Confirmed: another Ivan Demidov is coming to the NHL soon
The Montreal Canadiens just got more good news out of Russia. Prospect Alexander Zharovsky is a finalist for the KHL Rookie of the Year award.
The announcement dropped Friday evening, and Habs Twitter lit up almost instantly. The parallel to Ivan Demidov was too obvious to ignore.
Zharovsky put up 16 goals and 26 assists for 42 points in 59 games with Salavat Yulaev Ufa. That is a serious rookie line in a men's league.
Demidov walked through the same door one year ago. He was the KHL's top rookie in 2024-2025, then arrived in Montreal and never looked out of place.
The numbers tell that part loud and clear. The Russian winger finished his first NHL season with 82 games played, 19 goals, 43 assists, and 62 points on a $940,833 cap hit.
Now Kent Hughes has another Russian forward pressing against the development timeline. The Habs already sit 48-24-10 with 106 points and a 7-3-0 record over their last 10.
Why Zharovsky's award nod squeezes Martin St-Louis's depth chart
Third-round picks are not supposed to finish top three in KHL rookie scoring. They are supposed to be projects, lottery tickets, lineup filler five years down the road.
The 19-year-old blew past that label. Nearly a point per game in the world's second-best league, stacked beside Matvei Polyakov and Mikhail Fyodorov on the finalist list.
Demidov went plus-4 over his last 10 NHL games with a Habs club that finished sixth in the overall standings. The bar inside Montreal's top six is climbing fast.
That is the part Hughes has to figure out. You cannot promise a Russian teenager an NHL job without showing him a runway, and Montreal's runway is filling up.
The Habs went 24-9-8 on the road and 24-15-2 at home this season. They are not rebuilding anymore. They are competing, and the prospects keep stacking up behind them.
Zharovsky still has term left on his KHL deal. Whether he honors it, asks out, or signs his ELC in the spring is the next domino Hughes will have to weigh.
-
|
YESTERDAY
MAY 22, 2026
| ||||
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Ivan Barbashev | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Jack Eichel | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Pavel Dorofeyev | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Ross Colton | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Rasmus Andersson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Brent Burns | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nazem Kadri | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nick Blankenburg | - | - | - | |
| Dylan Coghlan | - | - | - | |
| Nic Dowd | - | - | - | |
| Jack Drury | - | - | - | |
| Noah Hanifin | - | - | - | |
| Carter Hart | - | - | - | |
| Tomas Hertl | - | - | - | |
| Brett Howden | - | - | - | |
| William Karlsson | - | - | - | |
| Parker Kelly | - | - | - | |
| Keegan Kolesar | - | - | - | |
| Kaedan Korczak | - | - | - | |
| Brett Kulak | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||