32 Thoughts: Montreal electrified by stud prospect Ivan Demidov

• Remembering Greg Millen
• Why Jakob Chychrun’s contract is generating discussion
• How the Winnipeg Jets have prepared for the 2025 playoffs

There is one Greg Millen memory ALWAYS good for a laugh.

Our Anaheim hotel during the 2007 Stanley Cup Final had an outdoor basketball court, inevitably leading to testosterone-fuelled trash talk. Finally, it was time to put up or shut up: Millen, Kelly Hrudey and then-executive producer Joel Darling vs. myself and two other producers — Mike Dodson and Brian Spear. 

There was slight generational divide. Millen was about to turn 50. Hrudey was 46, Joel in the same range. (Sorry for the old-school basketball reference, but he was the Tree Rollins of their team: a big body to commit illegal screens and flagrant fouls.)

I was 36. Dodson was the same age, Spear a little younger. 

We got our asses kicked. I was horrendous — as bad as I could possibly play — and they destroyed us.

Elite athletes may retire, but their fire never fizzles. It wasn’t enough for Greg and Kelly to win. They desired to inflict a beatdown of epic proportions, which they did.

Kelly is more of a silent assassin. He spent the whole game smiling at the carnage. 

Millsie let me have it. After every bucket, he’d say, “Just let the ball do the work.” 

Then, it was: “Just let the ball do the work, right Kelly?” 

Or: “Elliotte, just let the ball do the work.” 

I wanted to work the ball right down his throat, but if you walk the walk, you get to talk the talk. Endlessly, it seemed.

Greg loved that story, and to be honest, so did I. We all need a butt-kicking from time-to-time. As I moved from rinkside to the studio, we worked with each other less, but whenever we caught up, rarely did it go unmentioned. “Showed you a thing or two,” he’d laugh.

You’ve probably heard about his love for practical jokes. We played in the Kathy Morrison Memorial Golf Tournament one year. As I was headed to the shower, he had a smile on his face, so he was up to something. When he saw me moments later, he looked confused. 

“How did you get the shaving cream off so fast?”

I had no idea what he was talking about, and he raced to the rack to prevent the towel he’d stuffed full of shaving cream from being used by someone else. 

Being the victim of a Millen prank — or an attempt at one — showed he was on your side. The first time Greg and I worked together at Hockey Night, I didn’t know them that well. He went to meet with a coach, and I hung back. He asked what I was doing; I said I was giving him his space.

He wouldn’t have any of it. “You’re part of the team, you come.” Small thing, but a big thing.

He took his work very seriously. On a flight or a long drive, out came his computer so he could critique his work. The Athletic’s Chris Johnston wrote Tuesday how Millen would let him know if he disagreed with something Chris said or wrote. I smiled because I was on the receiving end of those, too. 

He wasn’t afraid to challenge you if he felt you swerved from the proper path. We didn’t always agree, but it never got personal and it never affected our relationship. I liked that. 

But nothing brightened his face more than talking about his family — wife Ann, his four children, and eventual grandchildren. He won 232 regular-season and playoff NHL games, but no victories were bigger than the success of their children and births of their grandchildren. He could talk about them for hours. 

That’s the hardest thing about this, that such a family man had even more family to love. 

32 THOUGHTS

1. Doesn’t take much to feel the energy in Montreal when the team is making a late-season playoff charge, but downtown was absolutely electrified by Ivan Demidov’s shocking signing. It’s a massive “W” for the Canadiens, particularly since multiple sources felt as recently as Monday that it was unlikely to happen this season.

It’s a reminder about two things when it comes to KHL negotiations. First, what’s true now might not be true in 15 minutes and, second, NHL teams don’t like to say anything is done until it is absolutely, positively 100 per cent done.

A few people were asking about Demidov’s $525,000 Conn Smythe Trophy bonus for this spring. Washington agreed to something similar with Ryan Leonard, at $275,000. When players sign this late in a season, bonuses that can’t be achieved are wiped out. By including the “Conn Carrot,” teams allow a player to make more in years two and three of their entry-level deals. (There is a limit on how far apart values can be in different years of a contract.) The other thing that stood out was St. Petersburg’s announcement: “He will return to Saint Petersburg if he doesn’t gain a foothold in the NHL.” That indicates a European assignment clause. If he’s not in the NHL, he goes back to Russia. Not that anyone is expecting him to be sent down.

2. Anyone I know who’s seen Demidov play this year says he’s a stud. The buzz in the press box Tuesday night is that a) the hot dogs are still great and b) Demidov could play as soon as Monday versus Chicago. We’ll see.

