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Canadiens Jayden Struble On Kent Hughes, ‘Hoes Mad’ Meme

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Montreal Canadiens

Montreal Canadiens prospect Jayden Struble talks about his relationship with Kent Hughes, as well as the viral ‘Hoes Mad’ meme he dropped on Instagram at the 2022 NHL Draft.

For prospect Struble, watching Kent Hughes go from family advisor to general manager of the Montreal Canadiens has been a process.

With NCAA players not being allowed to have official agents, representatives like Hughes were commonly referred to as family advisors. Hughes served as Struble’s family advisor up until he was hired to become the general manager of the Montreal Canadiens

For Struble, the whole process was a shock; but a pleasantly surprising one.

“I saw there was a position to fill, but then one day I saw Kent’s name on Twitter and I was like ‘No way!’, but then he actually got picked for the job,” said Struble regarding his initial reaction to the rumours linking Hughes to the Canadiens. “I was shocked, to be honest. I didn’t comprehend it for a while, but I’m happy for him and he’s been doing a great job.”

He praised the work that Hughes and head coach Martin St. Louis have done in their short time with the Canadiens. In his eyes, Hughes has the knowledge and the passion to be successful in Montreal.

“He’s just such a smart guy, and he’s really good at giving advice,” said Struble of his former family advisor. “He understands the players and does his best to get them to the next level.”

Despite the professional relationship having changed between Hughes and Struble, that hasn’t changed anything in terms of their personal relationship.

 

Viral ‘Hoes Mad’ Story

Struble came up with Kent’s son Jack Hughes in order to be present for his selection at the 2022 NHL Draft, where the younger Hughes brother was selected by the LA Kings. But that was on Day 2, in the first half of the second round.

For Struble, it was a Day 1 moment that caught the attention of Montreal Canadiens fans the most. After the Canadiens had selected Juraj Slafkovsky at first overall and Shane Wright had dropped to the Seattle Kraken at 4th overall, all hell broke loose on social media.

Wright, who looked visibly upset when joining the Kraken on the draft stage, looked to have given the Canadiens’ draft table a staredown. Whether or not that’s actually what the youngster intended didn’t matter, as the internet ran with it and it became viral.

Within a few minutes, Canadiens fans began sharing one of Struble’s Instagram stories, where the 20-year-old shared a meme that has now become a staple response to every move Hughes makes. The “Hoes Mad” meme, as it is now dubbed, caught fire on social media, but Struble had no idea how the meme was being used at that very moment by the rest of the hockey world.

“I didn’t know it was being circulated around because of the whole Shane Wright thing, I didn’t follow any of that, but when I saw it, I found it so funny,” said Struble when recounting the events. “I was with (Kent’s) daughter at that moment and she and all her friends were putting it on their stories.”

What was supposed to be a funny throw-away story turned into so much more for Struble, who was subsequently bombarded with DMs by Canadiens fans on social media reacting in good fun to his story.

“I put it up thinking it was funny and I just start getting a ton of DMs and I had no clue it was in response to the alleged staredown,” said Struble regarding the incredible response from Habs fans. “The reactions were hilarious.”

Struble got a first-hand taste of how passionate the Montreal fanbase could be, and he loved engaging in good fun with the fans; laughing for a few minutes as we went over the details.

Kent Hughes

Everytime someone brings up an NCAA player in their senior year; the question remains the same: Will he sign or become a free agent next summer?

We asked Struble to address his short-term and long-term goals and we’ll have the full response in a follow-up article this week. Stay tuned.