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Best forwards in the last three drafts: Ivan Demidov ignored by Corey Pronman
Félix Forget
Best forwards in the last three drafts: Ivan Demidov ignored by Corey Pronman
Credit: Getty Images
Last year, Ivan Demidov was the Canadiens’ 5th overall draft pick. To say that fans were happy at the time is an understatement: it was crazy in town.

It had been a long time since such a talented and promising forward had come to town, after all.

And what made it even more spectacular was that the young Russian was not expected to still be available in the Habs line-up. Macklin Celebrini was seen as the best prospect of the crop, but Demidov wasn’t far behind.

As a result, in Montreal today, the Habs seem to have managed to steal one of the best prospects of recent years. Corey Pronman, however, doesn’t necessarily agree.

In a piece for The Athletic, Pronman was asked to rank the top forward prospects in the last three drafts, and he put together his top-5 to answer all that.

And no, Ivan Demidov isn’t one of them.

What we notice is that Celebrini comes first. Behind him, the 2023 crop shines: Connor Bedard, Leo Carlsson, Adam Fantilli and Will Smith Matvei Michkov complete the top-5.

Note that Pronman compares them as prospects at the time of their selection. Demidov’s big post-draft season is therefore not considered in all this.

We do know, however, that last year Pronman had reservations about Demidov, whom he saw as “a top lineup player who may be an All-Star”, but nothing more. That was behind guys like Berkly Catton and Beckett Sennecke.

And let’s not forget that he recently ranked Demidov as the 3rd best prospect in a hypothetical draft combining the 2024 and 2025 drafts, behind Macklin Celebrini and Matthew Schaefer.

All of which goes to show one thing: the 2023 draft was a very high-quality one, especially when it came to forwards. To see four from that year in a top-5 of the last three years is quite something.


Overtime

– They’ve been doing this for two years, after all. Alex Newhook in 2023 and the trade for the pick that became Michael Hage last year.

– This is cute.

– A name to watch.

– Nice read.

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