3. Was talking with a few teams about the Demidov signing. It’s believed there were two aborted trades at last year’s draft that could have changed history. First was Chicago’s offer to trade their 2026 first-rounder (unprotected) for the fourth pick, which the Blue Jackets turned down. (They took Cayden Lindstrom.) Second was the Canadiens’ own attempt to acquire Trevor Zegras. I’ve never received complete clarity on why that deal didn’t happen, but I suspect it’s because the Canadiens changed their minds when they realized Demidov would fall to five — although they were not offering that particular pick in the Zegras deal.

4. Hurricanes and Devils fans are now wondering about Alexander Nikishin and Arseny Gritsyuk. Tripp Tracy said during the broadcast of Tuesday’s 3-0 Carolina loss in Buffalo that the Hurricanes are talking with Nikishin’s reps every day. Because Gritsyuk is 24, he can only sign a one-year contract, and it might be better for both him and the Devils to wait for a full season.

5. A couple of weeks ago, one source said to watch for Gabriel Landeskog joining AHL Colorado, because the Avalanche’s schedule is such that he won’t be able to practice at the level he needs. “If that happens, you’ll know this is real,” he said. Well, now he’s being loaned there. Game 1 of the playoffs?

6. Alexander Ovechkin’s historic goal wasn’t the only record he set on Sunday. Fanatics indicated he launched the most merchandise sales ever by an NHL player in one day. Ovechkin was the top-selling athlete across all sports and the Capitals were the top-selling team across all sports.

7. I’m unconvinced Ovechkin breaks the record this year if the Capitals continued to look as bad as they did at the start of last season. As the team surged towards the playoffs, he scored 23 goals in his last 36 games. They hit multiple home runs with their off-season moves, energizing him even further. That’s a huge part of this. There are others who believe he is being undersold in the Hart Trophy race, considering Washington is second in the league and he’s second in goals-per-game behind Leon Draisaitl.

Ovechkin is at 1,022 goals for his professional career (regular season, playoffs and Russia). Wayne Gretzky’s final goal put him at 1,072 (regular season, playoffs and World Hockey Association), beating Gordie Howe by one. Ovechkin could break that one too. (Someone asked me about Jaromir Jagr. I counted him at just under 1,050. If you credit goals scored at international tournaments, he reaches 1,100.)

There was a lot I liked about the last week: Ovechkin refusing to break the record on an empty net or sit out road games; Gretzky wearing the Gordie Howe pin; that it came on a shot from the left circle. People are free to be critical as they wish, but I dislike jealousy. There was none from Gretzky, not that I expected anything different. I’m Michael Jordan for life, but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate what LeBron James has done. The negativity towards basketball’s current stars from other generations is gross.

8. It was signed two weeks ago, but there’s a lot of interesting discussion surrounding Jakob Chychrun’s eight-year, $72 million extension in Washington. At the start of the season, if you would have told everyone across the industry this would have happened, I don’t think anyone would have believed it. But: he played extremely well, the cap took a massive jump, the Capitals are second overall the league and John Carlson is 35.

I believe Washington knew for some time this was the price to get him signed. Initially they balked, but the more they considered all factors, they came around. The Capitals generally make good decisions, so this really piqued everyone’s interest. What really stands out is the amount of executives who have said (with time to think about it) they see this negotiation in their own futures. You have to re-calibrate your mind, a few said to me, that if the cap keeps going up, $9 million in a few years is not $9 million as it looks now. Not every team will be comfortable with these jumps, but for your eventual number one defenceman, you will need to be.

Carlson eventually will be a huge loss on their back end. When Washington scoured the free-agent/trade market, was there any better option than what they knew? 

9. I’m not yet sure how it is all going to work out between Vancouver and Rick Tocchet, but I do think this will be the end of one-sided, non-mutual options in coaching contracts. As Tuesday night’s historic comeback showed, the Canucks still play hard for Tocchet.

10. There will be more time to sort this out over the next week, but this is the time of year where we begin to get a better handle on the potential for change across NHL front offices and benches. I don’t like to guess, and a lot of mixed signals exist right now. There are some franchises awaiting ownership to make a final decision.

11. On that topic, we are taping some playoff preview stuff right now. Here’s Winnipeg owner Mark Chipman with as strong as an endorsement I’ve ever heard, for Kevin Cheveldayoff: “We’ve never even come to the last year of one of his contracts and we won’t. This is Kevin’s job. When you’re fortunate enough to work alongside somebody who cares as much as Kevin does, who knows as much as Kevin does, you hang on to those people…in any other business, you don’t just move off from people because things didn’t go the way it expected to occur in a certain year or two…Kevin has grown every year, and got better at his trade every year. And honestly, I’m not starting over with somebody else. I’m at an age where I feel certain he will outlast me in this organization.”

