Habs Daily: Kent Hughes Quotes, NHL Trade Deadline, Poulin

Here are the Montreal Canadiens news items, highlights, and stories you may have missed on Wednesday.

Montreal Canadiens News

General manager Kent Hughes met with the media on Wednesday to discuss a myriad of topics, including the team’s recent surge in results, his trade philosophy, top prospect Ivan Demidov, Juraj Slafkovsky’s recent play, the brilliant Alexandre Carrier trade, and much more during his mid-season press conference. [Kent Hughes Discusses Trades, Contracts, Slafkovsky]

The Montreal Canadiens have a plan, and it looks like they’re going to be sticking to it, no matter where they are in the standings. Despite playing well above their expected finish, the Canadiens are still very much in a rebuild, with the best still yet to come. [Canadiens In Unique Spot Heading Into NHL Trade Deadline]

Marie-Philip Poulin scoring a big goal in Vancouver? Is this a rerun?

Captain Clutch scored her third and fourth goals of the season on Wednesday night, leading the Montreal Victoire to a 4-2 win over the Toronto Sceptres. Her third goal, in particular, was impressive, as she scored from her knees. With the win, the Victoire are now sitting alone atop the PWHL standings.

Marie-Philip Poulin doing Marie-Philip Poulin things. Scores a beauty of a goal from her knees. 3-0 Montreal. Victoire are taking over the game. #PWHL pic.twitter.com/hI53RotCoc

— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) January 9, 2025

Forward Joshua Roy (29GP, 13G, 12A) and defenceman Logan Mailloux (27GP, 5G, 11A) will represent the Laval Rocket at the AHL All-Star game. This is the second year in a row that Mailloux will participate in the All-Star festivities. Roy leads the team in scoring, while Mailloux trails Adam Engstrom by one point(31 GP, 3G, 14A) among Laval’s defencemen.

On s’en va à Palm Springs!
Joshua Roy et Logan Mailloux seront les représentants du Rocket à la Classique des étoiles de la AHL
Détails: https://t.co/KX08nOKIeI

We’re off to Palm Springs!
Joshua Roy and Logan Mailloux will represent the Rocket at the 2025 AHL All-Star Classic… pic.twitter.com/kdbaErOn68

— Rocket de Laval (@RocketLaval) January 8, 2025

ICYMI: Lane Hutson has earned 30 points in his first 40 games this season, quite the scoring pace for a rookie defenceman. Consequently, Hutson’s name has to be included in any Calder Trophy discussion. To get a better idea of how impressive his production has been, we took a look at some historical and modern NHL comparables. [Calder Talk: Canadiens Defenceman Lane Hutson Historical Scoring Comparison]