Kent Hughes on the possible acquisition of players like Evgeni Malkin and Nazem Kadri

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Jeff Drouin
May 9, 2022 (2:17 PM)

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Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes has been very present in the media over the past few days, giving multiple generous interviews.

During his appearance on TSN 690, Hughes was asked about his ambitions for the opening of the NHL free agent market.

As my colleague Christian Matte (Marqueur.com) reports, he tempered expectations:

"Most of the time, when I think about the free-agent market, Kadri will be available, Malkin will be available. I don't anticipate the Montreal Canadiens being in that market for the five-star free agents that will be available." - Kent Hughes

Then, still on TSN, the highly regarded Darren Dreger returned to this statement and he wanted to reassure fans:

"He (Kent Hughes) is going to be active. It's going to happen when the free agent market opens and it's going to happen on the trade market. Believe me, he's going to be active. I think he wanted to temper the market a little bit. Certainly, I'm told that Kent Hughes, Jeff Gorton and the Montreal Canadiens will be shopping around on the free agent market. There is a consensus (among sources and informants). They will be looking for a few specific players. - Players who are younger, who are still very, very hungry - not that Letang or Bergeron aren't - but who are established in their careers. [...] So they're going to be aiming a little bit lower." - Darren Dreger

Really interesting! Dreger adds that the CH wants to acquire players who are talented, but who were not in favorable contexts to thrive, with their current club. (Like the Coyotes did with Shayne Gostisbehere) We can think here of players like Vitaly Kravtsov.

It will be really interesting to watch!