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In the second round of 2025, the Canadiens moved up to advance and pick at 34th overall, just ahead of a series of teams that were monitoring the top Russian prospects.
While Zharovsky continues to string together games with Salavat Yulaev Ufa in the KHL, he still does not cost a single cent on the Canadiens’ salary cap because he has not yet signed an NHL entry-level contract.
On Monday, in Russia, the young player struck again against CSKA Moscow with a goal and an assist on the power play, while remaining among the top under-20 scorers in the KHL, behind Yegor Surin, a Predators prospect.
Kent Hughes may have played a trick on Mathieu Darche at the last draft.
On the other side, Mathieu Darche’s New York Islanders got their hands, a few picks later, on another major Russian prospect: power winger Daniil Prokhorov, selected 42nd overall. Same draft class, same type of gamble, but two very different trajectories so far.
Vladimir Malakhov, who now works for the Islanders, clearly hinted that the New York Islanders wanted Zharovsky.
“The Islanders also hoped to draft Zharovsky. “But it didn’t work out – Montreal took him. We’re very happy with Prokhorov. He should have gone in the first round but slipped to the second – thankfully. I was sitting there waiting, and they asked: ‘Do we take him?’ I said, ‘Take him, please.’ We wanted Zharovsky too, but Montreal grabbed him earlier.” – Malakhov
Prokhorov, also 18, has already signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Islanders, around $915,000 per year. On the ice, however, he is struggling to produce: just one point in 13 games with Dynamo Moscow in the KHL, and ice time limited to just over four minutes per game.
Zharovsky is not yet under contract in North America, but he is playing significant minutes in Russia, inserting himself into discussions for the KHL All-Star Game and already placing ahead of Prokhorov in terms of offensive impact among young Russian forwards. That is called winning your bet, at least for now.
For Canadiens fans, the most satisfying part is that this masterstroke by Hughes comes just as Mathieu Darche has taken over the Islanders, and after he spent a first-overall pick on defenseman Matthew Schaefer. The comparison between the two hockey operations departments will come up often.
It is still early in the story and Prokhorov has time to take off, but if Zharovsky continues to produce in the KHL before joining Montreal, the narrative will be simple to tell: in that section of the 2025 draft, Kent Hughes clearly pulled ahead of his former Quebec teammate now sitting in the Islanders’ front office.
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‘Montreal grabbed him earlier’: Kent Hughes pulls another masterstroke, edging out Mathieu Darche
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