The NHL may have rejected a trade by the Canadiens.

Raphael Simard
The NHL may have rejected a trade by the Canadiens.
Credit: YouTube

Kent Hughes' inaction today has everyone talking. And I can understand why fans are disappointed, because the CH is in a playoff position, but it is far from a guaranteed spot in the playoffs.

However, the GM's inaction is justified: he has tried everything, and we know thathe was involved in a major deal until the very end.

And according to Renaud Lavoie, Hughes may even have concluded a deal, but it was rejected by the NHL. It rarely happens, but it does happen. That's what he said on BPM Sports.

That would explain a lot.

First, the Montreal GM seems convinced that he will be able to revisit this trade this summer. If he “shook hands” with the other GM, whom we don't know, it's possible that this is a “pending” trade.

Second, Hughes was working from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. when the deadline was 3:00 p.m. It's understandable that after the deadline, he was possibly negotiating with the NHL and not with another team.

And finally, this potential refusal to trade would explain why he didn't do anything else. If he spent the day negotiating for this mystery impact player, it's normal that he didn't have time to look elsewhere.

Over the next few days, it will be interesting to learn more details. Will we find out who the player is? Is it someone like Robert Thomas or Jordan Kyrou? The forwards are still members of the Blues at this time…

And it's probably not Nazem Kadri, because before 3 p.m., Craig Conroy was likely negotiating with his counterpart in Colorado. Plus, the center is still under contract for three more seasons after this one. In his segment on BPM Sports, Renaud Lavoie listed the reasons why a trade might have been rejected. A trade in the NHL is not simple, and with all the conditions on draft picks, that may be what held up a major trade. Perhaps the cap wasn't respected either? After all, there has been a lot of talk about big salaries lately.
Lavoie listed one last possibility: the NHL may have simply decided to reject the trade. This doesn't happen often, but it did happen in 2009 when Vincent Lecavalier was temporarily traded to the Canadiens because the trade “weakened the Lightning too much.”


In brief

– Evgeni Malkin suspended for five games.

— Most likely.

– That's clear.

– Great season.

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