June 28, 2024
The Montreal Canadiens draft Ivan Demidov at 5th; trade up to take Michael Hage at 21st on day one of the 2024 NHL Draft
Amid a swirling tempest of trade rumors, the Montreal Canadiens again found themselves with a budding Russian sensation available for the picking – and unlike last year, this time they opted to select 18-year-old Ivan Demidov with the fifth overall pick at the 2024 NHL Entry Draft.
The fact that Demidov was available when Montreal stepped up to the podium, is quite a surprise in itself. Many of the polled scouts believed that Demidov might be the best forward available outside of Macklin Celebrini – who was the consensus first overall pick and now a member of the San Jose Sharks.
See Also: The San Jose Sharks have won the NHL Celebrini lottery
Speculation was that the Chicago Blackhawks were interested in Demidov, who would have been an incredible pairing for last year’s top pick, Connor Bedard – but the Blackhawks instead opted to take defenseman Artyom Levshunov at second overall. Anaheim surprised everyone when they chose Beckett Sennecke at third with so many players that were slated to go before him, leaving the Columbus Blue Jackets with the chance to add more grit, size and skill in Cayden Lindstrom.
That left Ivan Demidov to the Montreal Canadiens who were all smiles as they approached the podium, with pop superstar Celine Dion in tow to make the call.
Last season, the Habs were faced with a similar situation when another Russian star in the making, Matvei Michkov, was surprisingly available when Montreal made their selection. That time they chose to take defenseman David Reinbacher instead. Michkov became the selection of the Philadephia Flyers a few picks later.
In recent years, the Montreal Canadiens have been a little erratic when it comes to the draft – but their choosing Juraj Slavkovsky over the consensus top pick Shane Wright, who fell to the Seattle Kraken at fourth overall, looks so far to have been the right decision, and Slavkovsky has become a key player for the Habs.
Montreal’s day wasn’t over just yet, as they traded their second pick of the first round, the 26th overall, to the Los Angeles Kings, along with the 57th and 198th picks, to move up five spots to 21st, where they selected center Michael Hage. While Hage is one of the better skaters available at the draft, his backstory is also incredibly heart warming, sad; yet inspirational. Hage’s father was a life-long Habs fan that sadly passed away last year. Both of Hage’s parents are from Montreal, and Michael grew up a Habs fan.
The Mississauga, Ont., native scored 33 goals and 75 points playing for the USHL’s Chicago Steel last season. He’s set to play for the University of Michigan in 2024-25.
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With these two new additions, the Canadiens now have a promising group of prospects in their system to go with a solid group of defense and goaltender prospects too.
The second round of the 2024 NHL Entry Draft takes place tomorrow from Las Vegas, where the Habs will have a further eight more selections – barring trades, to make. Several players that were slated to be picked in the first round weren’t; namely Andrew Basha, Mikhail Yegorov and Cole Hutson – brother of Habs prospect Lane Hutson – leaving a little extra drama to unfold on day two of the draft.
