Montreal Canadiens: Alexander Romanov is heading to North America

After weeks of anticipation, Alexander Romanov is good to go and heading to North America to join the Montreal Canadiens for the Stanley Cup Qualifier.

The Alexander Romanov will be one of the longest drama-filled off-ice storylines for the Montreal Canadiens this year.

At the beginning of the season, there would’ve had to be a decision by his camp as his deal in the KHL with CSKA Moscow was expiring. If all things worked out, Romanov would’ve gotten another year of playoff experience under his belt in the KHL and then make his way over to Montreal to begin his NHL career for the 2020-2021 campaign. Unfortunately, COVID-19 derailed that plan along with many others.

The NHL and NHLPA were deciding on a Return to Play Plan on how hockey would return, but that didn’t stop Marc Bergevin from working on player contracts. Romanov was one of those contracts initially in May without a confirmed start date of the deal. That was because the Habs weren’t sure whether Romanov could participate in Phases 3 and 4 of the RTP (training camp and the resumption of hockey, respectively).

As the final details of the RTP were voted on and confirmed by both hockey factions, it came out that the Montreal Canadiens needed to decide on when to have Romanov’s deal kick in. If they made it for this season, he would be able to join the Habs for training camp and enter the Qualifier bubble in Toronto, but he wouldn’t be able to play. If they made it for next season, there would run the risk of a return to Russia for Romanov.

The Habs chose to have his deal begin now, confirming it on July 13th, including a European Assignment Clause, which would allow him to return to Russia if he wasn’t in the NHL.

There was one final chapter in this storyline, and that was when he would be able to make the trip to North America. Apparently, Romanov was going through some work VISA issues that were holding back his trip. But Romanov’s agent Dan Milstein let the hockey world know this morning that those issues are long gone with this picture.

This is a picture that will make Montreal Canadiens fans smile from ear to ear. It’s no longer optimism or wishful thinking. Alexander Romanov is here.

Whenever Romanov enters Canada, he’ll need to quarantine for two weeks. With that timeline, he could be ready to start participating by Wednesday of next week. The Habs will start to travel to Toronto on July 26th, so it might make sense for Romanov to head straight there and meet the Habs who should already be settling in at the Royal York Hotel.

It’s too bad that Romanov can’t play, but it’ll be a good experience for him to be on the ice with his peers taking in the NHL atmosphere. He’ll need to get used to it as things will start for him officially in December.