Montreal Canadiens prospect Alexander Romanov will officially join the team for Phases Three and Four. In May they agreed to terms on a three-year entry-level deal with Romanov, now with the new CBA ratified, the signing is set to come soon.
Alexander Romanov will join the @CanadiensMTL for phase 3 and 4, sources say. He won’t play (league rules) but he can practice with the team when he will get the green light to do so. You have to expect he’ll signed his deal and burn the first season.
— Renaud Lavoie (@renlavoietva) July 13, 2020
UPDATE: Per his agent, Dan Milstein, Romanov has officially signed with the Canadiens.
Alexander Romanov officially signs with Montreal Canadiens. #WeAreGoldStar! pic.twitter.com/gx3V3ou0HE
— Dan Milstein-Hockey (@HockeyAgent1) July 13, 2020
Canadiens sign Alexander Romanov
Montreal drafted Alexander Romanov 38th overall in the 2018 draft. Romanov is a brilliantly skating defenceman who can move the puck well, has good offensive skills and is excellent defensively. He has played the last two seasons with CSKA Moscow in the KHL. Romanov scored 11 points 86 games during his two combined two seasons in the KHL. However, he shined playing against his peers. Romanov scored 14 points in 14 combined games at the 2019 and 2020 World Junior Championships. He was named the tournament’s best defenceman in 2019.
There is a snag with Romanov’s signing, it is he can’t play this year. Instead, he’ll simply be limited to joining the team in Montreal for practices and training camp. However, since Romanov’s contract starts for the 2019-20 season, he burns the first year of his entry-level contract even without playing a game. He is not alone. Fellow Russians Kirill Kaprizov and Ilya Sorokin would find themselves in the same situation if they sign for this season. Other irregular contract details include that they can’t receive a signing bonus for 2019-20, and their 2020-21 signing bonus will be withheld until Nov. 1.
Romanov, Kaprizov, Sorokin, etc:
53-hour window to sign them, burn a year. Begins at noon ET the third day after the agreement is signed, ends 5pm ET the fifth day.
1) No signing bonus in first year
2) No 2020-21 signing bonus until Nov. 1
3) As we know, they cannot play— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) July 7, 2020
What This Means for the Future
Romanov being unable to play this season means he will have to wait until the start of the 2020-21 season to play for Montreal. In the immediate future that is tough for the Canadiens who could use a steady left-shot defender to beef up their left-side as it is much weaker than their right-side. However, it is great news for the following season. Romanov’s speed and smarts should allow him to transition quickly to the NHL. He also has two years of experience playing against men in the KHL, the top European professional league, so he should have no problem playing against men at the NHL level. His excellent defensive game should allow the coaching staff to trust him quickly.
Still, this does grant Romanov the ability to practice with an NHL club. He will have to quarantine for two weeks upon his arrival in Canada but after that he will get all of the training that Habs players already do, surely helping along with his development.
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