Ivan Demidov Set to Join the Canadiens in Top 6 Role

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00:00They get news yesterday, Scott, of Yvonne Demidov, who this kid really is a phenom.

00:05I know everybody's great.

00:06Oh, you're going to have this guy and that guy.

00:09But this kid, Scott, he just set a record, most points ever in the Russian league for somebody 20 years old or younger.

00:14He's been playing against men for years.

00:17He would have been like the slam dunk number two pick in the draft.

00:23But due to the Russian politics and stuff that's been going on, NHL teams were scared.

00:31They were hesitant.

00:32And a lot of people thought, you know what, this kid won't arrive in North America until like 2027, 2028 or something like that.

00:40Over the last couple of years since Russia's been boxed out of the international hockey world, they've tightened up.

00:47And they were like, we're not giving up our young players to the NHL anymore.

00:50We're not doing this.

00:51You're going to play in the Russian league and Putin loves hockey.

00:54So he is involved in this stuff.

00:56If you, you know, he doesn't want you to leave.

00:57You're not leaving like point blank.

00:59So they've soft.

01:00That was a shock yesterday.

01:02The Canadians have been working behind the scenes on it, but nobody in the media news got him.

01:07He's going to play like they're in a case of, oh, yeah, this is for next year.

01:12He's going to play like they plan on playing a money on the second line.

01:16Actually, I think it's a little crazy to put it out there.

01:20Oh, yeah, he's going to be a top six forward.

01:22I mean, the kid's 19 years old.

01:24He's never played a single shift in a national hockey league before.

01:27And you're talking about, you know, top six forward in the playoffs.

01:32But, you know, this kid's been playing with men.

01:34He's on the Russian men's national team, Scott.

01:36He's the real deal, this kid, damn enough.

01:38If you look at the highlights of this kid, it's like, I don't want to get carried away here,

01:44but I don't know, it's like Pavel Bure or something, Scott.

01:46Like, the dude's just like he's one of these Russian goal-scoring prodigies, bro.

01:50I guess I should say Ovechkin.

01:52But the way he skated and stuff, he reminded me more of Bure, to be honest.