The Montreal Canadiens were trailing the Ottawa Senators by a goal at the Bell Centre on Nov. 1 when a rookie winger took over.
As the seconds and minutes ticked down in the third period, Ivan Demidov received the puck coming up the right wall in the offensive zone.
Senators defenceman Nick Jensen appeared ready to contain him. Or at least try.
But Demidov made a quick turn down the boards before, in an instant, leaning hard into his edges once more toward the blue line, leaving Jensen moving in the wrong direction. Suddenly, Demidov was alone in the high slot.
Senators centre Dylan Cozens was the closest defender to Demidov, who knew Cozens would be moving aggressively to block a shot. Demidov used that knowledge to his advantage, deceptively selling a shot before passing to Lane Hutson, then stepping around a diving Cozens and accepting a return pass from Hutson in the heart of the slot, where his one-timer tied the game.
It was Demidov’s third goal of the season, one that demonstrated his incredible hockey sense. He has scored 13 more since.
“I think this is one of my favourite goals,” Demidov said during a long conversation last week, his first one-on-one interview since arriving in North America nearly a year ago.
After hugging Hutson and celebrating with his teammates, Demidov pointed into the crowd — acknowledging two of the 20,962 in attendance, the two people most responsible for where he found himself in that moment: his parents Aleksei and Olga, experiencing their first NHL game.
In fact, it was the first time Aleksei had ever been to North America and the first time the pair had seen their son realizing a dream that’s not only his, but the family’s, as well.
The goal and the celebration were even more significant than they appeared. The edge work, the deception, the hockey IQ, the compete, the work ethic: Everything that makes Demidov a special hockey player comes as a result of a life-changing decision Aleksei and Olga made 13 years earlier.
“I owe them everything,” Demidov said.
Ivan Demidov acknowledges his parents by pointing into the crowd after scoring a game-tying goal on Nov. 1, 2025. (Vincent Ethier / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Demidov was born in Sergiyev Posad, Russia, in 2005, which is easily verifiable on any hockey website.
But that is not his hometown.
He grew up in Dmitrov, about 50 kilometres to the west of Sergiyev Posad and roughly 90 minutes north of Moscow. When he was due to be born, there was a viral outbreak in Dmitrov and all the hospitals were closed, forcing his parents to make the trip to Sergiyev Posad.
If you want an idea of how Demidov is wired, just ask him to describe his hometown.
“It is a pretty small city, maybe 70,000 people,” he began. “I lived close to the outdoor rink, maybe 50 metres. And also, it’s not that good of a hockey team, but all the stuff there is pretty good, the facilities. We have four ice rinks there.
“When I was growing up, there was a lot of tournaments, 4 Nations, 5 Nations, under-18, so I used to see Jack Eichel when I think he was 17 years old. I didn’t even know who was this guy, but it was pretty special to me that other countries played there. Maybe someone from our team even played there, I don’t know.”
His only description of Dmitrov that doesn’t pertain to hockey is the population — and that tells you just about everything you need to know about Demidov.
His entire life, and that of his older brother, Semyon, has had hockey as the centrepiece.
Demidov was in skates at age two, and though his father Aleksei never played at a high level, he quickly recognized the talent in his two sons.
Aleksei drove a truck for a living, while Olga worked in retail sales. But when Demidov was about six years old and Semyon was nine, the family made an important decision to go all-in on hockey.
Aleksei stopped working and devoted his full attention to his sons and their hockey development, leaving Olga to support the family.
“It was not an easy decision, but we believed it was the right one,” Olga Demidova said, through Demidov’s agent Dan Milstein. “We owned two small apartments at the time, and we chose to sell one so that Aleksei could focus entirely on the boys’ hockey careers. Everything was done with a clear purpose and long-term belief in their path.”
This close contact with his father, and a near-constant focus on hockey, formed the Demidov we see today.
