Canadiens’ Brendan Gallagher sends clear message to Ivan Demidov ahead of Maple Leafs matchup

Ivan Demidov will make his NHL debut when the Montreal Canadiens face the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday night. The 19-year-old forward signed a three-year entry-level deal with the Canadiens on Tuesday. He was drafted fifth overall by them in the 2024 NHL draft.

Demidov has had a strong season in the KHL with St. Petersburg SKA. He scored 19 goals and had 30 assists in 65 games. His 49 points set a KHL record for a U20 player, passing Kirill Kaprizov’s old record of 42 points.

Despite the attention, Canadiens alternate captain Brendan Gallagher wants to keep things simple for Demidov. Gallagher spoke to the media on Friday, ahead of Montreal's game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night.

“He doesn’t need to come in here and play hero, he just has to be himself,” Gallagher said.

The Canadiens have a record of 39-30-9 heading into the game, while the Maple Leafs are 48-26-4.

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Elliotte Friedman says Ivan Demidov’s move is a win for Montreal and hockey

NHL insider Elliotte Friedman spoke about Ivan Demidov’s quick move to the NHL on the "32 Thoughts" podcast. He said that just a day before the news, most people thought Demidov would stay in Russia. Then, things changed fast. SKA St. Petersburg released him before his KHL contract ends in May.

SKA chairman Alexander Medvedev said the salary cap might have been a reason for letting Demidov go.

"He (Medvedev) talked about the salary cap was going to prevent them from keeping Demidov next year. I'm not sure I'm buying that at all," Friedman said.

Friedman believes SKA knew Demidov wanted to leave and chose not to block him. Instead of creating delays, they allowed the move to happen quickly.

"When you realize you don't have the leverage, the question becomes, how difficult do you want it to be," Friedman said. "It just sounds like here at the end of the day, they just decided that they weren't going to stop demagogues from going over now."

Following this, Montreal signed Ivan Demidov to a three-year entry-level deal.

Friedman said this was a good move for both Montreal and the league.

“It's Montreal's win. It's hockey's win because I think we all want to see this player,” he added.

With Demidov now on the Canadiens’ roster, a playoff matchup with the Washington Capitals is possible. If that happens, fans will get to see two Russian stars, Demidov and Alex Ovechkin, on the same ice.