Inside Wheeler’s Shocking Summer 2025 NHL Prospect Rankings: Who’s the True Future Star?
Demidov’s a true play creator, and you want the puck in his hands so that he can slip around the ice to make things happen for himself or his linemates. His ability to get off the wall to the middle with the puck on his stick into traffic, his manipulation one-on-one, his knack for dodging sticks and checks, his heel-to-heel maneuvering, his cross-body handles and his passing through layers to the weak side of coverage are all extremely high-end and look singular to him and his very wide stance/unique posture. And while his skating in straight lines doesn’t have a standard look to it and was a topic of conversation pre-draft, he’s still a fast skater and very shifty side to side. He has elite handling (though he can get himself into trouble trying to beat two or three guys in a crowd, he also often beats multiple guys in a sequence and has a major highlight reel quality) and has made more one-on-one skill plays over the last two seasons in the MHL and now KHL than almost any prospect I’ve scouted at the same ages. He’s also a pretty engaged off-puck player who keeps his feet moving, hunts pucks on the forecheck and can turn a steal into a game-breaking play in an instant. Demidov is one of the most dynamic and skilled prospects to come out of Russia in recent memory (his game also has more of a pro style, competitiveness and roundedness to it than Michkov’s had at the same age).
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