“My father is the type of guy where if you start doing something, he’s not going to let you rest until the job is finished,” Demidov said. “My mom also, she also was obsessed with me and my brother playing hockey. It was going well, so she tried to help us for all the stuff around hockey.”
The timing of Aleksei’s decision to devote himself to his sons’ hockey careers might not actually be all that surprising.
Demidov’s first hockey memory came a year earlier, and is telling.
Remember, he was born Dec. 10, 2005.
“I don’t know why, but I remember one practice. It was a practice with ’02s,” Demidov said, referring to the players’ birth year. “My brother is ’02, but he wasn’t there because he was practicing with the 2000s, and I was practicing with the ’02. This group, we did some drills, but I didn’t even know those guys were much older than me.
“Once my age group started (hockey), the ’05 group, and my dad was like, ‘All right, we’re going skating with your age.’ I’m like, ‘What do you mean my age? I’m not going to go with them, they’re too young for me.’ And I was the youngest guy in my age group! But I’m like, ‘I’m not going to go there.’ Because I didn’t even know that I was the same age as those guys. I was skating with the ’04, the ’03 and the ’02, and I was thinking they were all my age. Maybe the ’02s, I knew they were older, but the ’04 and ’03, I thought they were my age.”
This was 2010. He was five years old. The kids he was skating with in the ’02 group were eight. That is a massive developmental difference. But he didn’t see much of a gap at all.
“It was normal if we talk about skills,” Demidov said. “Obviously, they were more physically (developed). But for the skills it was, I think, the same.”
The coach of the ’05 group was a friend of his father’s, so Demidov eventually agreed to skate in his own age group. Again, he was five.
“The first skate, everyone is skating without sticks. They can’t skate,” Demidov said, still busting out laughing at the memory. “And I’m just going with my dad in some corner doing figure eights with pucks already.”
Ivan Demidov, right, with father Aleksei and older brother Semyon in Dmitrov, Russia. (Courtesy of the Demidov family)
The following year, Aleksei quit his job and became a full-time hockey dad.
As Demidov got older, his days became increasingly geared toward hockey. His typical school day saw him going on the ice at least three times, whether it was at that outdoor rink 50 metres from the house or one of the four indoor rinks in Dmitrov.
“My day was like, Tuesday and Thursday we had two practices at the outdoor rink,” Demidov explained. “But on the other days I would skate in the morning with my team, and then school, five classes, then going back (home), eat, going for the second practice with the team, going back after practice, eat at home, do some homework for school, and then go back with my dad to this rink.”
So, how long would he go to the outdoor rink with his dad after that long day?
“I mean, we would go at around 7 p.m., and the lights are off around 10. So …”
The implication was clear. They stayed until they turned the lights off.
Rinse, repeat. Day after day.
“Usually if there was not a lot of people, we just worked on skills,” Demidov said. “But if there was a lot of people, we would just play hockey, build confidence. It was pretty good, I feel.”
This is where the edge work comes from. This is where the compete comes from. This is where the work ethic comes from.
Early in Demidov’s life, it was Aleksei who pushed him to work. But at a young age, right around the time Semyon left to play in the national U16 hockey league, Demidov became self-motivated.
“The funny thing is for kids, when it’s a lot, they can say, ‘No, I don’t want to do it,’” he said. “But I was another type of kid. … It happened obviously sometimes, but maybe at age 13, I was like no, I can’t. I didn’t want to lie to myself because I didn’t do it.
“I realized at 12 or 13 to just be honest with you and yourself.”
Demidov is still a rink junkie. He is on the ice all the time. At 20, he remains honest to him and himself.
Milstein, Demidov’s agent, has two other clients with a similarly special understanding of the game. They are legends, and he doesn’t hesitate to put Demidov in the same group.
“If I put my clients Pavel Datsyuk, Nikita Kucherov and Demidov in the same room, I’m not sure who would have a higher hockey IQ,” Milstein said. “They’re very similar in the way they think, the way they view opponents. They are the most intellectual players I’ve come across.”
