SKA, after departure from the Play-OFF Cup, Gagarin left Kuznetsov, Gritsyuk and Demidov

One of the main faces of the KHL SKA, who had failed the next season, seemed to be a rather radical personnel perestroika. After the defeat, the St. Petersburg club in the starting round of Play-OFF from Dynamo left immediately three noticeable forwards-veteran Evgeny Kuznetsov, who returned to Russia from the NHL, young Arseny Gritskyuk and young Ivan Demidov last summer. Demidov has already signed a contract with the League club, in which Kuznetsov played, Montreal Canadiens. Perhaps in it-in New Jersey Devils-Gritsyuk will also turn out to be.

Petersburg SKA announced The fact that the club is leaving forwards Ivan Demidov and Evgeny Kuznetsov. Another striker – Arseniy Gritsyuk – said goodbye to him, publishing a post on Instagram (belongs to Meta, recognized in the Russian Federation and prohibited).

This news followed the Sunday departure of Petersburgers from the Play-off of the KHL championship after a loss in the sixth match of the first round of Dynamo. He ended, apparently, the season that is the most failure for SKA from the moment when the club has turned into one of the main faces of the domestic league, which has a colossal resources by its standards. The team has not converted them for a long time into the Gagarin Cup, which won twice-in 2015 and 2017, but still have not yet held such unsuccessful championships. In the regular championship, he finished in the seventh position in the Western Conference, and in Play-OFF for the first time in a decade, he flew already in the starting stage.

The composition of the composition is one of the characteristic features of SKA. But the case when three leading players immediately leave at the same time, noticeable even by his standards.

They represent different generations. Evgeny Kuznetsov, who will turn 33 in May, was the most loud among the acquisitions of SKA made before the current season. Kuznetsov spent ten years at the Washington Capitals NHL club with Alexander Ovechkin, for some time was considered a full -fledged star of the North American League.

True, in SKA he found himself after a rather turbulent period in his career. Kuznetsov in 2024 went through the NHL players program suffering from various dependencies, and was exchanged by Washington in Carolina Harrickanes. It was also turbulent his only season in SKA. Kuznetsov often missed matches-sometimes due to injuries, sometimes for reasons that did not receive a clear explanation. In the regular championship, his performance was at a good level (37 points in 39 games), but in Play-off he scored only three points. The club terminated a contract with him, which expired only after three seasons.

Arseny Gritsyuk, who was 24, moved to SKA from the Vanguard in 2023, having already managed to win silver Olympiad with the Russian national team. In SKA, he was one of the most stable and productive attackers: 44 points in 49 regular championship matches, 5 in Play-OFF.

Finally, 19-year-old Ivan Demidov is the most striking Vunderkind KHL. This season, with 49 points, he was the best scorer SK in the regular championship, and in Play-off he has as many points as Gritsyuk.

Where Evgeny Kuznetsov will continue his career, it is not known, and the situations with Arseny Gritsyuk and Ivan Demidov look confirming the words spoken after Losing Dynamo Roman Roman Rotenberg. He talked about “agents and owners of the NHL clubs”, who “all year” “on the phone” in an attempt to lure the strongest hockey players of the club. Both attackers will go to where Kuznetsov arrived in SKA. About the fact that Gritsyuk will perform at the New Jersey Devils NHL club, who had been rotten back in 2019, a number of sources said, and Ivan Demidov has already officially concluded a three-year-old contract for the newcomer with Montreal Canadiens.

This club chose it on last year’s draft under the fifth number. Moreover ESPN He has no doubt that he could be higher, if it were not for the fears of some teams about the fact that the demidies, how often young Russian hockey players act, may stay with his departure to North America, preferring to spend several more seasons in the KHL.

Meanwhile, the news of his contract with Montreal, whose leaders came to Russia to observe his game, means that Ivan Demidov (SKA indicated the existence of an agreement in the agreement on the return to the St. Petersburg team, if the striker could not be “to be enveloped” in Montreal) in the coming days can debut in the new league. And his debut will be on the most important segment of the season for the Montreal.

In their calendar until the end of the regular championship there are four more matches. “Montreal” in them should not be allowed a catastrophic breakdown in order to maintain a position in the “Play-OFF” zone of the Eastern Conference. Formally, he closes it, but the safety margin of the club is quite large. And his neighbor in the standings is, by the way, “New Jersey”, which also practically secured the right to participate in the Stanley Cup.

Alexey Prepokhov