Samsonov: Demidov's Ice Time Caps His Output

Sergei Samsonov, the former NHL forward, has cast doubt on how far Ivan Demidov's output can climb at the Montreal Canadiens this season, pointing to his ice time rather than his talent as the limiting factor.

"A lot will depend on how much time Ivan spends on the ice. I am sure he will keep progressing and playing good hockey, but his production will depend on how many minutes he gets. Perhaps Montreal's approach of bringing the player along gradually for adaptation is a good one. But Ivan has been playing top-nine minutes, not top-six (15:29 on average last season). Even so, given how much ice time he got and how many points he put up, you could say he had a superb season. Demidov showed he is a very strong individual player, and he has always stood out for that. But the reality is that at Montreal he does not get first-line minutes. Say, last season he played fairly well on the power play, but if you look at his five-on-five minutes, he was getting just under 12 minutes a game. That is simply not enough to put up numbers on the level of Kirill Kaprizov, who averages 18 minutes," Samsonov said.

Demidov, 20, is entering his second full NHL season. Last season he logged 15:29 in average ice time overall, with five-on-five minutes running just under 12 per game, well short of the 18 minutes Samsonov cites for Kaprizov, the Minnesota Wild forward often used as the benchmark for elite Russian scoring output in the league.

Samsonov's point turns on usage rather than form: he credits Demidov with a strong rookie campaign and continued progress, but argues that top-six-calibre numbers require top-six-calibre minutes, which Montreal has so far withheld.