Eight years ago, when Milstein’s scouts in Russia informed him there was a player he needed to see, he boarded a plane to see Demidov in person.
“When I met with the kid for the first time, I thought it was a very mature, 27-year-old hockey player who was very aware, watching a lot of video,” Milstein said. “He was very smart.”
Demidov was 12.
When Demidov was told last week of what his agent said about his hockey IQ, he immediately began laughing and shaking his head.
“No. I’ll tell Dan, but at this point maybe it’s too early, because clearly Datsyuk and Kuch, they’re on another level,” Demidov said. “I couldn’t say right now we have the same type of IQ because even this experience that they have, they have more of those situations than me and they will figure out (problems) much faster, much easier because of those situations.”
Demidov is living those situations right now, and his teammates and coach are already impressed with how he’s been able to process the speed and the skill of the NHL game at such a young age.
That goal against the Senators with his parents in the building was an example, but Demidov has demonstrated it consistently since.
“His edges and compete really help him out in those situations,” Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki said after a win against the Carolina Hurricanes last Tuesday in which Demidov scored the insurance goal on a breakaway in the third period. “He’s probably been doing that his whole life.”
Suzuki, of course, had little idea how true that is. Demidov’s whole life has been spent preparing for what he is now experiencing, and he will go through the situations that will allow him to compare his hockey IQ to his heroes Datsyuk and Kucherov as time goes on.
But for now, Demidov’s first full season in the NHL has been a challenge. Even if he has spent his entire life playing hockey, the rhythm and pace of this NHL season haven’t been easy.
“It’s pretty hard, because you’re 19 years old and it’s your first year playing that type of games in a row,” Demidov said. “For example, last year I played around 78 games. But (at) that time when I played (in Russia), we start earlier (in the year), you have so many days off between games. … So you have a lot of days where you can go to sauna to rest and your body is feeling good. But here, it’s like, you don’t have those days. You’re just playing, playing, playing, playing, and also your mind, you have to rest.”
And the difficulty of his first full NHL schedule does not even take into account the culture shock Demidov and girlfriend, Ekaterina Yakovleva, are attempting to adjust to. The two live downtown with their dog, Céline, named after superstar singer Céline Dion, who announced the Demidov draft pick for the Canadiens in Las Vegas in 2024.
“Sometimes, yeah, you feel, I don’t know, you miss your house, you miss your friends in Russia. I mean, miss everything in Russia,” Demidov said. “But life is life. Just keep going and you have to, just don’t lose your memories. I feel pretty good here, everyone lives hockey. Sometimes it’s getting annoying, sometimes it’s pretty funny.”
Ivan Demidov and parents Olga and Aleksei in the Canadiens dressing room. (Courtesy of the Demidov family)
Asked last week to identify the moment this season that best demonstrated Demidov’s hockey IQ, Hutson chose that goal against the Senators on Nov. 1, largely because Demidov had scored a very similar goal to tie the game late in the home opener against the Seattle Kraken a few weeks earlier.
Hutson is Demidov’s roommate on the road. They have a similar single-minded obsession with hockey and have grown close over the last year. But when asked if he knew that was the first time Demidov’s parents had ever seen him play live in the NHL, Hutson said he didn’t.
When that game against the Senators ended, with the Canadiens winning on an Alex Newhook goal in overtime, Demidov made his way to the team’s family lounge after addressing the media, showering and getting back into his suit — something he still wears to every game despite the NHL’s loosened dress code.
In the lounge, his parents were waiting. He had just provided them with a memory they worked for years to produce.
That night, sitting in a full Bell Centre and watching their son electrify the crowd with an incredible goal, made it all worth it.
“(It) was a very special and emotional moment for us,” Olga Demidova said. “After all the years of sacrifice and commitment, to see Ivan step on the NHL ice for the first time meant a great deal. We were extremely proud and deeply happy to share that moment together as a family.”
It was wholly appropriate. Because Demidov’s NHL success is his family’s success.
And it is only getting started.
