The Montreal Canadiens' latest first pick Ivan Demidov is delivering result in Russia and doing it playing alongside a couple of former NHLers.
The Montreal Canadiens' most exciting offensive prospect, Ivan Demidov, was in action with his SKA St. Petersburg team yesterday, taking on the Novosibirsk region Sibir. Roman Rotenberg's team signed a 6-3 win and the youngster registered an assist on Evgeny Kuznetsov's goal.
It was a very well executed pass at that, the right winger had everyone looking his way before threading the needle to his teammate on the opposite side of the ice.
Demidov now has 17 points in 21 games with the SKA, and he has had his best games playing alongside former Washington Capitals forward and famous birdman celebration artist Kuznetsov. The budding chemistry has got Canadiens fans wondering if number 92 could be interested in joining the youngster, who will, in all likelihood, be heading to Montreal next season after reportedly turning down a few contract extension offers from SKA.
At this stage, it appears extremely unlikely, as Kuznetsov's NHL stats had declined badly by the time he decided to head back to Russia. At the start of the season, he signed a four-year contract with SKA.
However, Tony DeAngelo, the 29-year-old right-shot defenseman, may be eying a return to the NHL on the St. Pertersbug outfit. He's gathered 19 points in 13 outings so far and has been singing Demidov's praises on social media.
DeAngelo put pen to paper with SKA for a single season, but it would be surprising to see the Canadiens try to sign him as a free agent next off-season. His departure to Russia had little to do with his results on the ice; it was reportedly caused by his behavior on and off it, including very political social media posts. The Arizona Coyotes, the New York Rangers, the Philadelphia Flyers, and the Carolina Hurricanes (twice) all moved on from the offensively gifted blueliner.
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