The Montreal Canadiens have been hitting home runs with quite a few draft picks lately. Not only is Lane Hutson the reigning Calder Trophy winner, but they could have another star rookie in Ivan Demidov this season. Demidov is the next big hope for a superstar forward for Montreal, a highly touted prospect out of Russia who is looking to take the NHL by storm. The Habs have been drafting Russians pretty regularly since Kent Hughes became the general manager (GM), and it seems like they may hit pay dirt on more than just Demidov.
Bogdan Konyushkov
Bogdan Konyushkov is probably the most NHL-ready of the bunch. He has played the last three seasons in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) with Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod and served as captain in his second season. He was drafted in the fourth round, 110th overall, in 2023 by the Canadiens. Since he is under contract in the KHL, the Habs were not able to have him come over to North America, but he has been a pretty solid defenceman in the KHL, even at his young age. In 199 KHL games, Konyushkov has 70 points, and at just 22 years of age, he has already made a KHL All-Star Game, been the team captain and helped Torpedo’s minor teams in the Junior Hockey League (MHL) and Supreme Hockey League (VHL) to championships in 2023 and 2025, respectively.
His resume in Russia is pretty full, and he was able to attend the Canadiens development camp this offseason, which is one step closer to him joining the team in the near future. He is a right-handed defenceman, and Montreal requires good depth defencemen on the right side. Still, with Noah Dobson and Alex Carrier leading the way and David Reinbacher close to being an NHL player, the team can afford to wait a bit longer. Konyushkov has top-four potential, but will probably be a third-pair defenceman in the future behind Dobson and Reinbacher.
Alexander Zharovsky
The Canadiens drafted Alexander Zharovsky in the second round, 34th overall, in the 2025 NHL Draft. He possesses pure skill that surpasses most players his age. He has a very high offensive IQ and excels at the things in the game that can’t be taught. He started slow in the MHL with only six points in his first 16 games, but then put it all together and finished the season with 50 points in 45 games for Tolpar Ufa. He was supposed to start his KHL career this season with Salavat Yulaev Ufa, but an injury has kept him out of the lineup so far. Zharovsky is a high-risk, high-reward type player. Even though his skill is off the charts, he is very raw and needs to improve his skating and defensive play.
He can create scoring chances for himself, but he is also an excellent finesse passer who can create chances for his teammates. Still with some bad habits from his junior years, he will need to work hard to overcome them and develop his skills at an elite level. Time will tell if he can become a top-six forward with his skill alone, or if he has just top-nine potential who can be inserted on the power play. If he has a good season in the KHL, the Habs will know where they stand with him. Hughes also asked Demidov his thoughts on Zharovsky before drafting him, and the future Hab phenom had a lot of positive things to say.
Yvgeni Volokhin
Yvgeni Volokhin was drafted by Montreal in 2023, 144th overall. Hughes and company went goaltender-heavy in this draft, also drafting Jacob Fowler and Quentin Miller. Of the three drafted, Fowler is the highest-rated prospect and looks to be a goalie of the Habs’ future. Volokhin is probably the next best goaltender in the Canadiens’ system, as he dominated the MHL over the last couple of seasons with Mamonty Yugry. The problem with Montreal and its goaltending is that they have an abundance of them right now, with Sam Montembeault and Jakob Dobes in Montreal and Fowler with the Laval Rocket. Volokhin is behind on the depth chart.
Related: Konyushkov & Volokhin: Canadiens’ 2 Dynamic Russian Prospects
Even with Volokhin’s dominance of the MHL, he struggled last season when he made the jump to the KHL. In 28 games with HC Sochi, he only had a .901 save percentage (SV%), which doesn’t compare at all to his career .832 SV% in the junior league. This could be a concern for the Canadiens in his development, but he is only 20 years old and has more than enough time to work out his problems. Montreal has time, like I mentioned earlier; they have Dobes and Fowler ahead of him in the pipeline, and it looks like they both project to be NHL starters. Worst-case scenario, Volokhin can become a sound trade chip or a solid backup if the team moves on from one of the other two.
Demidov could become the next big thing in Montreal, but he has friends who are coming along in the future. It seems from a Russian standpoint, the Canadiens have their bases covered with defence, goaltending and skilled forwards. They also have Alexander Gordin, Makar Khanin, Dmitri Kostenko, Danill Sobolev and Arseni Radkov in the Russian system drafted. Canadiens head scout Nick Bobrov is keeping a close eye on Russian talent and hoping they don’t miss.
