| Ivan Demidov | SKA 1946 St. Petersburg | MHL | L | C | 5’11” | 181 | Sergiyev Posad, RUS | 2005 | 2023-2024: A |
Game Grade: A
Comments: Demidov is an absolute monster that does just about whatever he wants with the puck every time he steps over the boards. He was sent down to 1946 after playing a couple games in the KHL and VHL. He plays at a much higher level than MHL hockey and proved why he is currently considered a top 3 pick in the upcoming draft. He plays at an incredibly fast pace and uses elite hands and elite edgework to slip through the entire team. With the puck, it looks as if they greased his body up because no matter how much pressure the opposing defense applies, he slips right past them with a quick cut into space. There were multiple times during this game where we watched him weave through all five opponents on the ice before moving the puck or firing a shot on goal. His use of heel to heel skating has impressed Neutral Zone in all of our viewing the last two seasons. He generates so much speed and is able to change the direction he is skating in the blink of an eye, all while protecting the puck with his back towards opponents. He generated chance after chance on the rush, slipping past defenders with a quick move then making a hard cut towards the middle lane and firing a heavy shot. His playmaking was on display as well. He kept his head up while circling the ice and was able to pull off some tricky passes to teammates to set them up for great opportunities. Without the puck he floats around the zone scanning for quality space to jump into. Once he sees a good opportunity based on open ice and his teammates movements, he cuts hard into space and makes himself a great passing target behind the defense. His forecheck game was solid tonight as well. He applied good pressure a majority of the time and was able to come away with at least three great steals where he angled the opponents off and made quick stick lifts to take away possession. Defensively he is not great. Half the time he is in the right spots and has the ability/knowledge to make good defensive plays to shut down opponents but he does not show that very often. Most of the time he floated around the top of the zone looking to cherry pick and cheat for breakaways. AKM forechecked his line hard and for a majority of the second period, SKA was unable to get out of the defensive zone and Demidov got very little offensive zone time. We feel NHL coaches will need him to show them more effort defensively. There is a lot to love about Demidov and we look forward to doing a deeper dive on individual plays and shifts as the season goes on. Even though he wasn’t able to get on the scoresheet tonight, he generated a ton of chances and drove offense for SKA.
| Yegor Graf | SKA 1946 St. Petersburg | MHL | R | LW | 5’10” | 174 | Barnaul, RUS | 2006 | 2023-2024: B |
Game Grade: C+
Comments: Neutral Zone has not been very impressed with our last few viewings of Graf. He has not been controlling play or driving the offense like we have seen from him in the past and he is slowly slipping down our 2024 draft list. He had some trouble handling the puck tonight and made a couple of poor passing choices. He often rushed his decisions and threw pucks into congested lanes, leading to unnecessary turnovers. We feel he needs to get his feet moving more often and use his skating ability to impact offensive situations. We noted multiple times where he was standing still on both sides of the ice and limiting his own ability to positively impact the game. Neutral zone is going to need to see more consistent effort to rank him higher than a “B” 2024 draft grade.
| Matvei Korotky | SKA 1946 St. Petersburg | MHL | R | C | 5’11” | 170 | Krasnoyarsk, RUS | 2005 | 2023-2024: C+ |
Game Grade: B
Comments: We were impressed with Korotky’s game tonight and think he has consistently shown a high level of play so far this season. He plays at a very high pace and is able to drive play up ice. On one rush attempt we noted that he came into the zone with speed then made a hard cut toward the middle lane to take advantage of wide open space being given to him by the defense. He was able to wind up and fire a heavy shot on goal. He makes quick but smart passing decisions under pressure and is able to push play towards the goal with his choices. He showed high energy on the penalty kill and helped shutdown chances for AKM in his own zone. He also showed off a cannon of a slap shot from the point during a power play attempt in the third. It came off his stick like a rocket with power that we have never seen from him before. His fast paced play, good eye for opportunities with the puck, and high energy defensive effort have pushed him up my rankings and could be a good middle round pickup on draft day.
| Artyom Vilchinsky | SKA 1946 St. Petersburg | MHL | L | D | 6’6″ | 227 | Vladivostok, RUS | 2006 | 2024-2025: B |
Game Grade: B-
Comments: Vilchinsky showed an improved level of passing ability early in tonight’s game. Neutral Zone loved how he was able to stay calm under heavy pressure during regroups and complete crisp passes up ice unphased by forecheckers. He battled hard in the defensive zone and was able to win back possession for his team a few times early in the first. We’re not sure exactly what happened but around half way through the second period he wasn’t given any more shifts. We don’t know if he was hurt or benched but we didn’t see any poor play that would have resulted in a benching. He is a very young player and the coaching staff may have just wanted to play his more experienced teammates in this tough matchup. Overall we still liked what we saw from Artyom. This giant is going to become a monster in the seasons leading up to his draft.
Photo Courtesy of St. Petersburg SKA-1946 Photos