Kent Hughes was ready to trade his 5th overall pick under one condition
The Montreal Canadiens have just unveiled a long-awaited excerpt from their documentary on the behind-the-scenes of the 2024 NHL Draft.
Fans have been eagerly waiting for the Habs to finally release their short documentary showing the behind-the-scenes of the 2024 NHL Draft. In the meantime, the organization has just published a preview.
And in this preview, there are several interesting elements.
We see a few very brief clips of interviews between the Canadiens' management and Ivan Demidov, Michael Hage, and Aatos Koivu. There are also some short excerpts from the "pre-draft" meetings among Montreal's executives, and we are treated to a few intriguing statements.
Here's one that particularly caught our attention, and it's a statement made by none other than Kent Hughes himself, right on the draft floor in Las Vegas.
If Ivan Demidov was not available at the 5th overall pick, would the Montreal Canadiens have made a major trade?
Here's Kent Hughes' exact statement.
And it cuts off, but it's clear that Kent Hughes hadn't finished his sentence.
Will we learn more in the full documentary?
Did Kent Hughes have a concrete offer on the table?
Could it be related to Marco Normandin's big scoop? The Canadiens had a deal in place to acquire Trevor Zegras.
Kent Hughes reportedly had a deal in place to trade Logan Mailloux at the draft.
To be continued, but clearly, there was movement on the draft floor for the Montreal Canadiens.
In the end, it's evident that the draft went the way Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton wanted, and they were able to draft Ivan Demidov! He had been their sole target from the very beginning.
Here's the video in question.
| POLL | ||
If Ivan Demidov was no longer available at the 5th pick, what would you have done? | ||
| Draft Sennecke | 208 | 32.9 % |
| Draft a defenseman | 55 | 8.7 % |
| Trade the pick | 369 | 58.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
