If Kent Hughes’ first major personnel move took a while to materialize, it doesn’t mean he was on vacation.
According to what’s circulating behind the scenes in the NHL, the GM was one of the most active in the league this summer.
Renaud Lavoie reveals that Kent Hughes has been very active in the trade market, particularly regarding Yaroslav Askarov, Rutger McGroarty, Martin Necas, and Trevor Zegras
As reported by Renaud Lavoie on BPM Sports Monday morning, the Canadiens’ GM had his hands in several matters. Not only did he show interest in Patrik Laine, but he also indeed looked into Yaroslav Askarov, Rutger McGroarty, Martin Necas, and Trevor Zegras.
«The Canadiens are involved in several matters,» confirmed Renaud Lavoie on BPM Sports radio Monday. «Maybe a bit less now that the Laine situation is resolved, but for all the names you just mentioned, there were discussions with the Canadiens.»
– Renaud Lavoie
The hockey insider also mentioned that Laine wasn’t part of the Canadiens’ plans at the beginning of the summer. The team was more focused on Trevor Zegras and Martin Necas. These players are still with their respective teams…
The good news in all of this is that Kent Hughes is not only doing his due diligence by gathering information throughout the league, but he’s also planting seeds here and there that could be useful to him in the near future. If he’s done this for all these players, it wouldn’t be surprising if he’s doing it for others as well.
In the recent documentary on the Canadiens’ draft, we saw how prepared Hughes was. He had Plans A-B-C and even D for every situation. We even saw him decline a trade that we assume was for the 5th overall pick (which turned out to be Demidov).
The behind-the-scenes work of the club’s new leadership seems excellent. What’s even more surprising, compared to the Bergevin era, is that rarely is a trade leaked by insiders. Hughes is working on every matter, but secretly!
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