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Top-5 : the Canadiens can qualify as early as tonight

Last night, 10 games were on the schedule in the NHL.

If everything was going in the direction of the Habs, the club could have placed itself in a position to officially confirm its place in the playoffs as early as last night.

Here are the results and highlights :

1. The Canadiens can qualify as early as tonight

Even if Montreal didn’t play last night, we had to keep an eye on a few games :

  • Rangers vs Islanders
  • Panthers vs Red Wings
  • Blue Jackets vs Sabres

Rangers won (9-2), Blue Jackets won (3-2) and the Wings lost (4-1).

What does that mean for Montreal? It means that if the club wins in regulation time tonight in Ottawa, it will officially qualify for the playoffs.

If they win in overtime or a shootout, they would eliminate the Rangers, the Islanders, and the Wings, but not the Blue Jackets due to the tiebreaker. The Habs have over 99% chance of participating in the spring tournament. The game is almost set.

(Credit: NHL.com )

2. The Rangers score nine goals against the Islanders

In the Islanders-Rangers game, both teams played with the energy of despair, but it was the Rangers who looked better.

They scored nine goals and crushed Patrick Roy’s team. By the way, the coach admitted to making a mistake by sending rookie goalkeeper Tristan Lennox into the game.

He allowed a goal and sent Marcus Hogberg back into the game.

In the Blue Shirts’ win, 10 (!) players had two or more points.

I don’t know how many chances you give the Rangers to qualify, but to participate in the playoffs, they must win their last three games, the Canadiens must lose their last three games, and the Jackets must lose one of their last four games.

And the New York schedule to finish the season is not easy…

(Credit: Google )

3. The Capitals are the best team in the East

If the Habs win in 60 minutes tonight, they will not only qualify but also be one point away from the Senators.

The best team among the Wild Cards will face the first-ranked team in the Atlantic. This is now official as Washington confirmed its first place in the East last night.

The second Wild Card will be in Washington at the start of the playoffs. Last night, Alex Ovechkin’s team faced the Hurricanes and won in a shootout.

Before the game, there was a nice visit at the Capital One Arena.

Alexander Semin and Ilya Kovalchuk attended the tribute to Ovi for his goal-scoring record.

Even opposing players came to congratulate him.

4. Connor Hellebuyck’s 45th win

In the Jets’ game, Connor Hellebuyck won again.

Thanks to a shutout of 25 saves against the Dallas Stars, the goalkeeper became the 7th goalkeeper in NHL history to win 45 games in a single season. That’s more wins than 20 teams.

It was also his eighth shutout of the season.

Not bad!

With this win, Winnipeg is comfortably seated in first place in the Central Division.

Dallas must win its last three games without any points from the Jets to hope to finish first and not face the Avalanche in the first round.

(Credit: NHL.com)

5. Brad Marchand’s first goal with the Panthers

In Florida, the Panthers could help the Canadiens with a win.

And that’s exactly what they did, beating the Wings with a score of 4-1. To participate in the playoffs, Detroit must win and the Canadiens must lose; it’s simple.

In the game, Brad Marchand finally scored his first goal as a member of the Panthers.

The rest of the game belonged to Sergei Bobrovsky, who stopped 22 of the 23 shots directed at him.

Gustav Forsling and Uvis Balinskis each had two assists.

With this win, Paul Maurice became the third most victorious coach of all time.

Overtime

– The beginning of an era.

– Revenge.

– The Blackhawks didn’t deny it.

– The top scorers of the day.

(Credit: NHL.com )

– To watch tonight: Canadiens-Senators, Red Wings-Lightning, and Flames-Wild.

(Credit: Google )
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Ivan Demidov’s agent tempers expectations and calls for patience

“I hope to celebrate the Stanley Cup with my client soon,” Ivan Demidov’s agent, Dan Milstein, said moments before tempering expectations and calling for patience from the Canadiens’ fans. Ironical, isn’t it?

