The Bell Centre was rocking last night as fan favourite prospect Ivan Demidov took to the ice for the first time of his NHL career, netting a goal and an assist, giving Habs fans a preview into the future of the organisation. Despite failing to clinch their playoff berth against the Blackhawks last night, Demidov’s brilliance and electricity puts Montreal’s future into a much closer perspective.
After falling to number five in the 2024 NHL draft, it was a Russian diamond the Habs found in the palms of their hands as the highly anticipated winger was available past the top four, eventually hearing his name called, and his trajectory mapped out as the future franchise guy for the Habs. With a confusion pick in 2023 with defenseman David Reinbacher at five, 2024 was a year of redemption for Montreal, and April 14th 2025 was the day the Habs found their guy. Demidov amongst a number of young prospects in the system, and young all-star talent in the NHL gives the Habs a wide array of choices as their future looks brighter than ever, but with Demidov the man of the hour for Montreal, the rest look even better.
Despite the Reinbacher pick being an interesting and confusing pick for Habs fans, passing up on prospects like Michkov and Leonard, Reinbacher seems to be on the right path to becoming a depth defenseman for the Habs, and with young superstar Lane Hutson taking the number one role of the Habs defensive core, the pressure is off for Reinbacher, and he could slip in nicely into the top four. But it isn't only Reinbacher who could be a sneakily good pull for Montreal, as the prospect pool runs deep for the growingly good Canadiens.
When we think of bright futures for teams in the NHL, there is no better place to start than the goaltending position. We saw it with the likes of Oettinger and Vasilevskiy, and we could be seeing it with Jacob Fowler in Montreal. The Habs are currently running with Dobes and Montembault in between the posts. But 20 year old prospect goalie Jacob Fowler could be the next Carey Price for the Habs. With talent across the board like Michael Hage, and Josh Roy, it is vital to have a number one goalie prospect, and it looks like Montreal have struck gold with Fowler.
The Habs rebuild can be considered over, and could be in the phase of upgrading to get better to push into the top 10. But even with prospects coming through left, right, and centre for the Canadiens, their core of Caulfield, Suzuki, Slafkovsky and even players like Guhle and Newhook, the Candiens look like their team could be serious competitors in the next few years. Had development for players like Slafkovsky and Fowler go as according to plan for Montreal, their once outcast group of misfits could become one of the most feared teams in the NHL under head coach Martin St Louis.
Comments