Major statement from the Canadiens about a possible upcoming trade involving a young talent: Kent Hughes ready to overpay to surround Suzuki, Caufield, and Dach
The Canadiens' bank of hopes has been quite impressive for the past few years. While it was once one of the worst in the NHL, it now has several organizations salivating over its quantity and quality.
In addition to having numerous excellent young talents, Kent Hughes can rely on many draft picks for the years to come. According to the excellent site Capfriendly, the GM will have the opportunity to pick eight times in the first two rounds of the next three drafts. That's a whopping 28 selections in the bag for this period.
These two aspects, prospects and the draft, are significant assets for Kent Hughes. He admitted this himself during his most recent press briefing. He has even hinted at his plans, mentioning what he intends to do with these surpluses!
He aims to find a player who will perfectly complement the trio of young forwards he possesses.
The goal is simple! The aim is to better surround Suzuki-Caufield-Dach, and it's exactly the right thing to do if Kent Hughes manages to make a trade in that direction.
The GM is openly admitting that he's already in search of the perfect complement. This is very exciting to know, especially when considering that will add even more flexibility, namely in terms of salary cap space.
Indeed, as of now, the Habs have over $13 million in cap space for the summer of 2024, with only three restricted free agents to sign: Samuel Montembeault, Arber Xhekaj, and Justin Barron. Minus a few performance bonuses (+-$4 million), the Habs could have nearly $9 million (without Price on LTIR) in cap space. There's plenty to play with in the trade or free agency market.
Just imagine what Hughes could achieve in terms of transactions (considering what he has already accomplished), without touching his core and with no salary constraints. We're already salivating!
| POLL | ||
Which one would you aim for first? | ||
| Kyle Connor | 404 | 29.9 % |
| Nylander | 498 | 36.9 % |
| Alex Holtz | 91 | 6.7 % |
| None of those answers | 356 | 26.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
