Canadiens sign Ivan Demidov to 8-year contract extension

The Montreal Canadiens signed forward Ivan Demidov to an eight-year contract extension worth $9.15 million a year on Wednesday, his agent, Dan Milstein, tweeted, locking in another core piece for the foreseeable future.

Demidov led all NHL rookies in scoring with 62 points in 82 games this season and added nine points in 19 playoff games.

At the end of the season, he expressed a desire to have this contract done quickly this summer and to be in Montreal for the long term.

That’s now done.

To get the eight-year term on the contract, Demidov and the Canadiens had to come to terms by Sept. 15, at which point the new seven-year term limit for signing a team’s own players in the new collective bargaining agreement goes into force.

With Demidov locked in through the 2034-35 season, the Canadiens now have Nick Suzuki (2030), Cole Caufield (2031), Kaiden Guhle (2031), Mike Matheson (2031), Juraj Slafkovský (2033), Noah Dobson (2033), Lane Hutson (2034) and Demidov signed at a total annual cap hit of $62.375 million through the 2029-30 season, when the NHL salary cap could be approaching $130 million.

That will provide the Canadiens with incredible flexibility to add an impact player or two to this core and sign some of the prospects who could also be added to it, such as Michael Hage and David Reinbacher.

The Canadiens can now turn their attention to extending goaltender Jakub Dobeš, a fellow rookie this season who carried the goaltending load over the second half of the season and into the playoffs. Dobeš has one season left on his contract, but has arbitration rights when it expires next summer.