Confirmed rumor for Ivan Demidov and bad news for the Canadiens

"I had a Zoom discussion for an hour and a half with representatives from the Montreal Canadiens. Head coach Martin St-Louis was not present, but special advisor to hockey operations Vincent Lecavalier, the club president, the general manager, and all the executives were there.

"We discussed Demidov, everything was thoroughly discussed. It was a very positive conversation about how we will develop Ivan at SKA. There wasn't even a conversation about him leaving for Canada now. That's fake news. Maybe even Russian journalists are exaggerating this idea."

"The truth is that Montreal and I have a joint plan for Demidov's development. Our task is for Ivan to have his best season in the KHL. And here, much depends not only on the coach but also on the player himself. Nikita Zaitsev, Mikhail Grigorenko, Sergei Plotnikov have joined us at SKA... We have a very strong team. And this will benefit Demidov. Adult teammates will help Vanya on the ice and in life. He will gain invaluable experience that will help him in the future."