It’s worth noting that he’s already sparked some discussion and keyboard tapping over the past three days, and he added more fuel to the fire tonight. Milstein gave an interview to Patrick Friolet today, and some interesting points were presented on the 5 à 7 show this evening.

Let’s talk about pressure first.

A message to the fans: be patient. Good things are coming, but they won’t happen overnight. – Dan Milstein

In short, the agent knows his job and doesn’t want too much pressure on the kid. However, it’s essential to put things into perspective: there’s a difference between expectations and

Personally, I’m extremely excited to see Ivan Demidov wear the Habs’ jersey, but I won’t throw tomatoes or other fruits/vegetables at his apartment window if he’s not a point-per-game player in the playoffs.

Later, I found it interesting to hear from Milstein that Rotenberg’s constant “.tightening of the screws” in the KHL was part of the development plan to prepare him for his jump to North America.

That’s not how it was perceived here.

“Full credit to Roman. He did an excellent job developing him. I know the fans wanted him to play more, but it was part of the development plan.”

And that’s considering Demidov had informed the SKA, upon being drafted in the NHL, that he wanted to make the jump to North America as soon as the Russian club was eliminated. It’s crazy how the narrative has changed over the past 72 hours.

It’s hard to know what or who to believe anymore.

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Ivan Demidov is doing well: the people at the airport did not unsettle him

Ivan Demidov has finally arrived in Canada tonight. The young player and his girlfriend arrived at Toronto’s airport… and they were greeted by a welcoming committee of habs fans and media on site (including DLC) to cover the event.

Here are the pictures we took, in case you haven’t seen them yet:

However, the welcoming committee is not unanimously approved. Some find it quite cool to see the young player being welcomed this way, but others, like Darren Dreger, find it intense.

It’s intense and unusual according to North American standards, but no, it won’t break the kid.

For those who doubt it, look at Demidov’s reaction when he saw the people welcoming him: he smiled and waved at them. He looked like a guy who knew what to expect, and above all, a guy in perfect control, especially for someone who had just gotten off a 10-hour flight.

If all this had happened in Montreal and thousands of fans had been on site, maybe the young player would have been uncomfortable. But today, he was greeted by… a few dozen people at most.

It’s not different from what he will experience when fans ask him for autographs during a practice… but since people don’t usually see this, it strikes the imagination, and that’s normal.

The Canadiens knew this was a strong possibility (it’s not for nothing that we had planned for it with a large security contingent), even by sending him to Toronto. Moreover, it’s the habs who asked him not to speak tonight: we want to wait until it’s done during a press conference.

This allows us to better control the message and relieve some pressure on the young player’s shoulders.

And clearly, seeing how much it’s been reacting since the beginning of the evening on social media, we understand that it’s something that interests people. Listening to a live broadcast but being offended by a group of people being on site is… particular.

The whole thing lasted, roughly, two minutes in total. No, two minutes of fans waiting for him and following him at the airport won’t break a kid who is already used to being a star everywhere he goes and having the spotlight on him.

And precisely, for a young player like Demidov who is already quite used to all this, we can think that it may have motivated him more than anything else.

It’s not for nothing that the habs selected him: they believe he’s capable of handling a market like Montreal’s.

Let’s all take a moment to breathe: Demidov is fine, he wasn’t destabilized by what happened, and he’ll get over it.

Instead, let’s be happy that he has his feet in Canada rather than in Russia and that he’s just a few days away from making his debut in the Canadiens’ uniform. That’s what matters most.

Overtime

– I couldn’t have said it better.

– Speaking of Demidov.

– That would be cool!

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” Come on. ” : Darren Dreger can’t believe Ivan Demidov was welcomed like that

It’s now done: Ivan Demidov is officially on Canadian soil. The young man, who was greeted by fans and media (including DansLesCoulisses, as we were among the first to get images of his arrival) at Toronto airport, was quickly escorted by a security contingent to a vehicle with his girlfriend and John Sedgwick.

