Hockey

Kent Hughes: “The most talented team we’ve had since I’ve been in Montreal”
Marc-Olivier Cook
Kent Hughes: “The most talented team we’ve had since I’ve been in Montreal”
Credit: Getty Images

On paper, the Canadiens have a great team, with some talented players on the roster, and that's exciting for fans of the club, who've had a tough time of it in recent years. There will be expectations for next season… because this summer, the Canadiens seem to have improved – even if they have lost some quality players in David Savard, Joel Armia and Christian Dvorak. But in reality, the additions of Noah Dobson, Ivan Demidov and Zachary Bolduc may change the game. And in the eyes of Kent Hughes, it's relatively simple: right now, this is the most talented team the Canadiens have had since the GM arrived in Montreal.That's a big sentence:

–

Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Patrik Laine, Juraj Slafkovsky, Ivan Demidov, Kirby Dach (healthy), Alex Newhook, Zachary Bolduc, Lane Hutson, Mike Matheson, Kaiden Guhle, Noah Dobson, Samuel Montembeault… This is a talented group. And Kent Hughes isn't lying when he says this is the most talented team he's seen since he arrived in town, because if the players named above perform up to expectations, the Habs are likely to reap more wins than losses. We've seen that the guys are capable of playing at a high level, since in the final stretch of last season, the Canadiens became one of the league's good teams thanks to the contributions of just about everyone. That doesn't mean, however, that the Canadiens can't improve even more in the coming months…

But when you think about it, it's also true that the additions made this summer are important. Bolduc brings some offensive punch to the attack, Dobson solidifies the defense since we're talking about a good #1 defenseman in the National League… and Demidov really seems to have all the assets to be very successful very quickly. The Habs have a good group right now. It doesn't mean anything off the ice… but with the talent on the team, it's normal to think about positive results.

'Overtime'

– Absolutely.

– What to expect from the Capitals this season

– Speaking of the Caps…

facebook icon Share twitter icon Tweet linkedin icon Share
Copied!