Kent Hughes has never drafted an American player in the first round

Charles-Alexis Brisebois
Kent Hughes has never drafted an American player in the first round
Credit: Capture d'écran / X

Since being named general manager of the Canadiens, Kent Hughes has never drafted an American in the first round.

Two Slovaks (Juraj Slafkovsky and Filip Mesar), one Austrian (David Reinbacher), one Russian (Ivan Demidov), and one Canadian (Michael Hage): these are the Canadiens' first-round picks since 2022.

In the first three rounds, the only Americans selected were highly talented players who slipped through the cracks: Lane Hutson and Jacob Fowler. That's it.

Is this a coincidence? Will it be the same this week? I'll leave those questions for you to answer.

Naturally, we're bringing this topic back to the table because the trade that brought Brady Tkachuk to the Panthers reminds us of the importance of drafting players who want to be in their hometown.

After all, the evidence is clear: three Canadian teams have lost an American star to a team from the U.S. in recent years—the Flames, the Canucks, and the Senators—with Matthew Tkachuk, Quinn Hughes, and Brady Tkachuk, respectively.

And rumors suggest that the Jets (Connor Hellebuyck) and the Maple Leafs (Auston Matthews) could potentially find themselves in the same boat in the short to medium term.

The only two exceptions, then, might be the Oilers and the Canadiens. The Oilers' top stars aren't American…

What do these two teams have in common? In recent years, they've reached the conference semifinals—or even the Stanley Cup Final. #Success

If you asked Kent Hughes, I'm sure he'd say something along the lines of: if you create a great environment for winning, the players will want to stay. And that's true.

The guys want to be here, and they don't have ironclad no-trade clauses when it comes time to consider a trade. That helps the Habs in many ways.

Kent Hughes has also signed two big contracts with two Americans (Cole Caufield and Lane Hutson) who love the city of Montreal and the culture the Habs are building. He's protecting himself in that regard.

But it also starts with the draft. We were talking about the trend of drafting big, physical college players, but nationality needs to be evaluated more than ever. Right?


Quick Notes

– Note this.

– What do you think?

– What will the Panthers do?

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