12. Finally some clarity on Isaac Howard: he is planning a return to Michigan State. Tampa Bay’s 2022 first-rounder can be an unrestricted free agent if unsigned by Aug. 15, 2026. I admit to being a little bit surprised, as the Lightning were promoting his Hobey Baker candidacy (Howard is a finalist). But word in NCAA circles is the team and Howard weren’t simpatico on where everything stood at this time. We will see how things proceed from here, especially if other teams are interested.  

13. At this time of year, with so much misinformation about injuries, I basically put everyone into two buckets. Bucket A is “concerned they will not be able to start the playoffs.” Bucket B is “not that concerned.” For example, Gabe Vilardi moved from Bucket A towards Bucket B this week when Jets coach Scott Arniel said he is getting closer to skating. New Jersey’s Sheldon Keefe said there’s a chance Dougie Hamilton could return for round one, but that’s still Bucket A. Dallas GM Jim Nill told ESPN’s Leah Hextall last weekend the Stars “don’t expect” Miro Heiskanen in the first round, very un-good.

Two we’re still waiting on are Dylan Holloway and Matthew Tkachuk. As Jim Montgomery said, Holloway will be out longer than St. Louis wanted or hoped, as we wait for a more definitive timeline. There’s a reason everyone looks for multiple opinions. Tkachuk — who has skated — sought out several different opinions, including overseas.

14. Rangers coach Peter Laviolette took some heat after Monday’s loss to Tampa Bay when he said he didn’t have a message for his team right now, because “I don’t go into the locker room after the game.” I can’t give you an exact percentage, but that’s not uncommon among coaches — especially after a loss. I’ve dealt with Laviolette enough over the years to know it’s not what he says, but how he says it (or how he looks when he says it). The look on his face said it all. 

15. When the GMs wanted to discuss goaltender interference at the recent meetings, one of the things they wished to address was goalies who embellished to get calls. I heard some clips of Elvis Merzlikins were sent out. First was the controversial one with Kyle Palmieri that still has Islanders fans raging (although he gave the goalie an out by tiptoeing into the crease) and then contact with Vancouver’s Kiefer Sherwood that was outside the crease and not a penalty. Well, Merzlikins was called for tripping during Saturday’s loss in Toronto. Our guys in-studio did not like the penalty; what it said to me was GMs got their wish — that just as some players get embellishment reps, goalies can now get them, too.

16. The Jets enter Wednesday’s games three points clear of Washington for first overall. We’ve discussed before how honest their exit meetings were after losing to Colorado. During a recent trip to the Manitoba capital, a few of them went more in-depth, saying the focus was, “Could everyone get one per cent, five per cent or 10 per cent better?”

“You’re just trying to figure out what went wrong,” captain Adam Lowry said. “Obviously, we had a really good regular season. We ran into a really good Colorado team and they seemed to be able to flip the switch and take their game to another level. We weren’t able to match that and you have to do some reflection…(Nathan) MacKinnon’s line really had their way with our line. He’s a world-class player. He plays with world-class teammates. At the same time, that’s what we (go against) all year. How do we find a way to keep them off the board more?”

Head coach Scott Arniel said the players themselves learned a big lesson from Colorado’s best. “We saw a Stanley Cup champion team…they lost to Seattle the next year. We saw a team that was very, very upset…We had finished the year really well and we went in there, I don’t know if you’d call us the favourites. But we went against Colorado and we saw their experience. We saw their ability to play to the moment. We saw Nate McKinnon dumping pucks in. We saw third- and fourth-line players become huge factors for their group. There are elite players doing things that maybe they don’t always do for 82 games. They were playing a pretty strong team game. That was something we have to get to. That was why (we had) to be able to do this over 82 games. We know there’s still another level, we’ve done it a few times this year. Those are the lessons we’re going to use. Hopefully that is going to be good for us come playoff time.”

Arniel was particularly happy with a 3-2 win over Washington on March 25, calling it the kind of intense, fight-for-ice game that you’re going to have to win in the post-season.

17. During the summer, Arniel flew to Calgary to meet with Lowry, Josh Morrissey and Mark Scheifele. What they discussed there became the bedrock of training camp. There weren’t a lot of roster changes, but Lowry wasn’t concerned about that.

