BPM Sports and Sick Podcast host Tony Marinaro recently asked his listeners to grade Montreal Canadiens’ GM Kent Hughes’ season. It’s an interesting exercise that I consider worth doing, and I will be going through quite a few of these report card articles in the coming days.

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Hughes’ moves this past season as listed by Marinaro were: trading Jonathan Kovacevic to the New Jersey Devils for a fourth-round pick in June 2024, signing Juraj Slafkovsky to an eight-year contract extension worth $60.8 M, signing Arber Xhekaj to a 2-year, $2.6 M contract, signing Kaiden Guhle to a 6-year $33.3 M extension, trading Jordan Harris to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Patrik Laine and a second-round pick in 2026, trading Justin Barron to the Nashville Predators for Alexandre Carrier, signing Jake Evans to a four-year, 11.4 M contract extension, staying put at the trade deadline and not trading Christian Dvorak, Joel Armia and David Savard, signing Jacob Fowler to a three-year ELC deal and signing Ivan Demidov to a three-year ELC deal.

Needless to say, Hughes had a busy year. Trading Kovacevic was the worst move of the lot, though it was understandable. After seeing Logan Mailloux perform in his first season in the AHL and David Reinbacher coming over, he believed he needed to make room for a new wave of talent. Sadly, neither was able to take the next step after training camp. Mailloux wasn’t ready, and Reinbacher was injured.

I liked the Slafkovsky signing for a few reasons, firstly, he’s not done developing and he’ll improve from what we’ve seen so far, but also because he signed him for less than Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield, two players who are likely to keep performing better than he is. Respecting one’s salary structure is key in a salary cap world.

On the Xhekaj signing, I’ll say that his valuation was spot on, paying him a little bit more than Barron ($150,000) since Xhekaj had shown more. Signing an extension with Guhle was also the right move; the blueliner had another good season, and the price would likely have been higher had he waited for this offseason. My one concern with that deal was Guhle’s health, since he’s often injured, but a six-year pact was a prudent investment.

Even though people complain about Laine’s shortcomings, that trade is still a masterstroke, and I won’t change my opinion on that anytime soon. Harris was a good defenseman, but the left-shot blueliner cupboard was overflowing, and someone had to go.

Moving Barron to Nashville for Carrier was another great move. As soon as the latter arrived, the defense was stabilized, and while some will lament the fact that Barron cost the Canadiens Lehkonen, at least Hughes knew it was time to move on, unlike Marc Bergevin, who wouldn’t move Jonathan Drouin when it was obvious it wasn’t working.

I’ve written at length about my stance on the Evans deal. I wanted him to re-sign, and I feel he got him under market value, so that’s another one in the win column. As for staying put at the deadline, that was a win, considering the result. More importantly, he gave his players confidence by showing them he believed in the group he had assembled, and once they showed they were deserving, of course. The way he challenged his captain to get his team to rise was also excellent management.

Signing Fowler and getting him to wait until next year to start his ELC was perfect. Goalies take a long time to develop; you don’t want to burn a year of their ELC for nothing. Furthermore, the youngster is now gaining valuable experience in the AHL playoffs.

The Demidov signing was great, but his approach to the youngsters’ season was even better. The lines of communication with SKA St. Petersburg were opened early on, and the Habs brass made the effort to go over on what looked like an official visit. While Dominik Hasek didn’t like it, SKA did, and it probably went a long way in their decision to allow him to come over before the end of his contract. Although only a few weeks were left, they would have been within their rights to keep him, and they didn’t.

Overall, I give Kent Hughes an A for the season. The only black mark on his jacket was trading Kovacevic too soon, but he still found a way to correct the course. I struggle to see what more he could have done. Yes, I know, the second-line center, but that’s the kind of deal that’s easier to make in the Summer and likely to be cheaper that way.

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