Trade completed between the Montreal Canadiens and the Calgary Flames in August: a real big move made by Kent Hughes with the addition of Sean Monahan
Last summer, Kent Hughes accepted the hefty salary of Sean Monahan ($6.25M), which was accompanied by a nice little gift, a first round pick in 2025. This acquisition was not only good on the ice (let's be honest, Monahan was quite a player for the Canadiens before his injury), but as Marco D'Amico now reports, also for the future of the club. It could even come back to haunt the Flames in the near future.
In fact, we recall that at the time, Flames GM Brad Treliving was trying at all costs to free up space to sign free agent Nazem Kadri. The Flames' hockey man really had no choice after losing the services of Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk.
Treliving, who will not return to his position next year by mutual agreement with the organization, has left a heavy legacy to his successor. As D'Amico tells it, we could very well experience the same thing we saw with the Florida Panthers this season, namely the possibility of drafting very high with the Flames' pick in 2025. Here's why:
It all starts with the uncertain future of two important players in the organization. They are Mikael Backlund and Elias Lindholm, who will both be unrestricted free agents next summer (2024). The former will certainly demand a substantial salary increase, as he already makes $4.875 million. While the latter will undoubtedly want to look elsewhere, at 35 years old, to try to finally win the Stanley Cup.
The list of uncertain players in Calgary doesn't stop with these two. There's also former Canadiens player Tyler Toffoli. He reached a career high with 73 points this season and will also receive a substantial increase in the summer of 2024. Then you can add Nikita Zadorov, Noah Hanifin, and Chris Tanev to this list...
It seems that the new Flames GM will have to take a new direction in the near future if the club's next season is disappointing. The Flames could very well mortgage some of their expiring contracts next season to increase their draft pick bank.
In short, if the team were to reorganize, it could delight the Montreal Canadiens in 2025, as the 2024-2025 season could be difficult without some of the Flames' best players. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. This could very well be Kent Hughes' best move as general manager of the Montreal Canadiens.
It could become a very high quality pick once again!
| POLL | ||
Which trade do you think is Kent Hughes' best move? | ||
| The one for Chiarot (Panthers' pick) | 233 | 25.9 % |
| The one for Monahan | 328 | 36.5 % |
| The one for Brett Kulak (Lane Hutson) | 245 | 27.3 % |
| Other | 92 | 10.2 % |
| List of polls | ||
