A lot of discontent towards Kent Hughes for sticking to his plan

The fact that he was seen being completely inactive in the trade market has led many people to feel that the GM has abandoned his team in the playoff race.

There is a fear that players will be upset about this.

“I think it’s a mistake that Kent Hughes might regret because there are players who will be bitter about this non-move!”

What do you think about the fact that the Canadiens didn’t make a trade while the team is in the midst of a playoff race? pic.twitter.com/hzGZ70bANB

— BPM Sports (@BPMSportsRadio) March 7, 2025

In fact, people are afraid that players will get discouraged, that the team will barely miss the playoffs (which is bad for the draft), and that the GM didn’t maximize the value of his rental players in a seller’s market.

As if the playoff race wasn’t worth anything in terms of experience for the players…

I was expecting the GM to use his last salary retention right or to be active to help the Rocket – apart from paper transactions. On this, I agree that it’s a missed opportunity, even if it will give some maneuvering room for the draft since the team will have a retention space available.

And this, even if Kent Hughes said that the Rocket, when healthy, had enough elements.

Not selling Joel Armia and David Savard, two guys who wanted to stay in town, despite high prices, is a bit like buying since you’re passing on the opportunity to add elements.

It must count for something, right?

“We had a plan at the beginning of the season, during the break we were in a slump and we thought we’d be sellers. We feel like we rewarded the team by not making any trades.” -Hughes@CanadiensMTL

— Jeremy Filosa (@JeremyFilosa) March 7, 2025

And as for buying, we can see that the prices didn’t make sense. We’ll have to wait until this summer to complete some transactions to help the team.

In my eyes, it’s logical. Renting a player wasn’t worth it, and big trades are often made in the summer.

Kent Hughes: “I called some teams about players. I won’t mention any names, because they’re very good players and good prospects. Those are things we’ll look at more this summer.”

— Anthony Martineau (@Antho_Martineau) March 7, 2025

Hughes, who made a good move this week by signing Jake Evans at a discount, sent the message that he believed in his team and not the other way around. Even when buying, you can hurt your team… #AskBradyTkachuk

He was also aware of the market: many rivals sold, and the Canadiens didn’t. That gives them an advantage.

When you look at it coldly, only the Ottawa Senators made significant additions to make the playoffs among the teams in the race. It’s still open for the Canadiens to grab one of the two wild card spots.

— Anthony Marcotte (@anthonymarcotte) March 7, 2025

Hughes accepted to wait until this summer to settle his free agent files, even if the team can’t compete for the Stanley Cup. If I’m a Canadiens player who has lived through the last few years, I like what I see.

The group stayed together… and the team is #IntheMix. All’s well that ends well?

extension

Yes, this data makes the Canadiens look bad… but we can also make a list of teams that didn’t sell and find the Canadiens on it. Even the Hurricanes sold today, to a certain extent. Would you have wanted the Canadiens to trade a star player?

There are only 4 teams that didn’t make any ‘trades’ in the last week:
-Canadiens
-Blues
-Utah
-Calgary

Update, as the Jackets just made a move.

— Jeremy Filosa (@JeremyFilosa) March 7, 2025