Washington Capitals rival sign Russian phenom

Elliotte Friedman of SportsNet took to X to break the news Tuesday afternoon that many Habs fans have been waiting eagerly for.

Comments are flooding with fans wondering if he'll be able to join the Canadiens as they continue their fight for the 2nd wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.

The news comes with a bit of a scare for Capitals fans as it's likely that they'll face the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs scheduled to begin April 19th.

A lot of promise surrounds Ivan Demidov as the elite prospect finished his season with 19 goals and 49 points in 65 games with SKA this season, setting a new KHL record for a U20 player in one season, easily beating out Kirill Kaprizov (42 points in 2016-17), Matvei Michkov (41 points in 2023-24) and former Washington Capital Evgeny Kuznetsov (41 points in 2011-12).

Demidov has added five points in six playoff games for SKA, who were eliminated from the KHL playoffs Sunday.

If the Canadiens can create some real separation in the playoff race, it would be less complicated to integrate Demidov into the lineup before the end of the regular season to at least see if he would be a legitimate option come playoff time.