Ivan Demidov selected 5th overall by the Canadiens

Finally! It’s D-Day in the NHL and all 32 teams are now gathered in the Vegas sphere…

The superb sphere in Vegas. Very impressive.

For the Canadiens, the future is already in good hands, but let’s just say that the long-awaited fifth pick will be an integral part of that future. And that pick is Ivan Demidov.

IVAN DEMIDOV HAS BEEN DRAFTED BY THE HABS AND CELINE DION JUST MADE THE PICK pic.twitter.com/lIeLgwup2e

– B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) June 28, 2024

So Montreal has succeeded in drafting a forward, the priority from the start. Céline Dion made the announcement. Remember, she’s much loved in Vegas. In any case, she did better than Carey Price last year…

Finally, the Habs draft the guy the fans wanted.

Yesterday, I wrote about how the Russian has talent equal to, perhaps even greater than, Macklin Celebrini. Well, the Russian is now a member of the Habs. Are you happy?

Here’s what the team’s top-6 might look like in the very near future :

Ivan Demidov-Nick Suzuki-Cole Caufield

Juraj Slafkovsky-Kirby Dach-Joshua Roy

Very promising.

Here are the four players selected before Demidov:

Sharks: Macklin Celebrini, forward. Some teams have reportedly tried to move up to the top spot to draft the youngster, confirmed GM Mike Grier.

Blackhawks: Artyom Levshunov, defenseman.

Ducks : Beckett Sennecke, forward.

Blue Jackets: Cayden Lindstrom, forward.

In Overtime

– Slaf’s father is present.

Juraj father of Juraj is at the NHL Draft https://t.co/WsLouyBQWw

– /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) June 28, 2024

– More news on the goaltender who will be attracting attention soon.

The Nashville Predators have received numerous calls on goalie Yaroslav Askarov in the last 24 hours in the wake of the Juuse Saros extension news. The Preds are willing to move him but have set a high price they feel is warranted. Nashville would like to move into the top 5 of…

– Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) June 28, 2024

– Coming up.

On Insider Trading, Darren Dreger said the Minnesota Wild and Montreal Canadiens are amongst the teams interested in acquiring Rutger McGroarty. #MNWild #GoHabsGo #GoJetsGo

– Spinorama Hockey (@spinohockey) June 28, 2024