Montreal Canadiens Prospect Ivan Demidov's Overseas Head Coach Makes Concerning Comments

The Montreal Canadiens were lucky last year when they found themselves in position to draft forward Ivan Demidov 5th overall.

In many draft classes, Demidov would have been considered worthy of a 1st overall pick and many scouts had him ranked at 2, just behind Macklin Celebrini.

Yet for whatever reason, he was available at five and Kent Hughes made no mistake in securing him.

One factor that may have scared some teams off is the fact that he plays in the KHL and could potentially stay there for several years before coming to North America, similar to concerns teams had about Matvei Michkov in the 2023 draft.

In fact, many Canadiens fans were upset when a report emerged earlier this month that Demidov had signed a two-year extension with SKA St. Petersburg.

Luckily for them, that report turned out to be false. However, the latest comments from St. Petersburg's head coach Roman Rotenberg are very much real.

Rotenberg noted that he believes it would be in Demidov's best interests to remain with the club for another season after they were eliminated from the playoffs this year.

He said the same thing of Carolina Hurricanes prospect Alexander Nikishin.

That being said, Demidov has already proven everything he can in the KHL as he lead his team in scoring during both the regular season and the playoffs despite getting inconsistent ice time and often playing with sub-optimal linemates.

As such, the Canadiens would almost certainly prefer to see him come to North America as soon as possible as he appears to not just be ready for the NHL, but could be a key contributor right away.

Who knows, maybe he could even join the team for the playoffs this year should they get him signed to an entry-level contract.

Regardless of what happens, we will likely get more updates on this story in the coming days, so be sure to stay tuned to see if Montreal can secure their top prospect.