Montreal Canadiens club management met with Roman Rotenberg.
Patrik Laine’s club did not skimp on their trip to Russia. PDO
Club bosses of the Montreal Canadiens represented by Patrik Laine secretly visited Russia, the Czech NHL.cz news.
The club bosses went general manager by Kent Hughes led to St. Petersburg, where they met Ivan Demidov, the young promise of the Candiens. The club booked the 19-year-old forward as the fifth player in the entire NHL draft last summer.
According to the NHL.cz website, this was the first time since February 2022 that a prominent NHL executive has visited Russia.
The website says that for security reasons no one was told about the trip until the club bosses were back in Canada.
Canadiens vice president Jeff Gorton justified the trip in a calm tone.
– We have players from all over the world. If we book or sign a player, they become part of our family. We will monitor them and evaluate their development, Gorton said, according to NHL.cz.
Rotenberg’s vision
In St. Petersburg, the Canadiens players also met the head coach of SKA and the vice-president of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation, Roman Rotenberg.
Rotenberg preached to his guests about Russia’s possible return to international hockey.
– We talked about the development of young players, the infrastructure of clubs and possible cooperation in the field of young players. We have a common vision to get Russia back to international competitions, because hockey without Russia and Canada is nothing, Rotenberg said on social media.
Canadiens bosses have not confirmed the Russia perspective that Rotenberg put in their mouths.