MAJOR: Kent Hughes just confirmed that he is open to trade one of his left handed defensemen to acquire a star forward

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Elias Edmonson
January 15, 2024 (2:07 PM)

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At a press conference earlier today for his mid-season review, the General Manager of the Montreal Canadiens, Kent Hughes, was extensively questioned about the NHL trade market.

He made some interesting statements about the possibility of a trade for a productive major forward in exchange for a young defenseman from his organization. (as he did with Alexander Romanov)

Kent Hughes is open to trading a left-handed defenseman for a talented forward (like Trevor Zegras?)

That's what he mentioned to the journalists.

«GM Kent Hughes on if there's urgency to trade from the young D corps to address other areas of need: "where we have chances to rebalance the ledger so-to-speak, we'll pursue them. Do I feel like we have a gun to our head to do that right now? No, not at all.»

- Kent Hughes, via Priyanta Emrith

In short, Kent Hughes is open.

He invites other teams to make offers, and if he thinks an offer is beneficial for his team, he will accept it.

Otherwise, he will wait for the right opportunity. (as he did with Romanov) So, he is open to trading a young defenseman, but he is not in a hurry to do so.

But yes, he wants to acquire forwards:

«GM Kent Hughes: "we're looking for players that can help us. Are we looking to add offense to this group? Yeah, no question about it."

This will be interesting to watch up until the draft.