Message to Kent Hughes: It’s possible to land a top-6 forward in September

Félix Forget
Message to Kent Hughes: It’s possible to land a top-6 forward in September
Credit: Kent Hughes en aura probablement beaucoup à dire lors de son point de presse cet après-midi.

Since the start of the summer, the CH has been unable to sign a top-6 forward. We suspect this is the club's number-one priority, but no acquisition has been made so far.

A ton of names have been floating around (and others, like Kirill Marchenko, continue to be the subject of speculation), but the trade never materialized.

And in the eyes of many, the window for such a trade has pretty much closed for this offseason. We know that big-name players, generally speaking, tend to change teams early in the summer rather than late, when teams are already gearing up for the season.

But yesterday, we saw proof that acquiring a top-6 forward in September is indeed possible. The Devils proved it by landing Luke Evangelista, a 24-year-old who just racked up 56 points last season.

It came at a high cost (a first-round pick and a second-round pick), but a top-6 forward did change teams nonetheless.

One might wonder to what extent Evangelista—who will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season—is a typical case, considering there seemed to be some tension in his relationship with the Predators. It had been extremely difficult to sign him last summer (he signed just a few days before the start of the season), and it's reasonable to assume that a fresh start was desirable.

Except that situations like this exist throughout the league. The case of Marchenko, who doesn't seem to want to sign an extension in Columbus, is another scenario that isn't exactly “normal,” you know…

You'd think that in an ideal world, the Habs would have already landed the top-6 forward they've been after, and that player would already be a bit more settled in with the rest of the team. But the trade completed last night reminds us that it's still possible to find one today.

We'll see if the Canadiens' GM can work his magic now.


In a nutshell

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