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We have a new twist regarding the much-anticipated arrival of Ivan Demidov with the Montreal Canadiens.

According to a report from the excellent Marco D’Amico this morning, Demidov was set to land in Toronto to meet up with his teammates this Saturday.

D’Amico is extremely reliable, and he was actually the first to break the news of Demidov’s signing with the Canadiens.

Martin St-Louis Seems to Contradict That Plan

Asked about Demidov, St-Louis had this to say:

“Martin St. Louis says he believes Ivan Demidov is in transit to Montreal.

Not sure when he will get here”

– Stu Cowan

But I thought he was going to meet the team in Toronto?

It’s strange to say, but I’m inclined to trust D’Amico more on this one.

It’s not that Martin St-Louis is trying to hide the truth or anything like that, but it just feels like he’s so locked in on the present, on managing the players he has right now, that he hasn’t had time to really think about Demidov yet.

Anyway, we’ll see what happens, but it’s odd that St-Louis thinks he’s en route to Montreal (and not Toronto).

Jeremy Filosa breaks it down very well here:

Martin St-Louis is not yet ready to talk about Demidov. He deflected questions about him this morning. I understand his mindset.

The Canadiens’ current mission is to qualify for the playoffs. That’s the next step to take, and they shouldn’t look beyond today and tomorrow.

St-Louis doesn’t have Demidov at his disposal yet, hasn’t even seen him at a single practice. I’m sure he’ll speak more about him once he’s arrived, once he’s seen him, and has a better idea of how he wants to use him when the time comes.

Martin St-Louis Focused on the Playoffs

It’s pretty wild to see that everyone seems to know more about the arrival of his own player than Martin St-Louis does, but honestly, part of me loves that.

It just shows how laser-focused he is on one thing: getting his team to the playoffs.

He’ll deal with Demidov once he walks into the locker room, but for now, 100% of his attention is on the guys already here.

That said.. it’s possible the plan did change and that Demidov is actually heading to Montreal, but honestly, I’d be pretty surprised.

The “Toronto plan” makes perfect sense, for several reasons:

Ivan Demidov will arrive in Toronto with his girlfriend around 7:00 p.m. (give or take 30 minutes).

Why Toronto and not Montreal?

To make things easier regarding his U.S. work visa, since he already has his Canadian visa, but also to avoid the chaos of an overly intense arrival at the Montreal airport. For him, but also out of respect for the guys, many of them banged up, who are fighting for a playoff spot.

And it will allow him to recover from the jet lag and travel, while meeting the team and watching a game from the press box.

-Max Truman

To watch the full press conferences, check them out right here: