The Montreal Canadiens may have landed their best offseason move before the offseason even had a chance to get going.
By getting Ivan Demidov locked in early on an eight-year extension worth a $9.15 million AAV, Montreal put itself in a spot that looks better by the day. Leo Carlsson’s blockbuster offer sheet with Philadelphia, later matched by the Anaheim Ducks, only sharpened the picture. What once looked like a strong deal for the Canadiens now looks like a steal.
The ripple effect is hard to miss. Anaheim is now on the hook for $18 million per season for a player it could have kept at a much lower number, and around the league, teams are staring at their own RFA situations with fresh urgency.
Daniel Briere, in the source’s telling, just stuck it to everyone. Montreal, by contrast, had already handled its business with Demidov just days earlier.
That timing may end up saving the Canadiens as much as $50 million over the life of the contract. It also fits the way they’ve built this young roster.
Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, Noah Dobson, and Lane Hutson are all on team-friendly deals, and Demidov’s extension is the latest example. It may also be the most important one.
The case for an even bigger Demidov payday was already there. In his rookie season, he led all first-year players in scoring, finished second in Calder Trophy voting, and put up strong underlying defensive numbers.
Under different market conditions, he could have landed at $14 million per season. That would have been conservative, too, given that he wanted to stay in Montreal and would have likely accepted a slight discount.
But the Carlsson deal changed the market. With rookie and sophomore contracts rising fast across the league, Montreal hit the timing just right. The Canadiens now have a core that is not only talented, but cheap enough to give them flexibility while other teams are forced into tougher decisions.
That’s the real edge here. Montreal can sit back, watch the cap pressure build elsewhere, and be ready to grab useful players when they hit the market.
Demidov’s extension matters because of Demidov, sure. But it matters just as much for what the Canadiens can do with the money they didn’t have to spend.
In Other News...
Canadiens Face A Tough Call On Two Veteran Forwards
Phillip Danault and Josh Anderson are both heading into the final year of their contracts, which puts the Canadiens in a familiar spot: weighing present value against the long view. Danault has been one of Montreals most useful all-around forwards since arriving, carving out a role as a penalty-kill and faceoff presence, while Anderson has given the club speed, size and a steady dose of physical edge since coming over from Columbus.
The tricky part is timing. Montreals center depth is getting more attention, and any decision on Danault could hinge on whether younger options are close enough to push for bigger minutes. Andersons case is different, but no less complicated, since his role has been tied closely to the penalty kill and his offensive ceiling in Montreal has remained a moving target as the team keeps trying to balance veteran reliability with the next wave of talent. [Read more 🡒]
Canadiens Fans Are Starting To Wonder About Kent Hughes Again
With the offseason still unfolding, the Canadiens are again being viewed as a team that could wait out the market before making its next move. Jim Biringer, speaking on TSN Radio, said Montreal has shown patience in past summers and expects management to be calculated rather than aggressive for the sake of activity, with any deal tied to the needs of the roster and the conditions around it. He also pointed out that the broader NHL landscape can shape what becomes available, especially when other clubs are squeezed by the cap.
For Montreal, that means the next step may not come quickly, even if fans are already scanning for signs of action from Kent Hughes. Biringer suggested the Canadiens are likely to do something later in the offseason, but the timing could be the sort that catches people off guard. If the right player becomes available from a cap-strapped team, the fit could make sense, but for now the picture remains open and the waiting game continues. [Read more 🡒]
Canadiens Just Landed In A Scoring Debate Fans Know Well
The Canadiens keep showing up in the kind of trade chatter that usually follows a team with cap room and a growing need to turn promise into production. According to David Pagnotta, Anaheim is looking to move a veteran forward and is even willing to attach a second-round pick to the deal, which is the sort of extra incentive that can make a player with a pricey contract suddenly feel a lot more realistic for a club like Montreal.
For the Canadiens, the appeal is obvious enough. The player in question has a track record of putting the puck in the net, even if the recent numbers have been more modest than his peak years, and his deal runs only through next summer. Montreal has been mentioned as a possible fit because it can absorb money and because its recent progress makes this the kind of swing a front office at least has to consider, even if the final price tag is still the part everyone is waiting to see. [Read more 🡒]