There have been so many fantastic players who donned the Red, White, and Blue over the years. From Maurice Richard to Jean Beliveau and Guy Lafleur up front, to Larry Robinson and Serge Savard on the blueline, and to Ken Dryden, Patrick Roy, and Carey Price in net, the Montreal Canadiens had plenty of idol material.
You might be surprised to hear who former Canadiens defenseman Alexander Romanov’s idol was, however. No, it wasn’t Larry Robinson; he’s way too young for that, and no, it wasn’t Andrei Markov, who patrolled the Canadiens’ blueline with pride until the end of the 2016-17 season, or Shea Weber.
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No, it wasn’t Alexander Ovechkin either; no matter how many goals he scored, it was Carey Price—the face of the Canadiens’ franchise for so long. Romanov made the declaration on a Russian TV show earlier this week, even admitting that Price was on his phone wallpaper.
The 25-year-old was a second-round pick for the Canadiens, 38th overall at the 2018 draft. Thought to be a reach at the time, the Russian blueliner blossomed into an excellent defenseman and was sacrificed by the Habs to acquire Kirby Dach at the 2022 draft.
He has since been a key cog of the New York Islanders’ blueline and was signed to an eight-year contract with a $6,25 million AAV by new GM Mathieu Darche. With Noah Dobson’s trade to the Canadiens, Romanov should be called on to take even more responsibilities on Long Island this season.
Alexander Romanov came to the studio for a live broadcast and told a lot of interesting things. Here is an excerpt where he mentioned that his idol has always been Carey Price, and that he was on the wallpaper of his phone😅🥹 pic.twitter.com/1gxX0x0Tw3
— Милена (@D1VDsAGUJsk2iPk) July 27, 2025
Photo credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images
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