Canadiens Daily
Habs Daily: Lakovic Interest, Draft Target Kindel, Demidov
Here are the Montreal Canadiens news items, stories, and content you may have missed on Friday.
Montreal Canadiens News
Lynden Lakovic mentioned to TVA Sports that he’d love to play alongside Montreal Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky. The lanky forward may be available once the Canadiens take to the podium midway through the first round.[Canadiens 2025 Draft Targets: The Intriguing Lynden Lakovic]
“Jouer avec Slafkovsky? Ce serait le rêve!”
Je l’avoue, j’avais mes réserves sur Lynden Lakovic avant d’avoir pu le rencontrer.
Mais confidence: il est depuis devenu l’un des mes favoris de cette cuvée.
Et partisans du CH… vous aimerez sa dernière déclaration!
😉🔵⚪️🔴 pic.twitter.com/71dynnJxGK
— Anthony Martineau (@Antho_Martineau) June 19, 2025
Speaking of the draft, Ben Kindel isn’t the biggest prospect available, but he might be the best playmaker. With 99 points in the bank this season, Kindel is sure to garner first-round interest.[Canadiens 2025 Draft Targets: Elite Playmaker Ben Kindel]
Development coach Paul Byron had nothing but great things to say about Ivan Demidov. Beyond his excellent play while active, the Canadiens are lucky to have a standout person like Byron working for the team.
Paul Byron on Ivan Demidov:
“He’s been working a lot on his skating (this summer). I think it was a great opportunity for him to get in the league & see the level of competition. He’s a player with a lot of talent, great hands, great vision…I think with the time that he has,… pic.twitter.com/r3KqOJVI3z
— /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) June 20, 2025
National Hockey Now Network
The Florida Panthers have a lot to deal with when it comes to getting back to the business of hockey which include new deals for a couple of their pending free agents. General manager Bill Zito said all of that could wait a day or two after the team won the Stanley Cup for the second straight year. [Florida Panthers]
You could call Radim Mrtka a late bloomer. He’s been working to make up for lost time ever since, so much so that the Seattle standout is considered the No. 2 defenseman and No. 5 overall skater in June’s NHL Draft. [Detroit Red Wings]
In a move most saw coming as the New Jersey Devils are looking to reinvent their bottom-six, Erik Haula was traded to the Nashville Predators on Wednesday. Now, the Devils have a void to fill. Perhaps, it will be externally. However, there are four internal candidates who can replace Haula’s services.[New Jersey Devils]
Man, Mason Marchment, all 6’5” 212lbs of him, just got traded by Dallas to Seattle for only a 3rd and 4th round draft pick. Considering his size, extensive playoff experience and expiring contract status after this season, he would have been a phenomenal add to our team. Surely, with all the draft capital we have, we could have easily beaten that price the Kraken paid. He fits exactly what HuGo were talking about at the end of the season press conference. Worse case scenario, we could have traded him at the deadline for more than what we paid to get him, but I think he would have been a decent option to resign too. I think we totally missed the boat on this one. Very disappointing.
From what I’ve read, his agent wanted to send him to another no tax state so the Habs were probably never in the running
Sounds logical. I wonder if he had any trade protection in his contract?
Totally agree that a “player like” Marchment would have fit with Hughes plan for the Habs. Unfortunately, it was never going to actually be Marchment. The reason for that is that good ole Canadian boy Marchment had a list of 10 teams on his no-trade list, and all 7 Canadian teams were on that list. Make of that what you will. I prefer to think that he just wants to play in the US for the lower taxes, although the impact between Canadian teams and those in California and New York state are not that different. So maybe he just wants to avoid the “pressure” of playing in his home country. Good luck Mason. Enjoy your life in America.