Demidov’s new contract: “I think he’ll take less to stay in Montreal for a long time.”

Marc-Olivier Cook
Demidov’s new contract: “I think he’ll take less to stay in Montreal for a long time.”
Credit: Everything is going well for Ivan Demidov these days.

As of July 1, Ivan Demidov will be eligible to sign a contract extension with the Canadiens.

Will it happen on July 1… or will the Habs prefer to wait a while, as they did with Lane Hutson a few months ago?

Whatever happens, we know the young forward will break the bank. He's shown his talent since his arrival in the NHL, and he's proving that he can be an important player in Montreal for a long time to come. A very long time.

How much will he earn? That we don't know.

But in the eyes of Eric Engels, who was on Martin Lemay's show this afternoon… Demidov is likely to do what Hutson did: take less money and stay in town as long as possible.

And with the culture that's taking hold in Montreal, it doesn't seem like I'd be surprised to see that happen.

Hutson did it… but so did Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky, who decided to take less money because they didn't want to earn more than Nick Suzuki.

They wanted to respect the club's salary hierarchy, which means that the Canadiens will have more flexibility in terms of their payroll in the coming years.

Obviously, Hutson will earn more money than the three guys named above, because he signed his contract knowing that the salary cap will rise quite considerably over the next few years.

I expect much the same for Demidov, though, who wants to win and loves playing here. He's said it many times in the past, and the passion he shows on the ice is also evident.

He plays for the logo. And when you see him celebrating like he did on his very first career goal in the National League, it's easy to understand how much he enjoys wearing the Canadiens jersey:

Ivan Demidov is perhaps the Canadiens' most important piece of equipment for the next few years.

And that's why seeing him sign a “respectable” contract at Lane Hutson would be really interesting for the Montreal organization. It would help on several levels, in fact… and it would also allow the Habs to have another star in their line-up at a decent salary.

I can't wait to see how this deal pans out.


Overtime

– That's good.

– Win or lose tonight?

– The Raptors are having a great season.

– Reminder: several games tonight in the NHL.

– Here we go again…

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