Canadiens prospect Gleb Pugachyov is drawing heat online after a fight that fans are still arguing about this afternoon.
He's 18, born in Almaty, and Montreal made him the 26th overall pick in the 2026 draft. He's 6-foot-3, 200 pounds, and he has yet to play an NHL game, so for most Canadiens fans, clips like this are their first real look at him.
The initial reaction was what you'd expect. The Habs fan community saw a big first-round pick winning a fight and celebrated it loudly.
Then the replies started to pile up, and the mood shifted.
Some commenters say Pugachyov should have stopped once his opponent went down, calling it a bad look. Others claim he kept going for a bit while the other player was on the ground, and that players from the opposing side stepped in to break it up.
A Habs fan account put the post up this afternoon, saying Pugachyov "just beat the hell outta" the other player.
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Everything about the second half of that fight comes from the online comments, so it's worth treating carefully. But if it went the way those commenters describe, the criticism is fair. Hockey's code on fighting is old and simple: when a guy is down, it's over. Winning the fight doesn't earn you extra punches.
Does one fight change how Montreal sees Pugachyov?
Not by itself. A fight involving a prospect who hasn't played an NHL game doesn't rewrite a development plan, and Montreal has no reason to rush anyone right now.
The Canadiens are 11-3-4 and sit third in the Atlantic Division. The roster is winning without a teenager who needs to prove anything.
What the fight does is hand him a reputation before he has a résumé. Some fans will see a 6-foot-3 center who isn't afraid of anyone. Others will remember a player who didn't stop when he should have.
That second version tends to stick when it spreads across social media, especially with opponents who feel like a line was crossed.
The Canadiens' attention tonight is in Boston, where they go for a win after Tuesday's 2-1 overtime loss to Minnesota. They carry a 7-0-3 record over their last 10 into the game. The debate over Pugachyov's fight is likely to keep going well past puck drop.
This article was written with the help of artificial intelligence, based on public reports and official sources.
Was Pugachyov wrong to keep going once his opponent was down?
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