Canadiens draft Demidov with help from Celine Dion

Hughes said the Canadiens’ top priority in Las Vegas was to “continue to provide offensive firepower to our group,” and cited Demidov’s availability at 5 p.m. as one of two things that helped ensure Friday night went as planned.

Michael Hage: ‘My father would be so happy now’

The trade the GM made Friday morning – to acquire the 21st overall pick for picks 26, 57 and 198 in this draft – was the other.

The Canadiens selected 6-foot-3 center Michael Hage, who scored 33 goals and 75 points in 54 games this season for the USHL’s Chicago Steel.

“We had Michael Hage much higher than 21 on our list,” Hughes said. “We were hoping he would fall on us, and we had other plans if he didn’t fall. We talked to a lot of teams and had a lot of options. If he hadn’t fallen, we would have made a trade.’

The Canadiens also explored the possibility of moving up from fifth, and might have moved down if Demidov or another top forward on their roster had not been available to them.

“I would say it fell perfectly,” Hughes said.

He mentioned that the Canadiens’ interest in Demidov goes back to last year’s draft, and he told Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on the floor of the Sphere that the Canadiens were high on Hage this year for several reasons.

“Our guys liked his speed, his skills, his character, the fact that he’s going to spend a few more years in college getting stronger, and they think he’s going to be a really good player,” Hughes said.

Hage, who battled a shoulder injury that cut his 2022-23 season short to just five games and then dealt with the unthinkable tragedy of losing his father, Alain, in a freak swimming pool accident, is hoping to be much better next season at the University of Michigan.

After donning a Canadiens jersey for the first time, he told Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek that his father would have been so happy to see him in it.

“He did everything for me,” Hage said. “I couldn’t be happier, honestly. I grew up a Habs fan, my parents are both from Montreal, and my dad would be so happy right now. It’s a dream come true for me, honestly.”

He and Demidov are the first of at least 10 players the Canadiens could bring home from this draft. It will take time to see them play in Montreal, but as Hughes said, the goal is for them to be there for years and years.

Canadiens fans will be very excited to see Demidov play his first game once he becomes eligible.

Many of them, like Milstein, believe he will become an absolute superstar. And they are not the only ones.

Martin Lapointe, co-scouting director of the Canadiens, told TVA Sports: “He’s such a versatile player and he’s one of the best players, if not the best player, in this year’s draft.”

The boy also made a strong impression off the ice.

Hughes, who interviewed Demidov (along with Jeff Gorton, Canadiens executive vice-president of hockey operations) for the first time on Wednesday, was reassured, saying the Russian came across as confident without being arrogant, just as Slafkovsky did before being selected first overall in 2022 by the club.

Demidov appeared in exactly the same way in his interview with reporters after the draft, after Quebec megastar Celine Dion took the stage at the Sphere and shouted his name.

“Like a movie,” Demidov described the moment.

This was the first scene and it went almost exactly as the Canadiens had hoped.

Perhaps Hughes would have liked some upfront help for the here and now, as he did in swinging trades for Alex Newhook and Dach in the early rounds of the last two drafts. But he hasn’t ruled out the possibility of doing so via trade in the next 24 hours.

“We’ll go back, debrief and try to sleep instead of thinking about the next thing,” Hughes said. “But we’re not done trying yet.”