Canadiens Kent Hughes Discusses Trades, Contracts, Slafkovsky

Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes held his annual mid-season press conference on Wednesday, discussing several important topics, including how he expects the team to approach the NHL’s trade deadline, contract-extension talks, Juraj Slafkovsky’s development, Ivan Demidov’s play in Russia, and more.

Before we get going, I’d like to point out Hughes has done a fantastic job when it comes to his French language skills. Even though he was born in Montreal and had the ability to speak French prior to taking over as the general manager, it’s a very difficult language to master, and we have to give credit for his marked improvements in the last few seasons.

Hughes started off by noting the win against the Vegas Golden Knights on New Year’s Eve was quite telling, as it featured a complete team effort in a comeback against a top club. In other words, they found a way to win, while earlier in the season they were finding ways to lose.

He was also quick to point out the trade for Alexandre Carrier stabilized a chaotic blue line, but that he wasn’t the only reason the Canadiens have improved since he made the deal. Several individual players were not achieving their potential earlier in the season according to Hughes.

“I don’t want to say it’s all Carrier,” he explained. “Some issues were resolved for individuals and from a team-first standpoint, but it’s also true that having five young defencemen without much experience, especially when things go wrong, having someone with experience helps them get through tough stretches.”

ON TOPIC: Montreal Canadiens Trade Analysis – Alexandre Carrier Trade Impact Goes Beyond The Expected

As for how he will tackle the issue of keeping important veterans in place while giving the prospects an opportunity to earn ice time, as per tradition, he covered both sides of the coin when explaining the team’s game plan.

“It’s always a balance for us, now and in the future,” said Hughes. “We have more young players coming. We’re excited about players like [Ivan] Demidov, and other great young players. It’s all about timing and balance. That’s our job.”

Demidov, in particular, was a player of interest throughout the whole press conference, especially since Hughes and Co. recently made their way to Russia to watch the top prospect play in person. Prior to the draft, only one member of the organization had the opportunity to be present in an arena to watch him play. We can safely assume that one member of the organization is Nick Bobrov.

“The goal was to see him play in person,” explained Hughes. “It’s a unique case, drafting a player fifth overall while there was only one of us that had seen him play. So, for us, it was a chance to check that box. We noticed his ice time had gone down for 10 straight games, I wanted to see where he was at, and meet him face to face. The draft goes by so fast. We communicated that despite his individual results during the difficult stretch of low ice time, he is very important to us. When you draft someone, they became part of the family. We believe a lot in the importance of communication. It was a good decision to go watch him play.

He would go on to suggest fans should not expect to see Demidov in Montreal this season, as his contract with SKA Saint Petersburg essentially runs until the Stanley Cup finals.

As for the geopolitical impact of his visit, Hughes dismissed the idea that the Habs were the only NHL team to take a trip to watch a player in the KHL.

“No regrets. I think we were criticized more on the political side,” he said. “For us, it was work. I can tell you that while we were there, there were several other NHL teams in Russia. I can’t talk about Philly and [Matvei] Michkov, but when he was in Russia there were two years left on his deal. Demidov’s deal is over this summer. So we have a decision to make about where his play is, and where he can fit in the lineup.”

Montreal Canadiens Trade Deadline Discussion

Yes, the Habs are playing quite well recently, but Hughes is not indulging in any delusions of grandeur.

“We have 22 games before the deadline, we have a lot to learn. We’re happy we’re playing well, but we have 40 games played, and we’re just one game above .500. I don’t want to celebrate, we haven’t accomplished anything. And we want to see how things shake up before the NHL trade deadline, and make a decision from there.”

He’s also not ready to declare the difficult nights are behind the team, which is still very much in the midst of a rebuild.

“It’s difficult to say the worst has passed,” he said. “I hope it has. We’re in a good stretch, but I don’t think we’re assuming we’ll win nine of the next 10 games. There are ebbs and flows each year. But I think we’re on the right track with the players we have and the players we have coming. We don’t want to be overconfident, and do like other teams. Like the Sabres coming close to the playoffs and then faltering, and Detroit too, but they’re getting better. We don’t want to be overconfident.”

On the topic of contract extensions, Jake Evans’ name inevitably popped up, but one of the few topics the general manager refuses to discuss is anything related to contract discussions. He quickly and predictably brushed aside any attempt to garner inside information about the current process.

MUST READ: Montreal Canadiens Analysis – The Jake Evans Trade And Contract Extension Situation

That led to a few reasonable questions about Juraj Slafkovsky, who was drafted first overall in 2022, and hasn’t exactly set the league on fire sine his arrival.

“I think he’s capable of doing more, and he knows it,” said Hughes. “Are we surprised? No. And I said it when we signed him that highs and lows are to be expected, development won’t be linear. He’s not alone in that situation. Since we’re here, there are a number of players who have undergone difficult situations, Josh Anderson, or Evans in 2022-23, Samuel Montembeault in the winter of 2022 had a hard time stopping a puck. And now he may be the starter for Team Canada. Such is life as a professional athlete. I have plenty of confidence in Juraj, but there’s work left to do, and he has to keep his head down and work hard.”

Kent Hughes On David Reinbacher and Montreal Canadiens Draft Picks

David Reinbacher, picked fifth overall in 2023 by the Montreal Canadiens, has yet to play a game this season, but the team is keeping him around in a bid to give him an opportunity to absorb some tricks of the trade that will allow him to adapt to life as a professional athlete.

“Long term nothing has changed, short term it’s difficult to miss a whole year.” said Hughes. “We saw it with Kirby, it took him a lot of work to get back to top form, playing up to his capabilities. It’s not easy. But long term, we have no worries at all. While he’s injured, we’re keeping him around the team so he can learn from all the off-ice activities, pre-scouts, team meetings. At the very least he’s understanding what coaches want, what they look for. He’s working with our staff, watching top players in the league, working on his comprehension of the game. It gives him a chance to learn from veterans how the room operates. It’s not a completely lost season, but obviously we’d want to have him on the ice, so we can’t gauge how well he’s developed since being drafted.”

And finally, seeing as the team seems to be turning a corner, and that draft picks tend to take a while to develop into useful NHL players, Hughes was quick to note that it is once again a topic that requires nuance, and that acquiring a draft pick doesn’t necessarily mean he will use it to pick a player, as it can be a key part of a trade.

“I don’t know how to balance it perfectly, to be honest, sometimes I feel like again, there’s a theory to it, then there’s a practical element to it. If we were going to be making trade and get futures, we might push them back even further at this point, whether we use those for a trade later, that’s probably the most likely scenario. Trading for futures, my answer is the same. We have 22 games to see where we are before we are ready to make any of those decisions.”