He didn’t talk to people on the spot, but he still greeted them with a smile on his face. For a young man who was supposed to be surprised and tired (and who may have been told by the habs to keep quiet in front of the fans who might be waiting), it’s already good.

All this shows how much the habs fans are looking forward to seeing the kid in action. It’s been a long time since such a prospect has been part of the organization, after all… and he’s already (very) popular in town.

That being said, there are still some people who found it a bit crazy. Among them is Darren Dreger, who responded to the live broadcast of the moment of the kid’s arrival:

Is this real? Come on. – Darren Dreger

It’s true that on the surface, it’s a welcome committee that is really particular for a young hockey player. This is something that is usually seen in soccer (Didier Drogba’s arrival in Montreal is a good example), but it’s much less common in North American sports culture.

Well, there was also the case of Shohei Ohtani and his “plane to Toronto”, where the welcome committee at the Toronto airport was much more massive… but that’s the exception rather than the rule.

But what it shows, above all, is that Montreal fans are really looking forward to seeing Demidov in action. It’s a bit crazy, of course… but precisely, Montreal fans are crazy about hockey.

I imagine that the habs had warned the kid that this was a real possibility: even if he arrived in Toronto rather than Montreal, we suspected that such a situation might happen… especially since 2300 people were following the young man’s flight on FlightTracker. It was the most followed flight in the world on the site.

The good news, however, is that it’s all over now. We can focus on what will happen on the ice, now that the rest of the team will pick him up during his passage in Toronto on Saturday.

In the meantime, the young man is likely to take a rest and get used to the time difference. Then, he will have to get into the rhythm on the ice fairly quickly… because he will only have two games before the start of the playoffs.

Overtime

– The habs may have the opportunity to confirm their place in the playoffs tomorrow night.

– Indeed.

– Ah yes?

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Here are the first images of Ivan Demidov in Toronto

It’s tonight that Ivan Demidov officially arrived on Canadian soil. The Habs’ prospect, who took a plane to Toronto, officially set foot in the country in the last hour.

And even if the kid arrived in Montreal rather than Toronto, he had a beautiful welcome committee.

DansLesCoulisses was on site for the occasion, and we had the chance to be among the first to get images of Demidov on his arrival in Toronto.

So here are the first images we were able to capture:

Note that in addition to DLC, other media covered the event. The live broadcast of the Sick Podcast allowed many people to see Demidov from home… for a few seconds.

More details to come…

Overtime

–

– Wow.

– It’s good.

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“Ivan Demidov Watch” : It’s chaos at Toronto airport

It doesn’t make sense.

I don’t know how to start otherwise, or if I should do it. If the Canadiens wanted to prevent the birth of a Demidov jungle at Montreal’s Pierre-Elliot Trudeau Airport, they couldn’t prevent Montreal media from creating a Demidov frenzy at Toronto’s Pearson Airport.

I mean, The Sick Podcast is currently live with Ivan Demidov Watch Live from Pearson Airport, and it’s literally just a dude (by all accounts) filming the gate doors.

A dozen or so fans are currently waiting at the airport for Demidov’s imminent arrival, which is scheduled for around 7:20, according to our latest information.

Nicolas Cloutier from TVA Sports is also on site…

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Patrik Laine does not seem impressed by the arrival of Ivan Demidov

My colleague Maxime Truman reported yesterday that the Canadiens are not particularly excited about the idea of welcoming Ivan Demidov at the Montreal Airport in front of thousands of people, in the style of Didier Drogba. One of the reasons mentioned was that the organization did not want players in the locker room to have bad feelings towards the huge hype that has been building since Tuesday afternoon.

There are guys who are injured, during this playoff run. It’s certain that a 19-year-old Russian who has never played a game in North America and who enters the locker room with a reputation as a savior with 1 or 2 games to play in the season… It can be disturbing.

We have just had some initial feedback from the Canadiens’ locker room, and Patrik Laine does not seem very impressed by Demidov’s arrival.

