Being selected in the first round of the NHL draft is a once in a lifetime moment. Being announced by one of the most talented singers of all time is one in a million.
At the 2024 NHL Draft on Friday night (June 28), the Canadiens welcomed Celine Dion to the stage — described by Montreal general manager Kent Hughes as the “No. 1 fan of ours” – to announce the fifth overall pick of the night.
Dion was joined on stage inside Las Vegas' Sphere by her 23-year-old son René-Charles Dion Angélil, who is also a singer and goes by the name RC Angélil. After a bilingual greeting that alternated between French and English, Dion went about her business. “With the fifth overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, the Montreal Canadiens are proud to select Ivan Demidov.”
Thanks to Dion's tense pause before saying the 18-year-old Russian hockey player's name, NHL announcers called it “the most dramatic draft announcement ever.” (The announcers also suggested that “Montreal says 'mercy' to Anaheim Ducks for not picking him,” after the California club had shown interest in selecting Demidov third overall.)
In his post-draft press conference. reporters asked Demidov what it was like to have Dion announce his name. “It's incredible. It's like a book. Like a movie. It's… me,” she laughed.
Reporters suggested he may have been too young to know Dion's music, but the Russian teenager assured them: 'No, I do. I watched it Titanic.” Dion, of course, performed “My Heart Will Go On,” the theme song from James Cameron's 1997 epic. Titanicwhich spent two weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100.
Dion was born about 15 miles outside of Montreal in Charlemagne, Quebec, and has been a die-hard Canadiens fan for years. He has also called Las Vegas home for the past two decades, creating a pair of residences at Caesars Palace for 16 years.
The appearance of the NHL Draft comes just days after Prime Video released the new documentary I am: Celine Dionwhich chronicles Dion's health battle with Stiff Person Syndrome, a rare autoimmune neurological disorder.
Watch Dion's NHL Draft announcement and Demidov's post-draft press conference below.
