But what also surprised Montreal Canadiens fans was the statement by The Athletic's journalist Charlie O'Connor, who mentioned on his account X that the Flyers had offered Kent Hughes the young American prospect in exchange for the fifth pick in the 2023 draft.
As we know, the Canadiens' GM declined the offer to select defenseman David Reinbacher, while Daniel Brière turned to a certain Matvei Michkov.
However, as reported by Marco Normandin, from Habsolumentfan.com, it seems that we now have a little idea why Kent Hughes decided to pass on Cutter Gauthier.
During the recording of the podcast The Basu And Godin Notebook, journalist Arpon Basu, who also works for The Athletic, reiterated his colleague's remarks and even revealed a bit more about the Canadiens' reasons for not accepting the Flyers' offer.
According to him, the Canadiens' management saw Gauthier as a fifth overall pick in a weak draft class, whereas last year, the team held the fifth selection in a draft class the organization considered strong, and for this reason, the offer was not sufficient in Hughes' eyes.
We now know that the Flyers would have also chosen David Reinbacher and that Daniel Brière would have also picked Michkov two spots later.
In the end, it's as if the two teams had traded Gauthier for Reinbacher.
POLL | ||
JANVIER 21 | 730 ANSWERS Major trade offer sent to Kent Hughes by Daniel Brière: we finally have the details on this specific trade that was refused In Kent Hughes' position, would you have accepted the Flyers' offer? | ||
Yes, Gauthier will be better than Reinbacher | 183 | 25.1 % |
No | 547 | 74.9 % |
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