“I think what’s made our team so good over the years is the continuity of the players we bring back year-in, year-out.  We understand the structure, we understand the expectations, and we’re able to accommodate those new players coming in. They know what’s expected here, how we practice, how we play, the mantra of the 10 per cent better, and things like that. And then we have a meeting once the team’s made, what are things players want to own? What are things that we want to hang our hat on? And I feel like from that meeting moving forward, we’ve really carried those messages into the games, and the results have followed.”

“Josh and I spend a lot of time together in the summers and that’s something that we talk about a lot,” Scheifele said. “That’s an everyday thing, whether it’s in the gym, whether it’s treatment, whether it’s on the ice, it’s not about I need to change my game completely, it is a matter of how can I make this a little bit better and this a bit better — faceoff is a little better, D-Zone battle is a bit a better. When someone comes back and improves a little bit in every area, all of a sudden it pushes everyone’s level up. That’s what we’ve done here this year.”

“We’ve had a successful year, but it’s never felt like we’ve been too high or too low,” Morrissey added. “We’re working towards Game 83…It feels like our group has taken a step from a sense of maturity. And that’s why I feel confident we’re ready to go into the playoffs.” 

18. One of the words the Jets use is relentless. “The way I view it, the 10 per cent more is a critical,” Lowry said. “But as we’re heading to the ice, the word relentless is plastered on the wall above it. When we’re at our best, when we were playing the style we expect, we’re relentless. We’re a great skating team. We’re hard on the forecheck. We smother teams in the neutral zone, and then defend really hard…We have a few star players that really carry the mail offensively, but defensively, we’re a real stingy team. That’s all four lines, all three defence pairings, and both of our goalies. We’re relentless in our puck pursuit on the forecheck, on the backcheck. It’s a real long night when we’re playing that way.”

19. A couple more on Winnipeg. Asked a few Jets what makes Lowry mad. The most consistent answer was if a teammate gets cheap-shotted. Does he get mad in the room? Answer: Nowhere near as much as you’d think. Lowry laughed.

“No one likes to get embarrassed, right?” he said. “You make a mistake on the ice or you do something wrong. Generally, we know what we did wrong. But now you have someone yelling at you or calling you out in front of 18 other guys. And sometimes there’s a time and place for that because he might have made the mistake, but 12 other guys have made a mistake, and now you need to make a point where, as a team, this isn’t our standard, but…It doesn’t help them. People get defensive…We’re not mad at you. We just expect this. We expect you to play a certain level. I expect you to hold me accountable. I think it’s just a lot easier for people to receive the information when it comes from a place where they can let their guard down. They can kind of mentally think about it, and they don’t have to respond instantly, right? So I think the great thing about our locker room is we’re such a tight-knit team that people feel comfortable telling people when things aren’t going their way or when they feel like something needs to change, you can have those conversations. It doesn’t take weeks for it to become a habit or things like that.”

20. Finally, Arniel had some great comments about the 4 Nations and how it affected four of his players. Scheifele was not selected for Team Canada. Morrissey came down with that awful flu going around and missed the final. Kyle Connor was scratched for the final. Connor Hellebuyck and Team USA lost the championship in overtime.

“I knew that (Scheifele) was in the mix and and I told him as much. He was doing everything possible. He really wanted to play on that hockey team.” He was going to replace Sidney Crosby if Crosby’s injury kept him from playing.

“That was a big disappointment for me. I really felt he deserved an opportunity. No discount to any of the players that were there and obviously Canada winning was special. But at the end of the day, I was really hoping that just because of what he’s done in this league, what he’s done for the Winnipeg Jets and then the year he’s having. So I know he was really down, but he’s done a great job of trying to prove people wrong. And he’s trying to play to the best of his abilities every single night. With Josh, that was a tough phone call. He called me from Boston the afternoon (of the final). He had tried to get to the warmup and kept throwing up. And I knew how devastated he was. (Connor) not playing that game. It came down to numbers, whatever it might be. And then (Hellebuyck), losing in overtime. I did get to talk to them all. Just the experiences, what I’d of mentioned to those guys that you’re around greatness. You’re around great players, great situations and absorb that stuff because we’re going to need it in Game 83 and on from you guys. That’s the stuff they can bring back for themselves individually or for our group. That was stuff that we needed. And at the end of the day, it didn’t work out perfect for all of them, but they were in those situations, which was to me is the best part for their growth.”

21. Most impressive off-ice accomplishment of the season: Darnell Nurse read War and Peace. I know university students assigned to read it who couldn’t finish. The Oilers have quite the book club going.

22. Leon Draisaitl on the possibility of winning the Selke Trophy: That would be “almost more important than any other (individual) trophy at this point in time. Obviously, there’s been a lot of chatter about when we were younger that we can’t defend. And the reason we don’t win is because Connor and I can’t defend or don’t defend. And I think we’ve really changed that narrative around the league and especially the last couple of years. We’re both really, really good defenders when we want to be. I think it’s just the consistency part of doing it every night. And I think I’ve done that for the most part this year.”

