Ivan Demidov scores in NHL debut with Montreal Canadiens

MONTREAL (AP) — Ivan Demidov made quite the first impression in his anticipated NHL debut on Monday night.

The 19-year-old Russian forward had a goal and an assist in the first period of Montreal's 4-3 shootout loss against Chicago. The Canadiens wasted an opportunity to clinch a playoff spot.

Demidov danced around a defender to set up Alex Newhook in the slot on his third shift. Then he flashed his hands by picking up a puck that bounced off the end boards, faking a slap shot and calmly beating Arvid Soderblom to the backhand on his first shot.

“I got some good stuff today from the game,” Demidov said. “It’s pretty nice experience. Yeah, I love the city. These fans.”

Montreal coach Martin St. Louis was impressed.

“He was great,” St. Louis said. “There was one player that wasn’t worried about much and not stressed out, it was him."

Demidov was the No. 5 pick in last year's NHL draft. He led his Russian club, SKA Saint Petersburg, in scoring with 49 points (19 goals, 30 assists) in 65 games this season, setting a Kontinental Hockey League record for under-20 players despite having inconsistent ice time.

Canadiens fans watched from afar while Demidov continued his impressive play in Russia. They’ve been buzzing with even more excitement since his arrival.

A large group of fans waited to greet him when he touched down on Canadian soil Thursday night at Toronto Pearson Airport.

Canadiens defenseman Mike Matheson said the fervor surrounding Demidov's arrival has been crazy.

“It obviously shows how excited our fans are,” the 31-year-old Matheson said. “Social media kind of causes it to be way (bigger) than it could have ever been when I was growing up.”

Demidov’s move to Montreal this season appeared highly improbable a week ago.

The slick forward had been expected to join the Canadiens in 2025-26, but he signed an entry-level contract last week after he was suddenly released by SKA more than a month before his KHL contract ran out.

General manager Kent Hughes, scout Nick Bobrov and special adviser Vincent Lecavalier drew criticism for visiting their prospect last December in Russia amid the country’s ongoing war in Ukraine, but Hughes believes that trip helped make the early signing possible.

“It’s always better to have established relationships, to have gotten the chance to meet them face-to-face instead of only over the phone,” he said of meeting the SKA organization, including coach Roman Rotenberg.

At a midseason news conference on Jan. 8, Hughes downplayed the possibility that Demidov would join the Canadiens this season. So what changed?

“Two things: They were eliminated earlier than expected, and we have a chance to make the playoffs,” he said.

Hughes also said he didn’t ask for Demidov’s early release during his visit in December.

“If we left for Russia and upon arrival tried to ask for his release, I think, for me at least, I would’ve seen it from their side as disingenuous,” he said.

Demidov skated with the Canadiens’ extras Saturday morning at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, but watched that night’s game against the Maple Leafs from the press box.

His entry into the lineup comes at a key moment for Montreal, which is looking to secure the Eastern Conference’s second wild card.

The Canadiens have 89 points, four more than Columbus with one game remaining Wednesday at home against the Carolina Hurricanes. The Blue Jackets have two games left, starting with a visit to Philadelphia on Tuesday.

If Columbus fails to win both its remaining games in regulation or Montreal earns at least one point against Carolina, the Canadiens advance to the postseason.

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Montreal Canadiens' Ivan Demidov (93) comes off the bench during first-period NHL hockey game action against the Chicago Blackhawks in Montreal, Monday, April 14, 2025. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)

Montreal Canadiens' Ivan Demidov steps onto the ice prior to an NHL hockey game against the Chicago Blackhawks in Montreal, Monday, April 14, 2025. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)

Montreal Canadiens' Ivan Demidov skates prior to an NHL hockey game against the Chicago Blackhawks in Montreal, Monday, April 14, 2025. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)

Montreal Canadiens fans sit in the stands ahead Ivan Demidov's NHL hockey game debut against the Chicago Blackhawks in Montreal, Monday, April 14, 2025. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)

Montreal Canadiens' Ivan Demidov smiles as he skates prior to an NHL hockey game against the Chicago Blackhawks in Montreal, Monday, April 14, 2025. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)

Montreal Canadiens' Ivan Demidov skates prior to an NHL hockey game against the Chicago Blackhawks in Montreal, Monday, April 14, 2025. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)

Montreal Canadiens' Ivan Demidov (93) scores against Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Arvid Soderblom (40) during first-period NHL hockey game action in Montreal, Monday, April 14, 2025. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)

