Rumor: Ivan Demidov rejects three contract offers from SKA

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Greg Wilson
October 17, 2024 (3:08 PM)

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The Canadiens' first overall pick in the last draft, Ivan Demidov, is having quite a season in the KHL with SKA St. Petersburg, where he has collected 9 points in 16 games.

However, as reported by the site Habsolumentfan.com, the young Russian striker's playing time has decreased significantly in his team's recent matches.

To find out what was wrong with the Canadiens' hopeful, TVA Sports journalist Nicolas Cloutier did a little investigation by talking to someone close to Demidov's entourage and there might be an explanation for all this.

According to the information he obtained, Cloutier mentions that the St. Petersburg SKA team offered Demidov no less than three contract proposals.

"Ivan refused all three times," our source said over the phone. "He doesn't want to know anything about an additional year with SKA. " - Nicolas Cloutier

Is this a way to punish him since he doesn't seem to intend to continue his career in Russia?

It's hard to say but everything indicates that Ivan Demidov is getting closer to Montreal because we know that Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton had said during the summer that the plan with the young Russian prospect was to bring him to the Canadiens for the 2025-2026 season.

And note that this is not the first time that this has happened between the KHL organization and a Canadiens prospect.

A fairly similar situation had happened with defenseman Alexander Romanov who, dissatisfied with his playing time in Russia, had also left SKA to join the Canadiens.