What are Kent Hughes' top three moves since being appointed? Read on to find out.
It’s been over four years since Kent Hughes was appointed as the Montreal Canadiens’ GM, and you’d be hard-pressed to find much to complain about since then. Much like when the Habs decided to give the coaching job to Martin St-Louis, a man with no experience behind the bench of an NHL team, there were concerns that Hughes, a former player agent, had never been a GM. In hindsight, it’s fair to say that the concerns were unjustified.
Hughes has proven that his previous dealings with his fellow GMs as a player agent didn’t sour their relationships; he’s made plenty of trades since landing in the big chair. Furthermore, being a master in the art of negotiations has also served him well since the Canadiens are arguably the team that’s in the best position when it comes to the salary cap. There have been a plethora of great moves since Hughes was appointed, but these are the top three when it comes to trades and contract negotiations.
Trading for Noah Dobson
If there’s one position where the Canadiens have needed help historically, it’s on the right side of defense. The Habs have had an unbalanced defense for years, and they struggled to find an impact right-shot defenseman. When Noah Dobson told the New York Islanders he wouldn’t be re-signing with them at the end of his second contract, Hughes smelt the opportunity and enquired about his willingness to sign with the Canadiens.
Once the blueliner said he would be interested in signing long-term with the Habs, Hughes did what was needed to do to acquire his first established big name on the trade market. Of course, he had traded for the likes of Kirby Dach, Alex Newhook, and Alexandre Carrier in the past, but none of them were as proven a commodity as Dobson.
Knowing just how important Dobson could be with his team, Hughes decided that it was time to do away with the rule that no one would have a bigger cap hit than captain Nick Suzuki. It was time, after all; that contract had been signed by Marc Bergevin back in October 2021, and the salary cap was all set to go up, and Dobson wasn’t coming off his ELC; he was at that stage where established players want to cash in.
Still, the sign-and-trade contract was a very reasonable one, an eight-year pact with a $9.5 million cap hit and no complete no-movement clause, just a modified no-trade clause allowing the defenseman to give a list of 14 teams he cannot be traded to. Given how many GMs have handcuffed themselves in recent years and now have little to no negotiating power when players request a trade, that is huge for Hughes. Of course, Mathieu Darche was the GM who signed the contract, but the Canadiens negotiated the terms.
As for what Hughes had to give to acquire the blueliner- two first-round picks and Emil Heineman- it was a hefty price tag, but Dobson was worth it. The 16th and 17th overall picks are no doubt assets of important value, but players you pick in those slots are not NHL-ready assets. You still have to make the right picks, based on your evaluations and projections; you don’t know what they will be able to do in the NHL. There are players picked there who never really make it. As for sacrificing Heineman, it wasn’t surprising for Darche to insist on getting a promising roster player in a deal for a player that had such an important role on his team.
Dobson’s arrival has solidified the defense and given St-Louis some interesting options on the back end. Whether he plays with Mike Matheson or with Lane Hutson, Dobson has already proven that he’s a key member of the Canadiens, and now that his first year and all the adjustments that come with it are in the books, expect him to be even more impactful this season.
Signing Ivan Demidov To A Long-Term Team-Friendly Contract
Ivan Demidov’s rookie season was impressive, and had it not been for Matthew Schaefer, he would have won the Calder Trophy as the top rookie in the league (he finished second in voting with 1,158 points while Schaefer had 1,980). His 62 points in 82 games made him fifth in scoring on the team behind Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Lane Hutson and Juraj Slafkovsky. However, with the skills he displayed, there’s no doubt that he will climb up the rankings as he progresses in his development.
Demidov truly is a diamond in the rough, and with the salary cap going up and the new collective bargaining agreement approaching, it was paramount to find a way to sign him before mid-September, when eight-year contracts will no longer be permitted.
Of course, Hughes didn’t need to twist Demidov’s arm to sign. On locker-room clear-out day, Demidov was clear that he wanted to sign long-term in Montreal. It was done promptly, with the announcement coming on July 1, no doubt to take the focus away from the fact that the Canadiens’ GM didn’t sign any big names in free agency (although there weren’t that many big names to start with).
The eight-year deal comes with a $9.15 million cap hit, which comes in under Dobson’s cap hit and gets better by the day considering that Leo Carlsson, who needed three seasons to score more than 60 points, signed a contract with an $18 million cap hit for just five years that walks him straight to unrestricted free agency at age 26. In contrast, Demidov won’t be a UFA until he’s 29, remaining under team control for much longer. Of course, Carlsson was in a particular position since he was signed to an offer sheet by the Philadelphia Flyers, but there have also been “normal signings” that make this deal look incredibly good.
Connor Bedard put pen to paper on a five-year deal with a $15M cap hit. Granted, Bedard has a higher ceiling than Demidov; he was a first-overall pick and has three seasons of 61, 67 and 75 points under his belt. Normally, he has a higher cap hit, but is Demidov worth nearly six million less than he is? The answer must be no. Furthermore, Bedar will be a UFA at just 25 years old. As for Macklin Celebrini, he also signed a five-year pact, which will make him a free agent at just 26 years old for a whopping $18.8 million cap hit; that’s more than double Demidov’s salary. Yes, Celebrini is a generational talent, but he’s not worth twice as much as the Canadiens’ Russian phenom. With each new signing, that deal looks better for the Habs.
Signing Lane Hutson To A Long-Term Team-Friendly Contract
Last offseason, Hughes started negotiating with Hutson, and it took some time to get him to sign an eight-year deal with an $8.85 million cap hit. In fact, it took so long that it dragged into the season, and it prevented Hutson from focusing on his play, as evidenced by the fact that he played much better once the deal was signed. The youngster stepped into the negotiations and told his agent that he wanted to sign, and he wanted it done as soon as possible.
That deal is even more important than the Demidov deal in the sense that Hutson’s ceiling is extremely high and he will soon be mentioned in the same conversation with the likes of Cale Makar, Quinn Hughes and Zach Werenski. Furthermore, the way Hutson stepped in to put an end to the standstill and really bought into the team culture and the idea that leaving money on the table will allow the Canadiens to be a much more competitive team down the line and give the players a better opportunity to win a Stanley Cup or even multiple Cups.
The blueliner even spoke to his roommate on the road, Demidov, about the importance of committing to the team long term. Hutson’s eight-year deal means he won’t be a UFA until he hits 30, so he’s really leading by example there.
The Hughes-Jeff Gorton management team has really managed to inspire confidence from the players, so much so that they are all willing to commit long-term at more than a reasonable price. The work they’ve put in so far, the coaching staff they’ve assembled, and the players they’ve assembled have convinced players that they can win in Montreal and that they don’t need to chase a huge payday; what they all want is to win championships, and that’s worth much more than a fat paycheck.
There will be another article covering the best draft picks of the Hughes-Gorton era, as I felt it deserved a separate category, given that it’s much more of a team effort than signing and trading players, which is a responsibility that falls squarely on the GM. Honorable mentions to the Sean Monahan trade and how he handled that asset from start to finish (trading him to the Winnipeg Jets led to the Habs drafting Michael Hage), and giving the C to Nick Suzuki.
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