NHL SCOUTS ARE WILD ABOUT DEMIN’S GAME
17-year-old defenceman a player to watch this season
Slava Demin is an NHL draft prospect now. He was a potential arena maintenance man at one time, it seems.
“I was two or three years old and my dad stopped off one day with me at a hockey rink and I fell in love with the Zamboni right away,” recalled the 17-year-old defenceman for the BCHL’s Wenatchee Wild. “Then I fell in love with the hockey. It was Zamboni first and then the hockey.”
Pro hockey people are growing smitten with Demin’s potential right now. For instance, the 6-foot1, 190-pound left-handed shooting rearguard from Cypress, Calif., was listed as a ‘B’ level prospect for the next June’s draft by NHL Central Scouting in their preliminary list of players to watch. That’s their way of suggesting he’s a potential second- or third-round selection.
Penticton Vees defenceman Jonny Tychonick was given the same status.
Demin also took part in the USA Hockey All-American Prospects Game Sept. 21 in Buffalo, N.Y., recording an assist to help a team coached by Brian Leetch record a 6-5 win over a squad guided by Chris Chelios.
The lone player drafted directly out of the BCHL in June was Trail Smoke Eaters left-winger Kale Howarth, who went in the fifth round to the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Junior A league had three first-rounders in 2016 thanks to Vees centre Tyson Jost (10th overall, Colorado Avalanche), Vees defenceman Dante Fabbro (17th, Nashville Predators) and Chilliwack Chiefs defenceman Dennis Cholowski (20th, Detroit Red Wings).
“I’ve talked to a couple of teams already. It’s setting in,” said Demin, who wouldn’t offer up which NHL clubs he’s had contact with.
“I do try to keep it out of my mind as much as possible. You don’t want your focus to sway away from what you have to do in a game. You want to be offensive. You want to put up points. There are other things, too, though. When your game starts shifting to what you want to do away from what you have to do, then you’re in trouble.”
Ask him about which NHL players he studies and tries to borrow from and you get a list. Like so many defencemen of this vintage, Demin’s a fan of Ottawa Senators blue-liner Erik Karlsson. He also maintains that he likes to watch Nashville Predators rearguards Mattias Ekholm and Roman Josi, as well as Ryan Suter of the Minnesota Wild. He’s a guy who gleans, it would appear.
“Every game I watch, I try to look at what every defenceman is doing,” said Demin, whose parents came to the U.S. from Russia in 1999, a year before he was born. “I try to focus on every detail. I try to focus on the little things that are benefiting their teams and the small mistakes that are costing them goals.
“Everything is so fast now. A simple mistake often turns into a goal against. The more you know, the better off you are.”
Demin has committed to the University of Denver Pioneers. They’re currently the No. 1- ranked team in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine national poll and coach Jim Montgomery’s 25-man roster includes seven BCHL grads. Demin is slated to join Denver next fall.
Demin has one goal and six points in 11 games this season with the Wild, the Washington state team in its third year in the BCHL. Demin put up five goals and 27 points in 53 regular season games with Wenatchee in 2016-17. He was one of the younger players in the BCHL last season.