Kent Hughes refuses to justify his huge delay at the press briefing

After the trade deadline had passed in the National League, we were still waiting for news from the Canadiens.

It was… dead. Radio silence, to put it another way.

Kent Hughes said that the CH spent a lot of time on a big deal that didn't work out. But why did it take so long to hear from the GM and the club, after 3 p.m.?

Hughes was asked this question by reporters at his press conference.

And the Canadiens' GM kept it simple by saying he didn't want to talk about it. Maybe he'll open up about it in 10 years, sitting comfortably with a good beer…

Kent Hughes wouldn't say what caused such a long delay between the deadline and his arrival in front of the media. “Maybe in 10 years from now, over a beer,” he quipped.
Sounds like something came close to happening.

— Eric Engels (@EricEngels) March 6, 2026

We can guess that the Canadiens negotiated with another team until the very last second.

And we can believe that Kent Hughes worked on a trade until 3 p.m., but that it never came to fruition in the end. Was it too complicated? Did the club's GM run out of time?

We don't know.

Still, it's a strange situation in the end. Because usually, we hear news from the Canadiens as the deadline approaches.

Obviously, it was different this year… and I would be so curious to know the reason behind it all. I can't wait for ten years from now… hehe. No kidding, it's kind of boring for fans who were waiting to see a trade happen.

But then again, Kent Hughes said it well during his press conference: the Canadiens weren't going to make a move just for the sake of it. The club was looking for a player who could fit their current needs, but who would also be able to help the team on the ice in the long term.

And that simply didn't happen.