A Kent Hughes trade is already becoming a real steal for the Canadiens and it's not over yet

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Jeff Drouin
May 25, 2022 (9:05)

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When the Florida Panthers acquired defenseman Ben Chiarot last March, many experts agreed that the team had added a solid defenseman for the playoffs.

However, after winning their first series since 1996, the Panthers were just swept by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second round, but even worse, the team was limited to only three goals in the entire series.

As reported by Keven Mawn of Marker.com, Chiarot's contribution has been rather timid during the playoffs, garnering only one assist in ten games and an advanced stats expert, one Todd Cordell, mentioned that the Chiarot acquisition has been a disaster.

At five-on-five, Chiarot allowed the most scoring chances to the opposition of any Panthers defenseman, and his shorthanded stats were also horrible.

Also, it must be said that Panthers head coach Andrew Brunette didn't use the former Habs man much during the playoffs, as Chiarot only played 14 minutes during Game 4 of the series. Ouch.

Now that the defenseman will become an uncompensated free agent this summer, it's safe to say that Kent Hughes hit a real home run by shipping Chiarot to Florida. The Habs had obtained, in return for the defenseman, the prospect Ty Smilanic, a fourth round pick in 2022 as well as a first round pick in 2023 and it's not over: imagine if, on top of that, Smilanic became a good player!

Hughes was able to monetize his defenseman very well by getting maximum value in return and who knows, he could be back with the Habs next fall as it would be quite surprising if he signs a new contract with the Panthers this summer.