Anthony Martineau presented his comments on the JiC show, earlier in the evening:

“I know he’s Russian and he’s a left-handed player… That’s not much. I don’t really watch the KHL. Yeah, I mean, he looks super talented. […] I think European hockey is a bit boring. Big rinks, fewer chances. Slower pace. Less skating. I like it here with the smaller rinks. It’s an adaptation for all young players, they have to experience it. It’s the league with the best players, and right now, entering the playoffs, it’s not an ideal time to do it.”

— Patrik Laine


Let’s make a few observations.

First, it’s essential to mention that the argument about the larger ice rink comes with a caveat. According to Grok (the information is difficult to verify), only 1 or 2 teams still play on an international-sized ice rink (60×30), while about ten teams play on a Finnish-sized ice rink (60×28) and another ten on an NHL-sized ice rink (60×26).

Then, we may have a good example that perfectly explains the Canadiens’ desire to temper the hype: the savior syndrome will not be unanimous. At the same time, should we rely on a unique guy like Patrik Laine? What is the real general sentiment in the locker room, and who really has negative feelings?

If we read between the lines, Laine is calling for calm in the most Laine way possible.

Demidov must prove himself, and the difference between the KHL and the NHL is (according to him) enormous.

Is it a strange intervention? Yes and no. Laine is probably right, in the end, to lower expectations. It remains an unconventional response from the future teammate of a young player who is unanimously recognized by experts, I’ll give you that.

But Jean-Charles makes a point by saying that when he leaves the arena, Laine, hockey no longer exists: he probably never saw the young player play hockey, sincerely.

That being said, let’s not invent a world of unicorns: the mistrust of veterans towards young players exists in professional sports. Remember that LeBron James’ teammates in Cleveland in 2003 were not impressed by him. “We have better players in his position than him,” Carlos Boozer said before his rookie season. Darius Miles doubted that you could expect a significant impact from a player from high school. *Sarcastic saxophone music on a montage of the highlights*

Overtime

Lane Hutson showed himself to be much more positive, he who had already been so during a live broadcast with Samuel Montembeault. The imminent Calder winner is excited.

“I see his highlights all the time. He’s very special, that’s for sure. It looks like he can play anywhere in the lineup and help. I’m excited to see what he can do and what we can do together. He’s going to fit in.”

— Lane Hutson

Anyway, I’m looking forward to seeing where Martin St-Louis will place the young man in the lineup. That’s not unanimous either.

In any case, he’s arriving!

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Ivan Demidov : the SKA was going to offer him a five-year contract

For the past 48 hours, it’s been Ivan Demidov madness in Montreal. The prospect, who wasn’t expected this season, has finally been released by SKA and is currently on his way to join the Habs in Toronto.

Let’s recall that he will set foot on Canadian soil in about two hours.

That being said, seeing SKA change its mind and release him is really something special. Roman Rotenberg, his coach in Russia, justified it all by saying he wanted to respect the kid’s wishes… and that a series with Ovechkin-Demidov would be big talk in Russia.

However, this morning, a high-ranking SKA official also admitted that the reality of the salary cap in the KHL worked against the team in its attempt to keep Demidov.

And what we’re learning now is that SKA had intended to offer Demidov a contract extension that would have made him the team’s highest-paid player…

And that contract would have been for a duration of five years.

By reading the article from MatchTV (a Russian media outlet that is the source of this information), we understand that the salary cap ultimately worked against SKA. In fact, what needs to be understood is that Demidov’s salary would not have counted towards the team’s payroll next season due to his age, but beyond 2025-26, it would have.

Let’s recall that in Russia, the details of player contracts are extremely difficult to find. We don’t know what Demidov’s salary would have been for such a contract (because we don’t know what the highest-paid player on SKA is currently earning)… but in any case, he risks making a lot more money on his second contract, which will start in 2027-28.

Imagine the reaction in Montreal if Demidov had accepted such an offer. The team would have been deprived of its best prospect for the next five years… and who knows if he would have ever made the jump.

