Montreal Canadiens demote star rookie Ivan Demidov: Fans are concerned

Alex Newhook and Kirby Dach, both members of the Canadiens' two power player units, have now been injured long term. Add this to Kaiden Guhle, who takes shifts on PP2, and power play regular Patrik Laine, their man advantage situation is less than ideal.

Ivan Demidov acted as a spark plug to the Canadiens' power play when he was added to the first unit only two weeks ago. Unfortunately, he has now been taken off the first unit, with Martin St. Louis seemingly punishing him for the teams' seventeen straight power play opportunities without a goal.

This has unsurprisingly sparked fan reaction, with Canadiens fans going to vouch for their young offensive star.

Zachary Bolduc, who the Canadiens acquired this summer in exchange for defenseman Logan Mailloux, will replace Demidov on the first unit. Demidov will be on the second unit, with fellow rookie Oliver Kapanen, grizzled veteran Brendan Gallagher, Nick Suzuki, and Noah Dobson.

Here are some of the many fan comments to this decision:

Once beloved by the fan base, Martin St. Louis is starting to lose some of the love. If this team can't turn things around quickly, could he be out of a job?

We'll have to wait and see if these power play changes are the spark Montreal needs, or just a bandaid to a series of injuries nobody could've expected.