Expect Ivan Demidov to return soon

Charles-Alexis Brisebois
Expect Ivan Demidov to return soon
Credit: Derek Cain/Getty Images

The Canadiens have been plagued by injuries since the start of the season.

Kaiden Guhle, Mike Matheson, Florian Xhekaj, and Oliver Kapanen have all returned to action, but they've missed games since the start of the regular season.

However, there are still three players who remain sidelined. Let's check in on them.

Ivan Demidov

The Russian last played on October 3. And on October 6, the Montreal Canadiens announced that the forward would miss two to four weeks of action.

Four weeks from October 6 brings us to November 3. That's next Tuesday.

On that note, Eric Engels (during a Q&A session on BlueSky) said he expects the forward to be back on the regular schedule.

The Habs are keeping him in that boot as long as possible to protect his foot. But once he starts skating again, it won't be long before we see him back in action.

I think the idea was to keep him in that boot as long as possible to make sure he heals properly before putting his skates back on. Once those skates go on, it won't take long. I expect him back within the timeline originally stated

— Eric Engels (@ericengels.bsky.social) October 26, 2026, at 9:39 a.m.

The Habs will play Tuesday in St. Louis and Thursday in Dallas. Remember that Demidov didn't make the trip but could join his teammates on the road.

The Canadiens will also play at home on Saturday before their November 3 game against the Jets.

Nick Suzuki

Will the captain—who played last Tuesday and was ruled out for two to four weeks by the Habs on October 22—be back soon to help his team?

Only time will tell.

Engels mentioned, again on social media, that the Habs' #14 “shouldn't be out for too long,” which is good news.

Nothing is clear yet, but he just got injured. It's too early to speculate about the future.

I don't think it's adding any pressure. Especially after two wins in his absence.
It sucks that he went down—for him and the team—but he won't be out long, and they're learning about themselves in his absence. It's a confidence boost for the others who are being counted on more…

— Eric Engels (@ericengels.bsky.social) October 26, 2026, at 9:40 a.m.

Because even though the Canadiens' players are “learning who they are without Suzuki” right now, it goes without saying that having the captain on the ice makes everyone better.

Seeing Oliver Kapanen as the top center isn't ideal…

Samuel Montembeault

The 10- to 14-day period regarding him (which was announced on October 9) is behind us, but the goaltender hasn't started skating again yet.

We'll see if that happens in due time.

Yesterday, Renaud Lavoie mentioned it would be two weeks before we see the player again—who has clearly suffered a setback in his rehabilitation—or who hadn't been given the correct timeline to begin with.

The real question, in his case, is more about what to do with the three goalies when he returns.

It's not as urgent as with the two forwards, since Jacob Fowler is playing well, but at the same time, Jakub Dobes isn't performing right now. And Fowler could slow down eventually…

Monty might be sent down to the minors (for conditioning) and come back when he's ready. The Habs would buy themselves some time, and the Quebec-born goaltender could be in better shape before playing in Montreal again.

It's hard to say for sure, but I could tell you what I'd want to do if I were them: give him a quick conditioning stint to make sure everything's okay and to get him back into a rhythm. And then I'd want to see him in NHL action before making any decisions about the position.

— Eric Engels (@ericengels.bsky.social) October 26, 2026, at 9:32 a.m.


In Brief

– Read this.

– It's got people talking.

– Hehe.

– Interesting.

– Here we go.

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