Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes has done it again. In a shocking development, top prospect Ivan Demidov is on his way to Montreal. Demidov’s team in the KHL announced that they had terminated his contract on Tuesday. This leaves Demidov available to sign an ELC with the Canadiens.<\/p>\n
\nThank you, Ivan \ud83d\udc4f<\/p>\n
SKA and Ivan Demidov have taken a joint decision which will see the forward join the Montreal Canadiens this season. His KHL rights will remain with SKA. He will return to Saint Petersburg if he doesn\u2019t gain a foothold in the NHL. pic.twitter.com\/CsyMPKvE7k<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 SKA Ice Hockey Club (@hcSKA_News) April 8, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Ivan Demidov was drafted fifth overall by the Canadiens in this past draft.<\/a> He has had a historic rookie season in the KHL as a 19-year-old. His 49 points in 66 games rank him as one of the top U20 players in the league’s history. What’s more impressive is the fact that he was able to accomplish this with limited ice time. Head coach Roman Rottenburg often limited Demidov’s icetime\u00a0 and scratched him or used him as an extra forward. He also received next to no power-play time on SKA. When he was used in a top-six role, Demidov flourished in the KHL against men.<\/p>\n
What it Means for Montreal<\/h3>\n
\nThe Canadiens have agreed to terms on a three-year, entry-level contract (2024-25 to 2026-27) with forward Ivan Demidov.<\/p>\n
News release \u2193 #GoHabsGo<\/a>https:\/\/t.co\/2dy5C9n7Vk<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 Canadiens Montr\u00e9al (@CanadiensMTL) April 8, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
All signs point to Ivan Demidov signing an entry-level contract and immediately joining the Canadiens down the stretch. The Canadiens face the Red Wings tonight, and following that game their next contest isn’t until Friday. This means that we could realistically see Demidov in a Habs jersey as soon as this weekend<\/p>\n
As for where he will play, expect him to be immediately thrust into the Canadiens top-six. The team has been trying to find someone to play with Alex Newhook<\/a> and Patrik Laine<\/a> since Kirby Dach<\/a> went down with a season-ending injury,<\/a> and Demidov could be the perfect fit. He should also receive power-play time. He likely starts on the Canadiens second unit much like Lane Hutson<\/a> did, however. This signing likely means that we will see one or both of Joshua Roy<\/a> and Oliver Kapanen heading to Laval.<\/a> However, the Canadiens may opt to keep Kapanen in the lineup over Michael Pezzetta<\/a>. Once Emil Heineman<\/a> returns to the lineup, it will be interesting to see how things shake out. No matter what happens, Habs fans should be ecstatic that Ivan Demidov is finally a Montreal Canadien.<\/p>\n
Main Photo: Stephen R. Sylvanie- Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n
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Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes has done it again. In a shocking development, top prospect Ivan Demidov is on his way to Montreal. Demidov’s team in the KHL announced that they had terminated his contract on Tuesday. This leaves Demidov available to sign an ELC with the Canadiens. Montreal Canadiens Ivan Demidov Thank you, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4275,"featured_media":466285,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4547,7,4548],"tags":[3507,7974,4404,7113,3505,7307,7735,6837,436],"class_list":["post-466279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hockey","category-canadiens","category-nhl","tag-alex-newhook","tag-ivan-demidov","tag-joshua-roy","tag-kent-hughes","tag-kirby-dach","tag-lane-hutson","tag-michael-pezzetta","tag-oliver-kapanen","tag-patrik-laine"],"modified_by":"Andrew Willis","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4275"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=466279"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466279\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":466295,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466279\/revisions\/466295"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/466285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}