MONTREAL — Top prospect Ivan Demidov is coming to Montreal sooner than anticipated.
Demidov, the Canadiens' fifth-overall pick in last year's NHL draft, signed a three-year entry-level deal Tuesday to join Montreal this season.
The move came an hour after Kontinental Hockey League club SKA Saint Petersburg made the surprising announcement that it was mutually terminating Demidov’s contract.
"SKA and Ivan Demidov have taken a joint decision which will see the forward join the Montreal Canadiens this season," SKA said in a statement. "His KHL rights will remain with SKA. He will return to Saint Petersburg if he doesn’t gain a foothold in the NHL."
The highly talented Russian forward had been expected to sign with the Canadiens before next season. He was under contract until May 31 with Saint Petersburg, which was eliminated from the KHL playoffs on Sunday.
Demidov led SKA in scoring with 49 points (19 goals, 30 assists) in 65 games, setting a new KHL record for under-20 players despite having inconsistent ice time. The 19-year-old also had three goals and two assists in six playoff contests.
"Everybody's pretty fired up," Canadiens winger Cole Caufield said. "Can't wait for him to get here."
Montreal fans feverishly followed Demidov — and tracked his playing time — from afar this season as the six-foot-one, 192-pound winger with world-class hands piled up highlight-reel plays in Russia.
"You can't miss them if you live here," Caufield said of the highlights.
Now they’ll see his skills on display first-hand with the Canadiens approaching a playoff spot for the first time since 2021.
Montreal (39-30-9), with four games remaining, had an eight-point cushion over four teams for the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot after Tuesday’s 4-1 win against the Detroit Red Wings.
"A confidence booster for our group," Josh Anderson said. "We've heard a lot of amazing things about him, so we're excited for him to join us."
The Canadiens did not say when Demidov would arrive in Montreal, but general manager Kent Hughes said in an interview with TSN that the prospect would ideally play one or two games before the regular season is over.
Head coach Martin St. Louis said "it's reasonable" to say Demidov could enter the lineup the moment he joins the team.
"But I don't know when he's walking in," St. Louis said. "We know he's coming, it's very reasonable to think he's going to be putting a Canadiens jersey on.
"(But I'm) not worried about it. I'm trying to clinch a playoff spot."
Hughes, alongside scout Nick Bobrov and special adviser Vincent Lecavalier, drew criticism for visiting Demidov last December in Russia amid the country’s ongoing war in Ukraine.
"The objective, first of all, was to see him play in person," Hughes said during a midseason press conference on Jan. 8. "It's definitely a unique case when you draft a player fifth overall and there's only one person in the organization who'd seen him in person."
"So I wanted to see him play," he added. "I wanted to see where he was at with his game, talk to him again face-to-face."
At the time, Hughes downplayed the possibility that Demidov would join the Canadiens this season and said he hoped the Russian would play a big role in Montreal’s lineup during the 2025-26 campaign.
Demidov adds to a talented young Canadiens core that includes captain Nick Suzuki, winger Cole Caufield and rookie defenceman Lane Hutson.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 8, 2025.
Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press
