Top prospect may come to North America sooner than expected

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Cooper Godin
July 22, 2024 (5:49 PM)

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The top prospect of a Canadian team may come to North America sooner than expected, but some hurdles still remain.

Last month at the NHL Entry Draft in Las Vegas, the Montreal Canadiens took to the stage with the opportunity to add some star power to their roster with Russian forward Ivan Demidov. Legendary Canadian singer Celine Dion made the pick for Montreal, which was followed by a loud eruption of cheers.

Demidov is under contract for one more season in the KHL with SKA St. Petersburg and the expectation is that he'll be on their roster, which is set to be revealed to the public at the end of August. Canadiens General Manager Kent Hughes told reporters last month that if Demidov is in the KHL, that'll be great for him for the season, but if not, the team will have to explore their options, which in a hockey-crazed market like Montreal, made fans question if we could see him in North America sooner rather than later.

"This season coming up, he's under contract at St. Petersburg," Hughes said. "If he's playing in the KHL, that's a great environment for him for a year. If he's not in the KHL, we will have to see what our options are."

In a recent mailbag article on the Montreal Gazette's website, Stu Cowan was asked if we could see Ivan Demidov with the Canadiens this season and his answer was pretty interesting. Cowan said that if SKA St. Petersburg doesn't keep Ivan Demidov on their KHL roster, he expects the Canadiens to enter into negotiations for a transfer fee, allowing their top prospect to come over to North America this season.

"If St. Petersburg doesn't keep Demidov with the KHL team, expect the Canadiens to enter negotiations to establish a transfer fee for him like the Philadelphia Flyers did this summer with Matvei Michkov, the No. 7 pick at last year's draft. Michkov will now play for the Flyers next season. If the Canadiens were to succeed in negotiating a transfer fee with St. Petersburg, I'd expect Demidov to also play in the NHL next season." Cowan said.

It'll be interesting to see how this situation unfolds, with SKA St. Petersburg's training camp set to get underway on August 1st. Expectation is that Ivan Demidov will be there, but if he's unable to make his way onto their final roster before their first regular season game on September 5th against Metallurg Magnitogorsk, then things could get interesting and that's when the Canadiens could step in and work out a fee to bring him over to Montreal in time for the 2024-25 campaign.

Source: Stu Cowan/Montreal Gazette
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