At this time last year, Ivan Demidov was still a question mark for the Montreal Canadiens. There is no question that the talent was there, but entering his first full season in the NHL, it was tough to know how quickly he might make an impact.
Fortunately for the Canadiens, Demidov wasted no time and was a fixture on their second line as he had 19 goals and 43 assists in his rookie season. He finished runner-up in the Calder Trophy but was named first-team All-Rookie.
For the Canadiens, they saw enough to agree on an eight-year contract extension this summer that locks him in as a core part of their roster moving forward. It may be a risk agreeing to an eight-year deal after only one season but Demidov was impressive enough that it was smart.
Ivan Demidov could be an elite goal-scorer for the Montreal Canadiens in the near future
However, Demidov looks to just be scratching the surface, and one NHL talent evaluator made a bold projection for the Canadiens' forward in The Athletic's NHL Player Tiers for the upcoming season:
“Honestly, I see 50-goal upside," said a veteran NHL talent evaluator.
If Demidov is able to get to that level, it is something that the Montreal Canadiens have not had very often since the late 1970s. In fact, there have been 13 times when a player has scored 50 or more goals in a season, and eight of those were in the 1970s.
However, last season Cole Caufield ended this drought as he had 51 goals for the Canadiens. It will be interesting if Caufield is able to continue that level of production, and if Demidov reaches that mark as well, it would be the third time in franchise history that the Canadiens have had two 50-goal scorers in the same season, with Steve Shutt and Guy Lafleur in 1976-77 and Pierre Larouche and Guy Lafleur in 1979-80.
If Caufield struggles and maybe can't keep a close to 20% shooting percentage, having a player with the ceiling that Demidov has, will help take some pressure off Caufield.
Demidov entered last season with high expectations, but those expectations are on a new level going into this season. It wouldn't be surprising by the end of the season that Demidov, alongside Nick Suzuki and Lane Hutson, are viewed as the Montreal Canadiens' three best players.
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