Ivan Demidov was released from the final six weeks of his contract with SKA Saint Petersburg, which will allow him to join the Montreal Canadiens for the end of the NHL season, the KHL club announced Tuesday.
Demidov, the No. 5 pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, had 19 goals and 49 points in 65 games with SKA this season, setting a new KHL record for a U20 player in one season, easily beating out Kirill Kaprizov (42 points in 2016-17), Matvei Michkov (41 points in 2023-24) and Evgeni Kuznetsov (41 points in 2011-12).
Demidov added five points in six playoff games for SKA, who were eliminated from the KHL playoffs Sunday.
The Canadiens have not yet confirmed the news.
Thank you, Ivan 👏
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’t gain a foothold in the NHL. pic.twitter.com/CsyMPKvE7k
— SKA Ice Hockey Club (@hcSKA_News) April 8, 2025
After the Canadiens face the Detroit Red Wings at home on Tuesday, they will have four games left in the NHL regular season. They enter the game against the Red Wings holding the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with a six-point lead on both the Red Wings and the New York Rangers.
If the Canadiens can create some more separation in the playoff race, it will be less complicated to integrate Demidov into the lineup before the end of the regular season to see if he would be a viable option in the playoffs. A natural slot would be for him to play with Alex Newhook and Patrik Laine on the second line, a slot that has been filled in recent games by rookies Emil Heineman and Oliver Kapanen.
It would be a delicate dance for coach Martin St. Louis, who has been entirely focused on the present as the Canadiens chase a playoff spot after a four-year absence, but he would need to consider the future and the value of getting Demidov games this early in his career. Of course, there is also the possibility that Demidov would help both the Canadiens’ present and future all at once.
Not long after the Canadiens drafted Demidov in Las Vegas, defenceman Lane Hutson — who was in attendance to witness his brother Cole getting drafted by the Washington Capitals — was beaming at the idea of one day playing with Demidov.
“I would get sent some clips of him and people were saying you should get this guy, the Canadiens should get this guy. Just my friends, like, have you seen this kid?” Hutson said. “And I’m like, who? But obviously, I figured out really quickly he’s a really good player. I’m really happy we got him.
“He’s a really good skater, silky smooth hands, underrated playmaker, great shot. He’s kind of the whole package and then some. It’s exciting for our forwards, but especially for a D like me who likes to get it up to those guys.”
Fast forward just over nine months, and Hutson is a leading candidate to win the Calder Trophy as the rookie of the year, a big reason why the Canadiens find themselves on the cusp of a playoff spot. And it looks as though Hutson might get that chance to play with Demidov sooner than anyone could have expected.
(Photo: Maksim Konstantinov / Getty Images)
