He seems to be the complete package, and draft rankings suggest he was a steal at No. 5.
If you’re going to draft a superstar, bring on the star power when you introduce the young man to the world.
On a starry night in Las Vegas, it all came together for the Canadiens. Céline Dion is a pro. She milked it, took her time, got the audience eating out of her hand — and hit it with perfect timing:
“With the fifth overall selection in the 2024 NHL draft … the Montreal Canadiens… are proud … to select … Ivan Demidov.”
The Blackhawks, with Connor Bedard in the fold, went for defence with Artyom Levshunov. The Anaheim Ducks went outside the box for a shocked Beckett Sennecke. The Columbus Blue Jackets went for size and a mean streak with Cayden Lindstrom.
And boom! Mr. Demidov himself, smart, talented and charismatic, a player who could have been the top pick in any number of entry drafts. Hughes clearly anticipated that Demidov would fall to the Habs, because you don’t trot out Céline Dion to announce that you’re picking Carter Yakemchuk, however useful he turns out to be.
At worst, Demidov going to add some fizz to a team still needing a little high-end charisma. At best he’s going to be a player like Nikita Kucherov, minus the obnoxious.
You’ve probably seen Demidov’s highlight reels. Highlight reels don’t make a player — Louis Leblanc looked good in the highlight reels. They’re usually compiled against inferior opposition and they’re selective, leaving out the bits where a player falls on his nose.
But every time I watch Demidov, I have the same reaction: “Damn!” He has an odd style, working the edges, legs out wide. In a still photo, he can look awkward. In motion, he’s grace, speed and enormously effective at leaving opponents clutching air. Not Connor McDavid speed but the turn-on-a-dime-and-give-you-a-nickel-change kind of speed that is so effective in the tight confines of an NHL rink.
From what Hughes said after the draft, Demidov was the player the Canadiens had targeted since long before they knew what their draft position would be. True to form, management did not form an opinion based solely on the way the player looks on the ice.
“His character is exceptional,” Hughes said. “He had one of the best draft interviews I’ve ever seen with a player.”
Demidov himself says his sports idol was the late NBA star Kobe Bryant. “I try to take his Mamba Mentality. It’s the first word I learned … killer instinct.”
Well, maybe there’s a single word in Russian for “killer instinct.” Whatever, Demidov would appear to be the complete package. There were a few outliers but almost everyone who ranks draft prospects had Demidov at No. 2, behind Macklin Celebrini — and of the two, Demidov might be the greater offensive force.
That doesn’t mean Demidov is a lock. No one is. But if there was a missing ingredient as this club prepares to contend, Demidov is it. It won’t happen overnight, but the CH is on the way back. At last.
Right now, the best possible CFL game would be the Montreal offence against the Montreal defence. They’re that tough, on both sides of the ball. Four games in and they’ve already stomped the best two regular-season teams from 2023 — the Argos and the Blue Bombers, both on the road.
Obviously, you don’t win the Grey Cup in June, any more than you win the Stanley Cup in October anywhere except in Toronto, but this team feels like the real deal. They won ugly in Toronto but the issue never appeared in doubt and the final 30-20 score was only thanks to a late Argos touchdown in garbage time.
The Alouettes are solid at every position. All the parts work together. Noel Thorpe’s defence is so ferocious it seems like the offence is on the field. Anthony Calvillo appears to have grown into the offensive coordinator’s job. Jason Maas has done a masterful job pulling it all together and Danny Maciocia has acquired the talent Maas needs.
Now and forever.