Montreal Canadiens Futures: Alexander Romanov makes his playoff debut

There’s still another month or so left until the Montreal Canadiens start the playoffs, but Alexander Romanov has already begun his with CSKA Moscow.

Alexander Romanov went from being an unknown name last June to one of the Montreal Canadiens top prospects. His ability to make the KHL as a 19-year-old in combination with his stellar play at the 2019 World Junior Hockey Championships where he was named the tournament’s best defenceman.

Romanov’s play with CSKA Moscow improved slowly over the course of the regular season. He gained more trust from head coach Igor Nikitin which helped increase his ice time and responsibilities.

By the season’s end, Romanov had 43 KHL games under his belt putting up a goal and three assists while averaging 11:23. But yesterday was a different kind of game for the Moskva native with the 2019 Gargarin Cup Playoffs kicking off.

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CSKA Moscow were close to the top prize last season making it all the way to the final. Unfortunately, they fell at the hands of Ak Bars Kazan in five games. Give CSKA finished at the top of the league with 106 points, they’ll be expectations for them to get the job done and Romanov being a part of that would be incredible for his development as a young defenceman.

They’re already on a good start winning the first game of the series against the eighth-seeded Vityaz.

Romanov played 8:35 as the seventh defenceman on the team. He finished the game with no shots on goal, one hit, and a tripping call. Not much to talk about though it’ll be interesting to see if Romanov can find himself playing higher in the lineup. Given the different animal that is the playoffs, it won’t be surprising to see Nikitin dial back Romanov’s usage such that he isn’t overwhelmed by the tougher competition.

At the same time, you’d like to see Romanov get more of an opportunity to grow. The goal here is to win a Gargarian Cup though, and it’s Nikitin’s prerogative as to how he wants to run his bench.

Now it’s about waiting for an opportunity to shine, and hopefully, Romanov has a few of those as the playoffs continue.