In a recent airing of The Sick Podcast - Recrutes Draftcast - Grant McCagg former scout, and TSN prospect writer, and Craig Button, current TSN head of scouting had a discussion about Montreal Canadiens top prospect Ivan Demidov.
Needless to say the pair had some incredibly high compliments for Demidov, and you just might want to hear them.
Craig Button - Ivan Demidov has Marian Hossa essence, he has a (1300 gp, 525 goals, 609 assists - 1134 career points) magnetic attraction, like Hossa did. Teammates will want to play with him. Jere Lehtinen was a yeast-style player, guys stuck to him. Mike Modano loved Lehtinen in Dallas.
Grant McCagg - Pavel Bure (702 gp, 437 goals, 342 assists - 779 points ) was a stud leveraging tremendous vision and intelligence, all-world puck-skills and Olympic-level speed skating. Demidov won’t be as quick as Bure, but he is better offensively, with a better shot than Bure who scored 400-plus goals. He will have a bigger impact than No. 96.
I mean, if there is anybody who is trying to collect their jaw from the sofa, me too. Those are some ridiculously generous comparisons. If his career is anything like that of either of those players, that is a tremendous addition to the CH.
You can’t go into a draft asking for that type of player; that’s unrealistic unless they are a first-overall selection. Getting that value at fifth overall is incredible, and drafting the best player after one is also possible.
I’m not suggesting Macklin Celebrini is better or worse than Demidov. One played a KHL season, while the other is having a strong rookie season in San Jose, with the bottom-feeder Sharks. But they are up-and-comers, and another top-five pick will only make them better.
Anyway, back to Demidov, who is expected to come in and make the impact of a first overall pick on the Habs lineup quickly. I expect that he will usurp Juraj Slafkovsky in short order for his top-line role. This will set up a fun top six.
All that the Habs need is the version of Michael Hage that awaits us all when the 2025-26 season ends for the Michigan Wolverines. Hage will be close to ready to play in the NHL, and having Patrik Laine on one wing and Slafkovsky on the other will be a huge upgrade on his college linemates.
Until then, however, Kent Hughes will have to find an option to plug there. Because the committe act is great and all, but if Oliver Kapanen or Owen Beck
aren’t going to be slotted there, Montreal has a need for a second-line center.
July’s top wishlist entry is one of those.
Here are some centre prospect options
Hage is a few seasons away from playing for the CH, much like any player from the 2025 NHL Draft not named Mathew Schaefer.
Now that that is out of the way, here are three centre prospects that I would consider for the Habs, should Kent Hughes have interest in adding to his pool.
1. Caleb Desnoyers - Desnoyers is the prototypical second-line, smart two-way forward, who has tremendous potential to become a nice secondary scoring option to Nck Suzuki and the top line.
2. Carter Bear - Bear gives me Travis Konecny, Brady-Matthew Tkachuk vibes, because he is relentless, chippy and his motor never dies. He is also great offensively, and should be one of the highest drafted WHL prospects in June.
3. Jake O’Brien - O'Brien is a smart, crafty centre, who rode shotgun to Nick Lardis with the Brantford Bulldogs - while Lardis scored 71 goals, O'Brien chipped in 32-66-98 in 66 games. The six foot two, 170-pound centre has room to grow physically, and his intelligent is an asset to his game, so he will only become more cerebral and difficult to play against.
I detailed what I like about Desnoyers and Bear, and I feel like Bear could be a perfect fit at centre. As for Jake O’Brien, I will be putting out a piece about this player very soon.