41 games into the 2022 year, and so far, it’s been a season to forget for the Montreal Canadiens. At a record of 7-25-5, it has been the worst season in Habs HISTORY, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to change for the better; at least for this season.
Since the firing of Marc Bergevin, Trevor Timmins and co. on Nov 28th, we knew owner Geoff Molson had to make a splash to appease the fanbase, and the hiring of Jeff Gorton as Executive Vice-President of Hockey Operations did exactly that. When Gorton was introduced to the media, he specified that when it came to the hiring of the new general manager, they would look “outside the box”, meaning diversity and style of approach. Many qualified candidates were in a 2 round interview process, where it came down to 3 and finally one was chosen. A lot of the speculation was either Daniel Briere or Mathieu Darche, 2 former Habs players, but in the end, it was Kent Hughes, who was signed to a 5 year contract. Now, who is Kent Hughes exactly? Glad you asked.
Hughes is from the West Island area in Beaconsfield, Quebec, where he played and was the captain of the triple AAA Lac St-Louis Lions, before going to Middlebury College for 4 years and was captain his senior year. Perfectly bilingual, but he’s lived in Boston for the past 20 years. Jeff Gorton knows him pretty well from his days with the Boston Bruins, and even tried to hire Hughes when he was general manager of the New York Rangers in 2015. Hughes attended Boston College, where he earned his law degree in 1996, and later joined from MFive Sports Firm following a merger, Quartexx Management, based in Quebec where he was a player agent for over 25 years. He represented many high profile players, including Vincent Lecavalier, Patrice Bergeron, Kris Letang and Darnell Nurse to name a few.
He is very respected around the game of hockey, with all the relationships with general managers he’s formed over the years, and with over 20 high profile clients under contract in the NHL, it’s exactly the type of person the Canadiens need. Sure, he’s not the typical former NHL player who retired and decided to take a crack at management and work his way up, but it’s the trend now, where player agents are being picked by teams for very important roles within their respective organizations, because of those relationships, and understanding the players and what the teams need. Brian Burke, Ray Shero, Bill Zito are just a handful of former agents who got their shot in management and have been successful, so the Canadiens organization are hoping to bring some of that agent magic with the hiring of Kent Hughes as general manager.
With the press conference tomorrow, Hughes will be accompanied by owner Geoff Molson and executive vice-president Jeff Gorton, as Hughes will introduce himself to the media and all of Quebec. Hopefully, we’ll see the plans he has for the team now and into the future. Right now, the focus should be to evaluate the team for the trade deadline. Top of the trade list for the Habs is Ben Chiarot. He’s currently in the last year of his deal, and it seems playoff contending teams are willing to pay a 1st round pick to acquire him. 3.5 million cap hit, can play up and down the lineup, playoff tested, big body, solid in his own zone and can chip in with some offence. I’d say that would be an amazing return for Hughes and for the Canadiens, and a good way to kick things up and running.
With the hiring of Kent Hughes, one thing is for sure: this is going to be a long 5 years, so we’re going to have to be patient and go along with the process. Whether it’s a rebuild or reset, Hughes will put his mark on this team, starting with the draft in Montreal this summer.
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