Hughes may have just pulled off a magic trick on the trade market with his latest trade
Last Sunday, Kent Hughes traded Evgeny Dadonov to the Dallas Stars in exchange for the intriguing Denis Gurianov.
Gurianov looked great in his first game with the CH on Tuesday night in San Jose, playing on the first line with Nick Suzuki and Mike Hoffman. It continued last night.
As Anthony Martineau points out on his Twitter account, this deal shows how shrewd the CH GM was last summer when he sent Shea Weber's contract to the Vegas Golden Knights.
We can almost say that the former club captain's hefty contract turned into a promising under-25 player.
Shea Weber's gigantic, crippling contract has turned into Denis Gurianov, one of the good prospects in the 2015 draft who has already scored 20 NHL goals and has zero contract risk.
In my book, that's big magic."
- Anthony Martineau
Gurianov still has a lot to prove, however. The latter will have every chance to show what he can do, however. While he has had a rough season so far, 9 points in 44 games, his numbers from previous years are promising and encouraging. Still, the forward has already put together a 20-goal season in 2019-2020 with the Dallas Stars, as well as adding 17 points in 27 playoff games that same year.
After the current season, the Russian forward will become a restricted free agent, having signed a one-season deal valued at $2.9 million with the Dallas Stars last summer. Even if the CH's qualifying offer will have to be the same amount, nothing prevents Kent Hughes from agreeing with him for less or around that figure. He could even do a Kirby Dach 2.0 and extend him long term at a low price, hoping that his progression with the club is good.
Imagine if Gurianov develops as the Stars anticipated in 2015 when they selected him 12th overall in the draft. Kent Hughes will have pulled off a magic trick by acquiring him almost for an exorbitant salary that is on the long-term injured list!
| POLL | ||
Which one do you think will be more dominant in the long run? | ||
| Puljujarvi | 46 | 10.8 % |
| Gurianov | 295 | 69.2 % |
| Kravtsov | 85 | 20 % |
| List of polls | ||
