Kaiden Guhle hit Frank Nazar to avenge Ivan Demidov

“If you target one of our young talented players, I’ll do the same. I think they (Blackhawks players) expected that.”

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Kaiden Guhle

That’s exactly the mentality we want to see in the Montreal Canadiens: a close-knit team that sticks together and protects each other as teammates. The Canadiens is no longer the club that lets itself be intimidated. This was evident in the preseason game against the Ottawa Senators in Quebec City, where the Rocket’s Florian Xhekaj, Luke Tuch and Tyler Thorpe are still around, even though the team already has a few big men in the lineup. They could certainly add some player protection and physical strength in the years to come, and that’s encouraging.Also in Basu’s piece, Jake Evans recently spoke about Demidov, and according to him, it’s not even his talent that impresses him the most. In fact, it’s more the fact that Demidov is an excellent person. His enormous raw talent hasn’t turned him into an unpleasant teammate; rather, the Russian is always looking to learn from everyone. Evans’ comments can be found towards the end of Basu’s article:

“He always wants to learn. He doesn’t care if you’re a lot less talented than him, he always wants to learn from everyone.”

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Jake Evans

That pretty much sums up the type of person and teammate Demidov is. Not only is he overflowing with talent and has all the tools for a glorious career, but he’s also a hockey fanatic (a bit like Lane Hutson) and is constantly striving to become a better player. When you see a player with talent spilling out of his ears being involved in other (surprising) facets, it’s extremely encouraging.

This is exactly the kind of culture the Montreal Canadiens are trying to instill within the organization, and Demidov is taking it to heart. However, if he wants to be more successful, he’s going to have to show more, because in Martin St-Louis’s eyes, he doesn’t deserve much playing time(he’s the Habs’ third least-used player this season).

’Overtime’

– The Canadiens aren’t the only ones in the boat looking for top-6 reinforcements.

– Would it be Dustin Wolf or another Flames goalie going the other way for an established goalie? Wolf has excellent potential, it would be counterproductive to trade him in my opinion.

– Cowan will make his NHL debut tonight on the Maple Leafs top line.

– It’s about time.