and watch the mastery of one of the best young players in the world.