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Fans and media alike have grown frustrated with the Montreal Canadiens and CF Montréal, as both organizations appear to be operating with a level of secrecy more suited to military or pharmaceutical industries than professional sports teams. Basic information is being withheld, leaving room for speculation and mistrust.
For 12 days, rumors of a sale and potential relocation have swirled around CF Montréal, yet the club has neither denied nor clarified the situation. This silence has allowed various theories—some accurate, others not—to gain traction. Additionally, the team's closed-door practices and reluctance to disclose even minor player injuries have only added to the frustration.
The Canadiens, meanwhile, had pledged to be more transparent when they hired Chantal Machabée. That promise seemed to hold in the early years, but since the start of this season, the team has become even more tight-lipped than during Marc Bergevin's tenure—a notable feat given Bergevin's reputation for secrecy.
Consider the case of Oliver Kapanen, who was injured (the exact nature remains unclear) and listed as day-to-day for roughly 30 days at the season's outset. Mike Matheson was also labeled day-to-day, but it was widely known that he had sought a second medical opinion for an injury that apparently required surgery and six months of rehabilitation. He returned briefly before landing back on injured reserve, with the team stating he'd be out for two weeks and that this injury differed from the previous one—yet the specifics of both injuries remain undisclosed.
Goaltender Samuel Montembeault has been sidelined for a month despite an initial prognosis of 10 to 14 days. The most perplexing situation involves Ivan Demidov. He was injured at the end of September but still played the first two games of the season while hurt. After canceling two autograph sessions, the Canadiens finally announced that Demidov would miss two to four weeks with a lower-body injury. Later, Demidov was seen wearing a cast, but the team could not confirm whether the injury was to his foot or ankle. Now, a month has passed without any official update on his rehabilitation.
Adding to the intrigue, the Canadiens had Demidov skate in a tracksuit early Tuesday morning at the Bell Centre before media access was granted. A staff member filmed him on a cell phone and shared the footage on Instagram; that employee was subsequently confronted and likely reprimanded or dismissed. On Wednesday, the team barred media and fans from the CN Complex until 10 a.m. without explanation—understood to be due to another skating session by Demidov.
The author does not blame Chantal Machabée and her communications team, suggesting that the directives come directly from Jeff Gorton. Machabée, a longtime Canadiens reporter, understands the difficulty of covering the team without adequate information. Gorton's paranoia may stem from his previous experience with the New York Rangers, another NHL organization known for operating this way. Currently, information about Demidov is only available through his agent, Dan Milstein, who revealed that his client still needs a few weeks before returning. Milstein also disclosed on a podcast that Demidov had played two games in pain, but no MRI was performed to diagnose the issue—meaning the Canadiens played him while injured without fully realizing the severity.
According to Milstein, Demidov will be out for a few more weeks, but the team has yet to confirm. Even with the news public, the Canadiens plan to wait until Thursday to provide an update. Furthermore, when the team learned Demidov had a broken ankle, they stated he would be out two to four weeks, whereas medical literature indicates a broken ankle takes four weeks to four months to heal, depending on treatment. A fracture never heals in two weeks; even stable fractures without surgery require four to eight weeks.
This echoes Montembeault's situation, where a 10-to-14-day injury has stretched to a month. A source close to the team even mentioned two weeks after Demidov's injury was disclosed that he was healing well and could return in about ten days. Why allow that information to leak? The author reiterates that the criticism is not aimed at the communications department or medical staff, but rather questions why Gorton believes it's necessary to withhold real information from reporters and fans. Perhaps he thinks people will forget.
For the real scoop on Demidov, one must turn to his agent, Dan Milstein, and media member Renaud Lavoie: Demidov still has a few more days before rejoining the team and could be back in action in about two weeks. That means he will have missed six to seven weeks, not two—a discrepancy that seems amateurish.
The author often notes that humans are full of contradictions. It's interesting to see many hoping for Demidov's quick return to the Canadiens' lineup while simultaneously hoping that Alexander Zharovsky, Gleb Pugachyov, and other Russian athletes won't participate in the World Junior Championships in December. The reasoning for Demidov is that he's young and not responsible for Vladimir Putin's decisions, yet Alex Ovechkin continues to support Putin's party and is welcomed at the Bell Centre. There would certainly be a way for Russian athletes to compete under a neutral designation rather than Russia's official colors. But as noted, humans are full of contradictions.
Originally reported by yardbarker.