The Montreal Canadiens’ management plan regarding Ivan Demidov is to bring him to North America as soon as next season. However, the SKA of Saint Petersburg has not yet had its final say, as the KHL organization is reportedly doing everything possible to extend the agreement with the Canadiens’ prospect.

In recent days, the head coach of the Canadiens’ prospect at the SKA, Roman Rotenberg, stated that the forward’s development is better in Russia than in Montreal.

According to him, the playing system in Saint Petersburg is stronger than in Montreal.

This would allow Demidov to have better progress at the moment.

 

Roman Rotenberg’s tactic to convince Ivan Demidov to stay in the KHL?

This statement comes less than a month after Kent Hughes, Vincent Lecavalier, and Nick Bobrov visited Russia to observe their young prospect.

A meeting between the three Montreal Canadiens members and the head coach of the SKA also took place, and everything seemed to go well.

 

Rotenberg’s latest comments seem to show that the SKA is doing everything possible to convince Demidov to stay in Russia next year. It’s no coincidence that the KHL organization has, in recent months, made several contract extension offers to the young man.

Ivan Demidov reportedly turned down no less than three contract extension offers from the SKA

Last October, Nicolas Cloutier of TVA Sports reported that Demidov had turned down no less than three contract extension offers from the SKA.

«Ivan turned them down three times, our source said on the phone. He doesn’t want anything to do with another year with the SKA.

One of the offers from the SKA would be for two years, worth an average of 40 million rubles, which is approximately 560,000 CAD. With bonuses that could exceed the value of the annual salary.» – TVA Sports

Russian officials seem to be doing everything they can to encourage Ivan Demidov to stay with them. We hope he doesn’t give in, especially considering his recent achievements in the KHL.