BROSSARD, Que. — An eight-year, $73.2 million contract for Ivan Demidov is the biggest win the Montreal Canadiens could’ve achieved on a day that set most teams up to lose big.
Plenty did, dumping barrels of money into arguably the shallowest unrestricted free-agent pool in NHL history.
The Canadiens, however, stayed out of those waters, avoiding the trap of making deals they’d almost certainly regret and electing to swim in their own pool by locking up a huge piece of their core for what’s likely to be a much smaller chunk of change than Demidov’s contemporaries will command over the coming weeks.
Not that Macklin Celebrini, Connor Bedard, Leo Carlsson and Cutter Gauthier don’t have better cases for bigger deals with their respective teams.
But if they sign for what they’re expected to — at least one of them for close to double what Demidov will make annually over the course of his contract if he signs for eight years — it’ll only reinforce how much of a win this was for the Canadiens.
General manager Kent Hughes might as well have been sipping Louis Roederer Cristal 'Gold Medallion' instead of the filtered water that was in front of him as he sat alongside Demidov to discuss it. Even with the salary cap rising significantly year over year, even with comparable players earmarked for bank-breaking deals, Hughes appeared elated to have gotten the same team-friendly commitment from his star that core members Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, Kaiden Guhle, Noah Dobson, Lane Hutson and Mike Matheson made before him.
“I think Ivan knows we have a certain salary structure with our team and, like our other players, he’s a team player,” said Hughes. “He’s someone wants to be part of something instead of being the thing.”
Not that Demidov, who led all NHL rookies with 62 points this past season, sold himself so short.
The 20-year-old got some trade protection baked into the deal at a time when every general manager is proceeding with serious caution about handing it out. He got $58 million in signing bonuses — $23 million of it secured through the first two years. He got enough money over eight years to take care of future generations of his family, money he only could’ve dreamed of ever having as a kid of humble means from Sergiev Posad, Russia.
That it’s not the most important thing to Demidov, though, is a big part of what makes him worth it.
“Money’s a big part of your life because without it you can’t have something,” Demidov said. “But for me, the main thing is hockey. It’s the No. 1 in my life. That’s what I think. Money never going to be over hockey in my life.”
Saying that is one thing.
But Demidov’s actions — and not just the tantalizing ones he makes with the ridiculous talent that saw him drafted fifth overall by the Canadiens in 2024 — speak much louder.
He was on the ice Wednesday morning with Hutson at 7:45 a.m. ET. It was a rare day in which he wasn’t also putting in an afternoon session at the rink to which he owns keys, though he did say he was going straight to the gym following his press conference. And he didn’t have to say what he’d be doing Thursday, and Friday, and every other day in the leadup to his next game in a Canadiens uniform.
Everyone knows Demidov is a machine.
His level of commitment, coupled with his top-percentile talent level, is priceless.
It’s worth much more to the Canadiens than Hughes is paying him, and the GM knows that.
Hughes also knows the enormous value of the financial sacrifices Demidov, Suzuki, Caufield, Slafkovsky, Guhle, Dobson, Hutson and Matheson have made, and he knows it must be capitalized on in short order.
Not that the GM will be reckless in that aim as he continues to build around arguably the best-value core in the NHL.
“I would like to reward what they’ve done for this team by giving them the best chance to win,” Hughes said. “The sooner the better, as long as that’s what we’re doing — giving them a better chance to win. I don’t want to do something that turns out to actually serve as an impediment to that objective because I thought I was helping.”
That was clear Wednesday, as Hughes opted not throw good money at the type of bad filling the free-agent pool. It was clear as he showed restraint on what’s been an extremely fruitful trade market over the past week — refusing to fill holes just for the sake of filling holes on the Canadiens’ roster and refusing to make moves just to keep pace with the arms race in the Eastern Conference.
Hughes once again reiterated on Wednesday what he had said five days prior (after the first round of the NHL Draft); that he couldn’t guarantee when he’d strike but that he absolutely would when the time is right.
“If we make a big deal and we sacrifice a certain portion of our future, it won’t be for a 34- or 35-year-old,” he said. “It’ll be for someone who can complement our guys for a long time.”
Hughes repeated he’s been on the phone nonstop; that he’s been pursuing trades for impact players; that he won’t stop until he gets what he wants. He asked for patience and trust from the fans, and indirectly asked for it from Demidov, even if he was doing so in French while the player, who doesn’t speak the language, was sitting oblivious right next to him.
But if Demidov didn’t already believe, he wouldn’t have jumped at his very first opportunity to sign long-term with the Canadiens.
The money mattered.
But it wasn’t about the money.
“Just take a look on our team,” Demidov said. “We have a good core, and everyone is similar age, and everyone wants to win the Cup, and everyone is hungry, so that’s what makes me more motivated.”
It’s what makes his contract a huge win.
The Canadiens weren’t signing a better one on this day.
MTL