MONTREAL — The silence said a lot.

Laval Rocket head coach Pascal Vincent has been coaching hockey at various levels for 30 years. He has seen just about everything there is to see, and he is an articulate man.

However, every time he was asked about Montreal Canadiens rookie Ivan Demidov after he lit up the Bell Centre in a rookie tournament game Saturday night, he paused.

He looked as though he was searching for his words.

He looked as though he had not quite seen something like this.

“He’s such a smart offensive player,” Vincent said. “He knows how to create space for himself so we can see his skills. I mean, he’s an amazing player.

“But I got to know him this week, a little bit, not that much, and his passion for the game, for me, that’s a skill that he has. He was disappointed after the game. He’s not happy. He wants to win. We’re lucky to have him.”

When Vincent says Demidov knows how to create space for himself, this was just one of several examples of what he meant. It’s not Demidov’s finish on this play — it’s how it started, the little puck touch into the air as he accepted Florian Xhekaj’s pass and not only deflected it into the air past defenceman Seth Fryer at the offensive blue line, but touched it again in midair to propel the puck forward and settle it down for him to make that ridiculous move and beat Winnipeg Jets goaltender Domenic DiVincentiis.

It is easy to focus on the move that beat DiVincentiis, but the move that beat Fryer might have been even more impressive.

IVAN DEMIDOV EST BEL ET BIEN RÉVEILLÉ

CAN CONFIRM IVAN DEMIDOV IS AWAKE

WPG 3, MTL 3#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/dvVt44FIs6

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) September 14, 2025

“I don’t think, no,” Demidov said with a little grin when asked (stupidly, by me) if that whole sequence was done on purpose.

No?

“No,” he replied, “for sure it was.”

Fryer, a 6-foot-7 defenceman who was a rookie camp invite for the Jets after he went undrafted in June, had already been victimized by Demidov earlier in the game. It seemed cruel and unusual for a player whose last game was with the WHL’s Victoria Royals to have to face this in front of nearly 22,000 people at the Bell Centre.

Quelle séquence d’Ivan Demidov! 😳 pic.twitter.com/3xcEPmSRFF

— RDS (@RDSca) September 14, 2025

That sold-out crowd started doing the wave shortly after that shift. The already-charged atmosphere turned up considerably. The crowd was there to see Demidov, and Demidov gave them what they came for.

If his passion for the game is a skill, this is surely another. The stage never seems too big for Demidov, whether it’s getting a goal and an assist in his first few NHL shifts, competing and performing in an NHL playoff environment, or shining brightest in a rookie showcase game where nothing less than dominance would be considered a success, and he dominates.

“When Demi made that move, that’s just unbelievable talent,” centre Owen Beck said, “but that just cranked up the game a notch.”

The Canadiens’ rookies lost this game 4-3 to the Jets’ rookies, but that was an afterthought. The Canadiens’ bright future was front of mind, regardless of the score.

Demidov has spent all summer in Montreal preparing, going on the ice twice a day for the better part of two months and getting to know his new hockey home.

However, the Canadiens’ future is not only about Demidov. There were several potential pieces of it on the ice Saturday night, including another one that was drafted No. 5, just like Demidov.

Unlike Demidov, David Reinbacher’s strengths do not necessarily bring fans out of their seats, nor do they get them to do the wave or gasp in awe of what they have just seen. Whereas Demidov’s assets are very blunt and in your face, Reinbacher’s are more subtle and require long-term analysis.

One makes big plays at big moments, the other piles up a steady stream of little plays that lead to those big plays.

“You have to watch him,” said a pro scout in attendance when asked about Reinbacher’s game. “If you’re a forward, you love playing with a guy like that because you’re not only getting the puck, but you’re getting it at the right time. He makes the right play over and over again … he’s very good at the game management part of the game.”

That was later confirmed by Beck, who played with Reinbacher in Laval late last season.

“He’s great at just taking his first option and making that play crisp and quickly,” Beck said. “You know it’s the right play and that he’s scanning for you up ice. You can trust that there’s not going to be somebody coming to clobber you. That also helps when you’re playing with a defenceman as a forward … it’s going to be predictable.”

This was Reinbacher’s first game at the Bell Centre since last October, when he injured his knee in his first preseason game for the Canadiens, costing him months of activity. And though he did not have his best game — Reinbacher got walked on the Jets’ goal that tied the game 2-2 — getting over that hurdle of the injury and making the simple plays that are his calling card left Reinbacher just as satisfied with his performance as Demidov should have been.

They are both effective players in different, but equally important ways.

“I felt really good, confident,” Reinbacher said. “I felt way better, I would say, than a year ago. With the injury, it’s out of my head, and I feel so good. I’m just happy I can play.”

A winning hockey team needs flash. A winning hockey team needs substance.

The Canadiens are not yet a winning hockey team, not to the extent this administration ultimately wants. And the Canadiens rookies didn’t even win this game.

However, no one could have watched that loss and believed the Canadiens are not in an excellent position to win many, many games in the future — and perhaps the near future.

(Photo of Ivan Demidov in April 2025: Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images)