Habs Sign Ivan Demidov To An 8-Year Extension

Demidov had an amazing rookie season with the Canadiens, where he finished as the runner-up to New York Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer for the Calder Trophy while leading all first-year players in assists with 43 and points with 62. Seeing all the contracts that have been given out by teams in recent days, the Habs have managed to lock up their young star at a very team-friendly deal under $10 million a year for a player that has a chance at being a legitimate superstar.

While the cap hit is $9.15 million per year, Demidov’s contract will actually be filled with signing bonuses throughout the length of the deal. Sportsnet’s Eric Engels was the first to report that $58 million of the $73.2 million that Demidov is set to collect over the length of the contract will be in a signing bonus, which includes $21 million in the first two years of the deal. Using signing bonuses is a great way for the Habs to be able to sign their players’ cap hits, and they use it better than anyone across the league. Demidov’s deal also comes with a 10-team no trade list in years 6-8 of the contract.

Now that Demidov’s contract is locked up, the Canadiens have their core six players locked up until 2030 (Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, Lane Hutson, Noah Dobson, and Demidov) for a total of $50.8 million, which will give them a lot of manoeuvre when making moves to add key complementary players around their stars. This will allow them to be one of the most competitive teams in the league for nearly the next decade, as it seems the Habs stars are buying into what management is selling. It should be noted that still to this day, no team has won a Stanley Cup with someone being paid over $10 million. It will get broken soon enough, but if that continues for another few years, the Habs may be able to be part of that trend.

Even today, the 20-year-old Demidov’s new extension looks good for year 1 of that deal considering the going rate across the league, which means that throughout the length of this deal it has a chance of being the best contract in all of hockey at some point, especially if Demidov reaches his potential of becoming a 100-point winger in the NHL. One thing that is for sure is that Hughes is a master at negotiations and can manage to get anyone signed for less than what market value is.

What is one phrase you would use to describe Demidov’s new contract?