23. With the de-centralized draft looking more and more like a one-year wonder (thank God), there was a suggestion made during a smaller group at the GM conversations to do what baseball does with its winter meetings. That’s a four-day palooza featuring all teams, free agents and their representatives with wall-to-wall coverage. In hockey’s case, that would include awards, draft and July 1 free agency in the same city. Not sure how to handicap the likelihood, but it will be discussed. It’s a great idea. After the Sphere draft last year, Toronto was one team that stayed in Vegas for free agency, so it is not such a huge leap. 

24. In the aftermath of Rogers’ Canadian television extension with the NHL, Commissioner Gary Bettman and Deputy Bill Daly were asked if they remembered getting it done so early. The current 12-year contact was signed in November 2013 — seven months before the previous one expired. ESPN (March 2021) and TNT (April 2021) announced their American partnerships late in the last season of NBC’s run. We are 14 months ahead of schedule. I don’t remember that happening…ever. Bettman and Daly didn’t either.

Rogers carefully separates church and state. It was Bettman who revealed during a television interview he was headed into a negotiation window with our bosses, and we didn’t know it was extended until last Wednesday’s announcement. (To be honest, when one NHL coach asked a few weeks ago if I thought a new deal would get done during that exclusivity, I laughed and said, “That never happens. The NHL always takes these to market.”)

The bigger question for fans is: what does this mean, big-picture? I have theories. First, it means Bettman got a number that made him (and the owners) happy. That’s obvious. Second — and this is more important to the hockey-loving public — it is another major financial cornerstone secured as serious CBA negotiations begin. That’s not a coincidence. The cap is set the next three years. Bettman can present a major media rights deal to the players and expansion is on the horizon. (Another one of my theories is that these negotiations have been going on at the highest levels of the NHL and NHLPA for a bit longer than anyone cares to admit, but that’s another story.) What is there to fight about? 

25. Here’s my expansion prediction: the NHL adds two teams, but not at the same time. I’ve heard there’s real concern about dilution of talent with two teams at once. My guess is the first is Houston, with 2028-29 a desire, although that means everyone’s got to get going. Price: Approximately $2 billion.

26. Bettman did not like “Future of Winnipeg” questions while discussing the TV deal. “It’s not an issue,” he said. “I don’t understand why people are questioning that.”

27. Speaking of the KHL, there were reports Carolina’s Dmitry Orlov was headed back there for next season, but I was told he’s going to stay in the NHL. He is an unrestricted free agent.

28. Colorado’s Cale Makar has 30 goals. AHL Colorado’s Jacob MacDonald has 29. If MacDonald scores one more, I believe it’s the first time an organization has had a defenceman reach 30 in both the NHL and the AHL during the same season. I can’t find another example. Columbus coach Dean Evason on what he told his players before facing Makar: “Don’t lunge. Yes, he’s going to beat you sometimes. Don’t make it worse by lunging at him.”

29. Not get getting enough attention: Karel Vejmelka’s made 21 straight starts for the Utahns — closing to within 481 of Glenn Hall’s NHL record. His save percentage is above .900 during that span, too. In an unrelated story, sports scientists are choking on their proteins.

30. Final arguments on the Ryan Johansen grievance will be heard next week. 

31. Lane and Cole Hutson’s undrafted older brother, Quinn, who will play for Boston University at the Frozen Four this week, has serious Western Conference interest.

32. Congratulations to Ottawa’s director of sports medicine, Gerry Townend, retiring this summer from this phase of his life after almost 35 years with the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts and then the Senators. We rarely get to call our own shots, but he’s getting to do it. I remember only one angry text: when he thought I questioned a legitimacy of an injury suffered by a player. Really enjoyed seeing him around. 

33. Just an awful week with the news Ray Shero passed away. I wasn’t even aware that he’d been ill. There are three things that immediately came to mind. First is the family tree of Stanley Cups with father Fred winning as coach of the Flyers and Ray following as GM of the 2009 Penguins. Second was during his time as GM of the New Jersey Devils. When he traded for PK Subban at the 2019 draft, he said, “You want to see the text message I got from Taylor Hall?” No words, a simple green checkmark icon. He loved that. Third, I met his sons at one of the NHL Drafts and mentioned that to him the next day. He was so proud of them and talked for about 10 minutes about how great they were. It’s a brutal way to end the blog. But one thing Greg Millen and Ray Shero had in common — they loved their families.

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