Naming players other than the Habs: Kent Hughes gets a slap on the wrist

Since taking up his post in Montreal, Habs GM Kent Hughes has shown time and again that he’s a creative man.

He has carried out transactions that seemed a little bizarre at the time (let’s take Sean Monahan’s, the first one, as an example), but which, in the end, helped him pick up good assets.

The Jeff Petry trade (the 2nd) can also be included in the examples column.

Kent Hughes is a creative GM because he has seen the other side of the mountain.

Before being hired as general manager of the Tricolore, Hughes was a player agent… And obviously, there was a certain period of adaptation when he changed jobs.

Because the world of agents, after all, is not the same as that of GMs. It’s “similar” in a way, because it’s still hockey… But there are a lot of differences too.

For example, GMs are not allowed to mention the name of a player playing for another team, and this is a rule that must be followed by all NHL GMs.

Marc Antoine Godin talked about the subject in the recent episode of the Tellement Hockey podcast (Radio-Canada ), which also features Martin Leclerc and Alexandre Coupal…

And Godin told the other two journalists that Hughes had to be warned about this:

He got warned, because he was doing it in a more compromising way when he started out and took over the Habs.

He got a bit of a slap on the wrist. – Marc Antoine Godin

At his most recent press conference last Friday, Kent Hughes said that if Connor McDavid was available, the Habs would make an offer.

In fact, that’s why Radio-Canada’s three journalists decided to talk a little about the subject.

We agree that Kent Hughes didn’t kill anyone, and we agree that he didn’t cause the NHL any major problems.

But it’s part of the job and he’ll get better at it over time.

It’s like when he first arrived in the NHL, when his counterparts teased him a little about his former profession as an agent.

A few GMs jokingly told him that he’s going to realize how important the salary cap is in the NHL… while agents are always looking for the big contracts for their respective players:

“Several GMs joked to me that for the first time in my career, the salary cap was important”
– Kent Hughes

– Hockey 360 (@hockey360) March 21, 2022

In gusto

– What’s next for the veteran?

– It’s now confirmed: Mark Scheifele is back in the game.

– Speaking of the Jets.

– Good point.

– Will Alex Ovechkin be able to join Wayne Gretzky?