A major trade just announced was supposed to involve Hughes and the Canadiens
After major trades involving Vladimir Tarasenko (to the Rangers) and Bo Horvat (to the Islanders), things continued to shake out on the NHL trade market.
A few days ago, another major trade was announced, and we just learned that Kent Hughes and the Montreal Canadiens were supposed to be involved in this one.
We're talking about the three-team trade involving Ryan O'Reilly and Noel Acciari between the Toronto Maple Leafs, the St. Louis Blues and the Minnesota Wild.
Recap of the full trade:
Ryan O'Reilly & Noel Acciari.
St. Louis received:
Mikhail Abramov, Adam Gaudette, 2023 1st round pick, 2023 3rd round pick, 2024 2nd round pick.
Minnesota received:
4th round pick 2025 (and they retain 25% of O'Reilly's salary).
The Montreal Canadiens were going to be involved in this trade
According to information from Arpon Basu, who was on TSN last night, the Montreal Canadiens were indeed going to be involved in this three-way trade.
Kent Hughes would have stepped in for the Minnesota Wild, to help facilitate the trade and to receive a draft pick for "free" or close to it (withholding $1.8 million from O'Reilly's salary).
On the other hand, with all the injuries currently on the CH, players who are injured are counting against the salary cap, as are the players who are coming to Montreal (from Laval) to replace them.
So unfortunately, Hughes didn't have any flexibility left in that regard and that's what got him out of this trade.
- NHL Watcher
If things settle down on the injury front, you should definitely expect Kent Hughes to take another shot. These are valuable draft picks.
Credit: Alex Desrosiers, Rumeursdetransaction.com
| POLL | ||
Would you have helped the Leafs like Hughes wanted to do? | ||
| For picks yes | 197 | 47.7 % |
| NO WAY | 216 | 52.3 % |
| List of polls | ||
