In an interesting twist, SKA St. Petersburg's X account has published a post thanking Ivan Demidov and announcing that they've decided to part ways and allow the youngster to join the Montreal Canadiens this season.
Thank you, Ivan 👏
— SKA Ice Hockey Club (@hcSKA_News) April 8, 2025
SKA and Ivan Demidov have taken a joint decision which will see the forward join the Montreal Canadiens this season. His KHL rights will remain with SKA. He will return to Saint Petersburg if he doesn’t gain a foothold in the NHL. pic.twitter.com/CsyMPKvE7k
The news will indeed send shockwaves across the Montreal market, as GM Kent Hughes said he didn’t expect Demidov to come over this season. While we may never know what precisely motivated SKA’s decision, chances are that the Canadiens visited the organization earlier this season, which can’t have hurt.
According to Elliotte Friedman, the Canadiens are now working on signing Demidov. It’s hard to see how it couldn’t be done relatively swiftly, and it will be interesting to hear what his future teammates say about this new development after Tuesday night’s game against the Detroit Red Wings. We'll keep you updated as the story unfolds.
Canadiens stories, analysis, breaking news, and more! Tap the star to add us to your favorites on Google News, never to miss a story.
Follow Karine on X @KarineHains Bluesky @karinehains.bsky.social and Threads @karinehains.
Bookmark The Hockey News Canadiens' page for all the news and happenings around the Canadiens.