Kent Hughes is not a finalist for CEO of the Year

Charles-Alexis Brisebois
Kent Hughes is not a finalist for CEO of the Year
Credit: Capture d'écran / X

The NHL has just announced the finalists for the GM of the Year award.

Bill Guerin, Chris MacFarland, and Pat Verbeek (Wild, Avalanche, and Ducks) are the three finalists. The award will therefore undoubtedly go to a GM working in the Western Conference.

Jim Nill, who has won the last three awards, will not win this year.

Even though Kent Hughes has done an excellent job for the Canadiens, I'm not surprised to see that he isn't a finalist. He surely got some votes anyway, though.

Why? Because his big move came in 2024–2025, when Noah Dobson was acquired in the draft.

Note: I'm not saying Hughes did a bad job—quite the opposite. But Zachary Bolduc didn't have a dream season, the GM didn't make any moves at the trade deadline… and Patrik Laine is still here.

You don't win that title with Phillip Danault or Alexandre Texier.

That said, these are all solid acquisitions for the Habs, who dominated the regular season and are lucky to have Hughes. In fact, extending the contracts of Lane Hutson and Mike Matheson also count as excellent moves.

All that to say that, despite his good work, I understand why executives who acquired players who made a difference this season are ahead of him in the voting.

And in the end, it doesn't change much for Hughes, who could win the award in the future.

Remember that Kent Hughes signed a contract extension last fall. It was the right thing to do, as he's the perfect GM to steer the Habs to success… even if he isn't the GM of the Year in 2026.


In a nutshell

– Will Ivan Demidov score tonight?

– He's 34, isn't he?

– Enjoy the read.

– Will he stay?

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