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Kent Hughes: Elliotte Friedman says there isn’t a more aggressive GM
Mathis Therrien
Kent Hughes: Elliotte Friedman says there isn’t a more aggressive GM
Credit: As soon as the Montreal Canadiens’ season came to an end, everyone’s primary goal for the off-season was to get their hands on a second center. It was pretty clear that this was the mandate Kent Hughes would have between now and the start of the next campaign. Well, here we are a few months […]

As soon as the Montreal Canadiens’ season came to an end, everyone’s primary goal for the off-season was to get their hands on a second center.

It was pretty clear that this was the mandate Kent Hughes would have between now and the start of the next campaign.

Well, here we are a few months later, and Kent Hughes has improved the team, but has not added the sought-after second center.

While everyone expected the Habs GM to get his hands on a top-6 forward, Hughes went for a top-4 right-handed defenseman in Noah Dobson.

This came as a surprise to many, including Elliotte Friedman, who stated in his final 32 Thoughts episode of the season that Kent Hughes was clearly the most active and aggressive general manager since the start of the off-season.

Friedman stated that Dobson wanted to join the Canadiens, so Hughes did what was necessary to improve his team, given that we can never have enough offensive talent coming from our defense.

But the fact remains that the Habs are still lacking something offensively, especially with the losses of Emil Heineman, Christian Dvorak and Joel Armia.

And according to Elliotte Friedman, Kent Hughes could very well be on the move by the start of the season, because he’s exactly the kind of general manager who’s never done working.

Indeed, as he explained in the latest 32 Thoughts, during his segment on the Montreal Canadiens, Elliotte Friedman sincerely believes that Kent Hughes needs to look at his forward right now and tell himself that he needs to improve it.

The Habs’ biggest concern is Ivan Demidov’s future.

Elliotte Friedman was clear when he said that the Habs are still trying to build and solve the Ivan Demidov puzzle so that he’s as well surrounded as possible for the future.

And so, Kent Hughes could very well try to settle two issues with a trade, deciding to improve his forward group now by adding a forward capable of surrounding Demidov now and in the long term.

Of course, the Habs may start the season without another trade, but Elliotte Friedman remains skeptical that Kent Hughes will be gone by the start of the season.

It doesn’t get much more aggressive than Hughes, and we can’t expect him to recline comfortably on his chair back.


Overtime

– Message from Zachary Bolduc to the St. Louis Blues.

– Kakko and Lindgren are happy to be back in Seattle.

– It’s so clear!

– What a season for the Blue Jays so far.

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