Luckily, the kid dreams of the NHL… and luckily, the salary cap worked against SKA in all this. Because if the announcement of Demidov’s arrival has brought a ton of happiness to Habs fans over the past two days, the opposite would have been true if he had decided to extend his stay in Russia for five more years…

Overtime

– Hello, Lane.

– Will he be able to convince Sidney Crosby to go with him?

– News about the Habs’ most popular European prospect at the moment, hehe.

– Good news.

– Notable.

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The Canadiens do not seem to be missing Kirby Dach right now

Kirby Dach’s last game this season was on February 22.

The forward of the Habs was operated on the knee a few days later (on February 28) and at that time, the Habs announced that the player would miss the rest of the season.

Dach should be ready to return to play at the beginning of the next campaign. It must be difficult for him on a moral level because he also missed the entirety of the 23-24 season due to a serious knee injury…

But in reality, the Habs do not seem to be missing the player who was playing as the 2nd center before his injury.

And I say that for a reason: since Dach’s injury, the Habs have a record of 13 wins, four losses in regulation, and four more losses in overtime.

The Habs are playing at a .714 pace since February 23.

And at that level, only the Blues, Avalanche, and Stars are doing better in the entire NHL…

(Credit: LNH.com)

I’m not suggesting that Kirby Dach was hurting the Habs before he got injured.

But, in reality, things are going better since he’s no longer in the lineup for reason X, and that’s noticeable.

The Habs don’t seem to be missing him at the moment, and I wonder how much the organization is taking notes on that right now.

Because we must not forget one thing: Kent Hughes is evaluating the players he has on hand right now because he wants to go get a quality player for his top-6 this summer.

For that to happen, he will have to pay a high price… and we can question whether Dach can be part of a similar transaction, given that the club is really capable of managing without him.

Dach has the potential to be good, but will the Habs want to be patient with him, especially with Ivan Demidov arriving in town? It’s going to be tough for Dach at the beginning of the next season because he will be coming back from a long way – just like it was at the beginning of the current campaign.

Will the Habs want to give him the time to regain his form? Again, with Demidov arriving, expectations will change…

All of this to say that the Habs are one of the best teams in the league since #77 went down.

It’s maybe just a coincidence, but still. If that’s the case, it’s a pretty big coincidence…

In overtime

– There will be many jerseys with the #93 in Montreal!

– I love the energy.

– Oh well.

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Pressure: Carey Price developed an eating disorder early in his career in Montreal

Carey Price did not have it easy when he arrived in the NHL.

He had to prove himself and it was difficult because in front of him, there was Jaroslav Halak who seemed to be on the point of becoming one of the best goalies in the National League.

Obviously, this added pressure on Price’s shoulders – already a lot – and it’s maybe also why we had to wait a little longer to see him bloom as one of the best goalies in the world.

But at some point, it started to be so intense for Price that he developed an eating disorder.

Martin Leclerc talked about it in the recent episode of the Tellement Hockey podcast:

Clearly, there are links to be made with Ivan Demidov.

The Habs prospect arrives in town while all eyes are on him… and we understand that there will be pressure on him from the moment he puts on the Habs jersey.

I’m eager to see what it will give because at the last draft, Demidov told the Montreal Canadiens management that he loved the pressure.

His agent said the same thing yesterday on the Sick Podcast – The Eye Test: the kid is a guy who runs on big moments and big markets. It’s mainly for this reason that he wanted to be selected by the Habs in the draft.

Because of the pressure, it will be on Ivan Demidov’s shoulders. It’s been almost a year that we’ve been talking about him as the next star of the Habs and we’ve seen him dominate the KHL this season.

There will be pressure… but there will also be expectations.

That being said, the guys are so eager to see him in the locker room that I think Demidov’s adaptation to the group and his new city could be easy.

I really feel that the players will welcome him in the right way… and it will help him get used to the market outside the rink.

He will have to produce on the ice too, of course. But with his girlfriend coming with him and the guys treating him well, he won’t be alone in his world.

Overtime

– Sick.

– Well done.

– The new arrivals!

– Good.