The 2024 NHL Trade Deadline has passed. Now comes the push for the playoffs where half of the league’s teams get a chance at the Stanley Cup and the remaining half look towards the draft. The Calgary Flames are trending to be one of those teams in the latter half. They currently sit with a 31–28–5 record while being 22nd in the entire league.
The Flames post-deadline haven’t been pretty. The first game against the Florida Panthers ended in a 5–1 loss which was then followed by a 7–2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. Being outscored 12–3 isn’t pretty and the overall play was ugly too. They just don’t look good.
Many fans have turned to the draft and the possibility of a high pick. Names such as Berkly Catton, Carter Yakemchuk, Konsta Helenius, Tij Iginla (obviously), and more have been around the Flames in terms of the draft this season. Top-pick names haven’t surrounded the Flames due to their position in the standings this year. But with the influx of Russians being acquired and the Flames dropping, I thought up the silly idea: what if the Flames are gearing up to attempt to draft top Russian prospect, Ivan Demidov?
Where the idea of drafting Demidov stems from
With the world issues and politics that Russia is involved with, NHL teams have once again grown a distaste for drafting Russian players. There’s plenty of concern about whether they will come to North America and if they do, how long a team has to wait. We saw this affect Matvei Michkov at last year’s draft.
Michkov was heavily considered to be the #2 guy behind Connor Bedard. Some would even go as far as to say he could make it a conversation between him and Bedard. Despite that, Michkov went 7th overall to the Philadelphia Flyers. To be fair, Michkov reportedly used this opportunity to go to the Flyers and the Flyers only. That would also be a factor in his drop in the draft.
So I sit down and think, Ivan Demidov could have a similar situation to Matvei Michkov. While not as good, he’s still highly recognized as the second-best prospect behind the consensus Macklin Celebrini. At one point in time, he was also considered to be above Celebrini. With the overall circumstances, Demidov might drop in the draft and try to control where he’s drafted. So I came up with the fun idea that what if the Flames are comfortable with this situation and want to convince him to come to Calgary.
Russians, Russians, and more Russians on the Flames
The Flames sold a lot this season. They traded away four roster and pending unrestricted free agents in Nikita Zadorov, Elias Lindholm, Chris Tanev, and Noah Hanifin. That filled up four out of the five trades they did this season—the fifth being a deadline deal that brought Nikita Okhotiuk to Calgary. What’s interesting is that in the final four trades, a Russian player was acquired in every single one.
The Elias Lindholm trade saw the Flames acquiring Andrei Kuzmenko. Kuzmenko has been pretty solid for the Flames, scoring five goals and eight points in his 13 games.
Then it was followed by the Chris Tanev deal. This time, the Russian coming to Calgary was prospect Artem Grushnikov. Grushnikov is your typical shutdown defenceman prospect so while not much is eye-catching about his game, he’s still quite good. He’s been one of the Calgary Wranglers best defencemen since the trade.
The day before the deadline saw Noah Hanifin be shipped to Vegas. Russian Daniil Miromanov was sent in return to Calgary. The Russian defenceman has played two games with the Flames so far and hasn’t really done much to stick out so far.
The final move was bringing in another Russian defenceman in Nikita Okhotiuk from the San Jose Sharks. It cost the Flames a 2024 fifth-round pick. Okhotiuk hasn’t suited up for the Flames yet but he looks to be a solid get.
Now obviously, it could be a pure coincidence (and the more likely reason) that the Flames just happened to like players that just happened to be Russian. But that’s boring. Maybe the Flames not only liked Russian players but are trying to create a welcoming environment for a potential target in Ivan Demidov. All of the acquired players will be here for at least more than a year with most of them being poised to be in Calgary for more than two. What better way to convince someone to play for you than to bring in tons of guys who are from his home country and will probably be here when he joins.
The Dan Milstein connection
Dan Milstein is an American entrepreneur who specializes in hockey agency. He is the CEO of Gold Star Hockey and represents tons of NHL and non-NHL players. Out of every team in the league, the Flames have the most players in their organization with Milstein as their agent with eight. Those eight players are Andrei Kuzmenko, Yegor Sharangovich, Dan Vladar, Martin Pospisil, Daniil Miromanov, Ilya Solovyov, Ilya Nikolayev, and newly acquired Nikita Okhotiuk. Who else is a Milstein client? Ivan Demidov.
Obviously, the Flames aren’t going out of their way to acquire players who have Dan Milstein as their agent. Heck, they even traded one away this season with Nikita Zadorov. Having to deal with an agent more often is going to build a positive or negative relationship. Judging by the number of players who are Milstein clients, you would have to guess he and the Flames have at least a decent relationship.
Maybe with so many Milstein clients, the Flames’ possible attempt to get Demidov could become easier. If the relationship between the agent and the team is on the healthier side, he’s more likely to be persuaded towards the team.
A fun idea with connections
Realistically, does any of this amount to anything? Probably not. But seeing the Flames acquire so many Russians and Milstein clients, it’s fun to see a possible connection between them and a top prospect. These are things that would draw a player to your city but at the same time, it feels farfetched. Things would have to fall into place the same way they did with Michkov and that could easily not happen. Even if Calgary became a choice of Demidov’s, it wouldn’t likely be his only choice and the Flames would have to have a higher pick to be above.