Montreal Canadiens' Ivan Demidov (93) moves in to score against Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Arvid Soderblom (40) during first-period NHL hockey game action in Montreal, Monday, April 14, 2025. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)

Montreal Canadiens' Ivan Demidov (93) celebrates with teammate Joel Armia (40) after scoring against the Chicago Blackhawks during first-period NHL hockey game action in Montreal, Monday, April 14, 2025. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)

FILE - Ivan Demidov, center, poses, after being selected by the Montreal Canadiens during the first round of the NHL hockey draft Friday, June 28, 2024, in Las Vegas. The announcement was made by singer Celine Dion, right. (AP Photo/Steve Marcus, file)

SAN FRANCISCO & JACKSONVILLE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 12, 2026--

Abridge, the leading enterprise-grade AI for clinical conversations, is collaborating with Availity, the nation’s largest real-time health information network, to launch a first-of-its kind prior authorization experience. The engagement uses cutting-edge technology grounded in the clinician-patient conversation to facilitate a more efficient process between clinicians and health plans in medical necessity review.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260112960386/en/

Rather than creating parallel AI systems across healthcare stakeholders, Abridge and Availity are working together to ensure shared clinical context at the point of conversation powers administrative processes, such as prior authorization review and submission, improving outcomes for patients and the teams delivering care.

This collaboration unites two trusted and scaled organizations: combining Abridge’s enterprise-grade AI platform, serving over 200 health systems and projected to support over 80 million patient-clinician conversations in 2026, with Availity’s next-generation, FHIR-native Intelligent Utilization Management solution, which helps payers and providers digitize and operationalize coverage requirements within administrative workflows.

Availity’s FHIR-native APIs enable fast, scalable, and secure connectivity of payer information across the entire healthcare ecosystem. With Abridge’s Contextual Reasoning Engine technology, clinicians can gain visibility into relevant clinical information during the conversation to support documentation aligned with prior authorization requirements.

“At Availity, we’ve invested in building AI-powered, FHIR-native APIs designed to bring clinical policy logic directly into provider workflows,” said Russ Thomas, CEO of Availity. “By embedding our technology at the point of conversation, we’re enabling faster, more transparent utilization management decisions rooted in clinical context. We’re excited to collaborate with Abridge and to demonstrate what’s possible when payer intelligence meets real-time provider workflows.”

The development of real-time prior authorization is just a component of a broader revenue cycle collaboration that is focused on applying real-time conversational intelligence across the patient, provider, and payer experiences. The companies intend to support integration by collaborating on workflow alignment between their respective platforms in the following areas:

“Abridge and Availity are each bringing national scale, deep trust, and a track record of solving important challenges across the care and claims experience to this partnership,” said Dr. Shiv Rao, CEO and Co-Founder of Abridge. “We’re building real-time bridges between patients, providers, and payers, unlocking shared understanding, focused at the point of conversation.”

About Availity

Availity empowers payers and providers to deliver transformative patient experiences by enabling the seamless exchange of clinical, administrative, and financial information. As the nation's largest real-time health information network, Availity develops intelligent, automated, and interoperable solutions that foster collaboration and shared value across the healthcare ecosystem. With connections to over 95% of payers, more than 3 million providers, and over 2,000 trading partners, Availity provides mission-critical connectivity to drive the future of healthcare innovation. For more information, including an online demonstration, please visit www.availity.com or call 1.800.AVAILITY (282.4548). Follow us on LinkedIn.

About Abridge

Abridge was founded in 2018 to power deeper understanding in healthcare. Abridge is now trusted by more than 200 of the largest and most complex health systems in the U.S. The enterprise-grade AI platform transforms medical conversations into clinically useful and billable documentation at the point of care, reducing administrative burden and clinician burnout while improving patient experience. With deep EHR integration, support for 28+ languages, and 50+ specialties, Abridge is used across a wide range of care settings, including outpatient, emergency department, and inpatient.

Abridge’s enterprise-grade AI platform is purpose-built for healthcare. Supported by Linked Evidence, Abridge is the only solution that maps AI-generated summaries to source data, helping clinicians quickly trust and verify the output. As a pioneer in generative AI for healthcare, Abridge is setting the industry standard for the responsible deployment of AI across health systems.

Abridge was awarded Best in KLAS 2025 for Ambient AI in addition to other accolades, including Forbes 2025 AI 50 List, TIME Best Inventions of 2024, and Fortune’s 2024 AI 50 Innovators.

Abridge and Availity Collaborate to Redefine Payer-Provider Synergy at the Point of Conversation

Abridge and Availity Collaborate to Redefine Payer-Provider Synergy at the Point of Conversation