Canadiens GM Hughes on Demidov: ‘I was blown away by his maturity’

Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes was not a part of the management group that took in the gold-medal game between Russia and Slovakia at the 2021 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, but it yielded two players who are a prominent part of his tenure.

That game featured forward Juraj Slafkovsky, who was drafted first overall by Montreal in 2022, and winger Ivan Demidov, who was taken at No. 5 in June’s draft. Demidov and Russia got the edge in 2021, skating away with gold to defeat Slafkovsky and Slovakia.

Demidov is the latest addition to the rebuild in Montreal after putting up 23 goals and 60 points in 30 games last season in the MHL with SKA-1946 St. Petersburg.

The team brought out Celine Dion to announce his selection at the draft in Las Vegas.

“Our scouts were very high on him throughout the year,” said Hughes. “Obviously, with him being in Russia and not participating in international tournaments, our viewings were more video based from a management’s perspective, but one of our scouts did get over and watch him live.

“We interviewed him before the draft, and I was blown away by his maturity – his confidence without arrogance. He was just a very impressive kid.”

Slafkovsky was the first pick Hughes made as Canadiens GM and after a rough rookie season, the 20-year-old took a big step forward last season, scoring 20 goals with 50 points in 82 games.

“We were confident again from the interview process with him, that he just had a maturity, he’d been away from home since he was 14, taking care of himself,” said Hughes. “Juraj wants to be good, he wants to be the best version. He knows he’s not there yet and he wants to impact the game. It’s not just about his game, it’s about our game and that will always impress us about him.

“We felt that when we interviewed him in Buffalo at the combine and I feel that today two years later.”

The Slovak was rewarded with an eight-year, $60.8 million contract extension on July 1, one year before his entry-level contract is set to expire. Hughes also signed defenceman Kaiden Guhle to a long-term deal, inking the 22-year-old to a six-year, $33.3 million extension.

Young defencemen Arber Xhekaj and Justin Barron were signed to two-year deals coming off their entry-level contracts this summer